Christina Emmanouil is a Ph.D. candidate at the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and the Biomedical Sciences Research Center ‘Alexander Fleming’. She also holds a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Patras and a M.Sc. in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her doctoral research focuses on the human gut microbiome and specifically explores how the microbiome is affected by dietary changes, with the broader goal of contributing to the understanding of biological mechanisms linking microbiome composition to health and disease. As part of her research, this work will be incorporated into a multi-omics framework, providing systemic insights into diet-responsive connections between the microbiome and host biology. As a Fulbright Visiting Research Student, Christina will visit the laboratory of Assistant Professor Emily Davenport at Pennsylvania State University, which focuses on deciphering the relationship between humans and microbiome. There, she will investigate the interaction of the gut microbiome with host gene expression across the intestinal epithelium. Given the role of the microbiome in health and disease, this work can provide insight into physiological mechanisms that link the microbiome with host biology. Overall, through her work, Christina seeks to advance the scientific foundation for the future development of microbiome-based preventive or therapeutic strategies.