Gut microbial communities

Gut microbial communities

Gut microbial communities

Microbiome research carried out by the Gut Microbiology group (Duncan, Louis, Scott, Walker) focusses on investigating specific bacterial species and activities that confer health benefits. This includes identifying and isolating bacteria that produce specific short chain fatty acids and other metabolites, and assessing the impact of plant fibres and other specific dietary substances on human gut bacteria. We use a wide range of technical approaches, including anaerobic culturing and molecular analysis of in vitro and human dietary studies to better characterise gut microbial communities and shed light on the roles these microbes play both in health and in disease.

Additional individual interests include determining how commensal bacteria contribute to the spread and evolution of antimicrobial resistance (Scott); assessing the ways in which our gut microbes protect us from invading pathogens. (Walker, Duncan); and using mathematical modelling to predict microbial metabolism (Louis).