Prof. Karen Scott, PhD, is a Professor of Research in the Gut Microbiology Group at the Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen. She leads a research team investigating the (molecular) mechanisms by which key members of the gut microbiota interact with the diet and host, at different life-stages. The fermentation products of gut bacteria contribute to gut health and are differentially expressed on different substrates, including prebiotics. In vitro bacterial growth studies utilising the Rowett’s large culture collection of gut anaerobes illustrate niche-specific processes and bacterial interactions, identifying strains with potential for development as probiotic/live biotherapeutic products. Utilisation of pure culture, co-culture, and mixed culture fermentor incubations combined with bioinformatic genome analysis, are essential to match genotype and phenotype and fully understand what happens in the complex gut ecosystem. This work is enhanced by the co-development of a system to understand interactions between anaerobic bacteria and human epithelial cells. Karen has numerous highly cited publications and has attracted multiple research council and commercially funded grants.