Senior Research Fellow
- About
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- Email Address
- p.louis@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 438735
- Office Address
Dr. Petra Louis
Microbiology Group
Gut Health Theme
The Rowett Institute
University of Aberdeen
Foresterhill
Aberdeen AB25 2ZD
- School/Department
- School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition
Biography
Petra Louis is a molecular microbiologist with an interest in the human gut microbiota, diet and health. She obtained her Diploma in Biology and PhD in Microbiology from the University of Bonn, Germany, where she conducted research on osmoadaptation in halophilic bacteria. She undertook post-doctoral research at the University of Aberdeen on stress responses in Escherichia coli and on RNA secondary structure melting during translation in yeast, before taking up a position as principal investigator at the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen in 2002.
Her research concentrates on the metabolism of the microbial community that inhabits the human intestine and how it can be modulated by diet to improve human health, with a particular emphasis on short-chain fatty acid production from dietary non-digestible carbohydrates. She utilises a wide range of technical approaches, including strictly anaerobic microbiology, molecular microbial community analysis, -omics technologies and mathematical modelling, to investigate which microbes are instrumental for primary fibre degradation and how different microbial community members interact with each other during fibre breakdown and fermentation product formation. Her work contributes to the development of effective and personalised nutritional strategies to improve human health via actions of the gut microbiota.
Qualifications
- Diploma Biology1992 - University of Bonn, Germany
- PhD Microbiology1996 - Univesity of Bonn, Germany
Prizes and Awards
PhD thesis award of the German Society for General and Applied Microbiology (VAAM) 1996
Clarivate (Web of Science) highly cited researcher: 2018-2023
Member of the Rowett Gut Microbiology Group, who were runners up in the International Global Grants for Gut Health Nature Awards Research Group Prize 2023 - read more HERE
- Research
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Research Overview
The microbial community in the human large intestine consists of a diverse range of bacteria that break down complex nutrients of dietary and host origin. The members of this ecosystem form a complex metabolic network in which the product of one group can serve as substrate for another group. Overall, this leads to the accumulation of mainly three organic acids, acetate, propionate and butyrate, which are partially absorbed by the colon and serve as an additional energy source for the human host. Butyrate is of special interest, as it serves as the preferred energy source for the colonic wall and thus contributes to the proper functioning of the gut. It has also been claimed to be protective against colon cancer and inflammatory bowel disease through effects on host gene expression and cellular development of the colon. Propionate also influences host physiology and its potential effects on host satiety is of particular interest in view of the current obesity epidemic.
Dietary intakes can influence the microbial gut community and shift the balance between different functional bacterial groups, with potential consequences for host health. Our research concentrates on the microbial metabolism of dietary non-digestible carbohydrates, with a particular emphasis on short-chain fatty acid production. We utilise are wide range of technical approaches, including strictly anaerobic microbiology of pure strains and mixed microbial consortia, molecular microbial community analysis of in vitro and human dietary studies, -omics technologies, enzymology and mathematical modelling.
Research Specialisms
- Microbiology
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Ecology
Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
- Publications
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Distribution, organization and expression of genes concerned with anaerobic lactate utilization in human intestinal bacteria
Microbial Genomics, vol. 8, no. 1, 000739Contributions to Journals: ArticlesImmune Responsiveness to LPS Determines Risk of Childhood Wheeze and Asthma in 17q21 Risk Allele Carriers
American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, vol. 205, no. 6, pp. 641-650Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.202106-1458OC
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Dietary fibre complexity and its influence on functional groups of the human gut microbiota
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, vol. 80, no. 4, pp. 386–397Contributions to Journals: ArticlesPrebiotic fructans have greater impact on luminal microbiology and CD3+ T cells in healthy siblings than patients with Crohn’s disease: a pilot study investigating the potential for primary prevention of inflammatory bowel disease
Clinical Nutrition, vol. 40, no. 8, pp. 5009-5019Contributions to Journals: ArticlesHuman gut Faecalibacterium prausnitzii deploy a highly efficient conserved system to cross-feed on β-mannan-derived oligosaccharides
mBio, vol. 12, no. 3, e03628-20Contributions to Journals: ArticlesMaturation of the gut microbiome during the first year of life contributes to the protective farm effect on childhood asthma
Nature Medicine, vol. 26, pp. 1766-1775Contributions to Journals: ArticlesPrevalent Human Gut Bacteria Hydrolyse and Metabolise Important Food-Derived Mycotoxins and Masked Mycotoxins
Toxins, vol. 12, no. 10, 654Contributions to Journals: ArticlesPivotal roles for pH, lactate and lactate-utilizing bacteria in the stability of a human colonic microbial ecosystem
mSystems, vol. 5, no. 5, e00645-20Contributions to Journals: ArticlesComparative genetic and physiological characterisation of Pectinatus species reveals shared tolerance to beer-associated stressors but halotolerance specific to pickle-associated strains
Food Microbiology, vol. 90, 103462Contributions to Journals: ArticlesVitamin biosynthesis by human gut butyrate-producing bacteria and cross-feeding in synthetic microbial communities
mBio, vol. 11, no. 4, e00886-20Contributions to Journals: Articles