# Nicole Roy

Nicole Clémence Roy is a Canadian–New Zealand academic, and is a full professor at the University of Otago, specialising in nutrition and digestive health, including gastrointestinal physiology and microbiome–host interactions. She is a Fellow of Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

## Academic career

Roy completed a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Science and a PhD, all at Laval University. Her doctoral thesis was titled Protein Metabolism in Growing Barrows Fed Diets Adequate or Deficient in Lysine and was supervised by Jean F. Bernier. Roy did her postdoctoral research at the Rowett Institute in Scotland. Roy worked at AgResearch from 1998, and was appointed principal scientist in 2011. Roy was a professor in the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland, and since 2016 is an adjunct professor in the Riddet Institute Centre of Research Excellence at Massey University. Roy joined the faculty of the Department of Nutrition at the University of Otago in 2020, and was appointed head of department in 2024.
Roy's research focuses on nutrition and gut health. She was a founding member of the High Value Nutrition National Science Challenge, based at the University of Auckland, and leads the Digestive Health research programme. Through this she is part of a team studying the effect of resistant starch additives to baby food on infant microbiomes, sleep and immune health. Roy has received funding from MBIE and Marsden grants, and in 2023 Roy received a grant from the Health Research Council to investigate associations between gut health, gut microbiomes and the Aotearoa New Zealand diet.
As a Fellow of Food Standards Australia New Zealand, Roy is one of 24 experts providing advice to the government agency.

## Selected works

* Dulantha Ulluwishewa; Rachel C Anderson; Warren C McNabb; Paul J Moughan; Jerry M Wells; Nicole C Roy (23 March 2011). "Regulation of tight junction permeability by intestinal bacteria and dietary components". Journal of Nutrition. 141 (5): 769–776. doi:10.3945/JN.110.135657. ISSN 0022-3166. PMID 21430248. Wikidata Q37856589.
* Rachel Anderson; Adrian L Cookson; Warren McNabb; Zaneta Park; Mark McCann; William J Kelly; Nicole Roy (9 December 2010). "Lactobacillus plantarum MB452 enhances the function of the intestinal barrier by increasing the expression levels of genes involved in tight junction formation". BMC Microbiology. 10: 316. doi:10.1186/1471-2180-10-316. ISSN 1471-2180. PMC 3004893. PMID 21143932. Wikidata Q33767034.
* Ranjita Sengupta; Eric Altermann; Rachel Anderson; Warren McNabb; Paul J Moughan; Nicole Roy (13 March 2013). "The role of cell surface architecture of lactobacilli in host-microbe interactions in the gastrointestinal tract". Mediators of Inflammation. 2013: 237921. doi:10.1155/2013/237921. ISSN 0962-9351. PMC 3610365. PMID 23576850. Wikidata Q36723135.
* Rachel Anderson; Adrian L Cookson; Warren McNabb; William J Kelly; Nicole Roy (16 June 2010). "Lactobacillus plantarum DSM 2648 is a potential probiotic that enhances intestinal barrier function". FEMS Microbiology Letters. 309 (2): 184–192. doi:10.1111/J.1574-6968.2010.02038.X. ISSN 0378-1097. PMID 20618863. Wikidata Q54382890.
* Caroline Thum; Adrian L Cookson; Don Otter; Warren McNabb; Alison J. Hodgkinson; Jolon Dyer; Nicole Roy (18 September 2012). "Can nutritional modulation of maternal intestinal microbiota influence the development of the infant gastrointestinal tract?". Journal of Nutrition. 142 (11): 1921–1928. doi:10.3945/JN.112.166231. ISSN 0022-3166. PMID 22990463. Wikidata Q38044621.
* Tracey L K Bear; Julie E Dalziel; Jane Coad; Nicole C Roy; Christine A Butts; Pramod K Gopal (9 March 2020). "The Role of the Gut Microbiota in Dietary Interventions for Depression and Anxiety". Advances in Nutrition. doi:10.1093/ADVANCES/NMAA016. ISSN 2161-8313. PMC 7360462. PMID 32149335. Wikidata Q90154043.
* Matthew Barnett; Warren McNabb; Nicole Roy; Keith B Woodford; Andrew J Clarke (20 March 2014). "Dietary A1 β-casein affects gastrointestinal transit time, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 activity, and inflammatory status relative to A2 β-casein in Wistar rats". International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition. 65 (6): 720–727. doi:10.3109/09637486.2014.898260. ISSN 0963-7486. PMID 24649921. Wikidata Q87480230.