Background Information: 

Professor Zongwei Cai is the Director of the State Key Laboratory of Environmental and Biological Analysis. His major research interests include the method development and applications of chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry for trace analysis of pollutants in environment, food, and biological matrices, with a focus on metabolomics, proteomics and mass spectrometry imaging research related to human health and diseases. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and a Foreign Member of the Academia Europaea (MAE). He was awarded the State Natural Science Award (Second Class), the First and Special Prize of China Association for Instrumental Analysis Award, and so on.

Research Field:

• Environmental New Pollutants

• Analytical Chemistry

• Environmental Chemistry

• Mass Spectrometry

• Environmental Toxicology

• Food Safety

• Human Health

Educational Background:

1982.9, Bachlor of Science in Chemistry from Xiamen University, China

1990.10, PhD in Analytical Chemistry from University of Marburg, Germany

Work Experience:

2016-present, Chair Professor in Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU)

2014-present,  National-level Talent, Guangdong University of Technology, China

2013-present, Director, State Key Laboratory of Environmental and Biological Analysis, HKBU

2008-2018, Vice President, German Alumni Association of Hong Kong

2007-2011, Head, Department of Chemistry, HKBU

2003-present, Director, Dioxin Analysis Laboratory, HKBU 

1997-2001, Investigator, Bioanalysis and Drug Metabolism, Glaxo-Wellcome Co., USA

1994-1996, Research Assistant Professor, Water Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA

1991-1993, Post-doc Research Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA

Academic Part-time Jobs (Partial):

2013 –，Rapid Communication in Mass Spectrometry (Wiley)，Editor 

2021 –，Environmental Science: Advances (RSC)，co-Editor in Chief

2021 –，Environmental Chemistry (in Chinese), Associate Editor 

2023 –，National Science Review（Chemistry），Editorial Board Member 

2020 – 2023，The Innovation，Editorial Board Member

2023 –，The Innovation Life Science，Editorial Board Member 

Awards and Honors:

2021, Elected Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry

2021 and 2020, The World’s most highly cited researcher in Stanford University’s list of the world top 2% scientists

2020, Top 100,000 scientists in the World and top 10,000 scientists in China according to Google Scholar Metrics

2020, The World Power List of Analytical Scientists (https://theanalyticalscientist.com/power-list/2020)

2020, Special prize of Science and Technology Award, China Association for Instrumental Analysis (CAIA)

2018, The 2nd Prize of Science Research Achievement Award, Ministry of Education of China 

2018, Appointed Member of Food Safety Expert Committee, Hong Kong 

2016, The 1st prize of Science and Technology Award, China Association for Instrumental Analysis (CAIA)

2014, National-level Talent, Ministry of Education of China 

2013, Presidential Award for Scholarly Work, Hong Kong Baptist University

2011, The 2nd Prize of Nature Science Award of China

2003, Distinguished Young Scholar (Oversea), National Nature Science Foundation of China

Representative Works:

General Information

Prof. Cai has published more than 800 papers as corresponding or co-corresponding author on SCI journals such as Nature Communications, Nature Protocols, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science（PNAS）, The Innovation，and Science Bulletin with >25000 citations and H-index of 78（Scopus）.

Scopus

https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=7402904946 

Web of science (Clarivate)

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/ABD-4001-2020

10 Representative Works (* refers to the corresponding author):

1. Song, Y., Yang, Z.*, Z. Cai* et al, Phosphocholine-induced energy source shift alleviates mitochondrial dysfunction in lung cells caused by geo-specific PM2.5 components, PNAS, 2024, Vol. 121 No. 14, e2317574121.

2. Zhang J, Walker ME, Sanidad KZ, Zhang H, Liang Y, Zhao E, Chacon-Vargas K, Yeliseyev V, Parsonnet J, Haggerty TD, Cai Z*, Redinbo MR*, Zhang G*, Microbial enzymes induce colitis by reactivating triclosan in the mouse gastrointestinal tract, Nature communications, 2022, 13(1): 136.

3. Yang Z, Wu D, Lu S, Qiu Y, Hua Z, Tan F, Zhang C, Zhang L, Zhang D-Y, Zhou X*, Cai Z*, Shang Y*, Lin S-H*, Plasma Metabolome and Cytokine Profile Reveal Glycylproline Modulating Antibody Fading in Convalescent COVID-19 Patients, PNAS, 2022, 119(34): e2117089119.

4. Zhao C., Guo L., Dong J.*, Cai, Z.*, Mass spectrometry imaging-based multi-modal technique: Next-generation of biochemical analysis strategy, The Innovation, 2021, 2(4): 100151.

5. Zhao C, Xie PS, Yong T, Huang W, Liu JJ, Wu DS, Ji FF, Li M, Zhang DD, Li RJ, Dong C, Ma J, Dong Z, Liu SJ, Cai Z.*, Airborne fine particulate matter induces cognitive and emotional disorders in offspring mice exposed during pregnancy, Science Bulletin, 2021, 66(6): 578-591.

6. Luan HM, Zhao HZ, Li JF, Zhou YQ, Fang J, Liu HX, Li YY, Xia W, Xu SQ*, Cai Z.*, Machine learning for investigation on endocrine-disrupting chemicals with gestational age and delivery time in a longitudinal cohort, Research, 2021,2021： 9873135.

7. Zhao HZ, Li H, Zheng YY, Zhu L, Fang J, Xiang L, Xu SQ, Zhou YQ, Luan HM, Xia W*, Cai Z.*, Association of altered serum acylcarnitine levels in early pregnancy and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus, Science China Chemistry, 2020, 63: 126-134.

8. Xiao, C., Li, K., Hua, J., He, Z., Zhang, F., Li, Q., Zhang, H., Yang, L., Pan, S., Z Cai*, ZL Yu, KB Wong, YJ Xia*, Arabidopsis DXO1 activates RNMT1 to methylate the mRNA guanosine cap., Nature Communications, 2023, 14(1): 202.

9. Zhang HL, Zhong H, Wang XF, Zhang SD, Shao XJ, Hu H, Yu ZL, Cai Z.*, Chen XM*, Xia YJ*, Use of NAD tagSeq II to identify growth phase-dependent alterations in E coli RNA NAD+ capping, PNAS, 2021, 118(14): e2026183118.

10. Shao XJ, Zhang HL, Yang Z, Zhong H, Xia YJ*, Cai Z.*, NAD tagSeq for transcriptome-wide identification and characterization of NAD+-capped RNAs, Nature Protocols, 2020, 15(9): 2813-2836.