PhD candidate
Miami University
Flora Mengyang Xu is a graduate researcher in the Department of Biology at Miami University, where her work focuses on the interplay between sex hormones, gut microbiota, and microbial metabolites in disease development. Her recent research explores how estrogen modulates gut microbial metabolism and influences colorectal cancer progression in a mouse model, utilizing integrated dietary, hormonal, and metabolomic approaches. She has presented her findings at national conferences and contributes to NIH-funded projects investigating host–microbiome interactions in metabolic and inflammatory diseases. Her broader research interests include the microbiota-gut-brain axis, dietary modulation of microbiota, and hormone-driven metabolic regulation.