Guodong Cao, Distinguished Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, is a Hubei Provincial High-Level Overseas Talent and Class A Top Young Talent of China University of Geosciences. He earned his MSc in Chemistry from Henan University in 2015 and PhD from Hong Kong Baptist University in 2020, followed by four years as a postdoctoral researcher at the State Key Laboratory of Environmental and Biological Analysis of Hong Kong Baptist University from 2020 to 2024. His research centers on the detection, identification, environmental geochemical behaviors and toxicology of emerging contaminants. As first or corresponding author, he has published over 20 SCI papers in top international journals such as Environmental Science & Technology, Environmental Science & Technology Letters, Journal of Hazardous Materials and Environment International, twelve of which have an impact factor ≥10, and holds three authorized national invention patents. He acts as Youth Editorial Board Member of Health & Metabolism, Guest Editor for Toxics, Molecules and Frontiers in Environmental Science, and a founding committee member of the Life Omics Professional Committee under the China Association for Instrumental Analysis.

Fundings: 

National Natural Science Foundation for Young Scientists, sub-projects of the National Key R&D Program and Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation, the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan, the General Program of Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation, the Outstanding Talent Cultivation Fund for Central Universities, and the Open Research Fund of the National Engineering Research Center of the Yangtze River Economic Belt Ecological Environment, with a total research funding of over 3.5 million RMB.

Publications:

[1] Cao Guodong, Qiao Han, Wu Haijiang, Ding Chen, Hu Liuying, Dong Angbo, Shi, Jianbo*. Underestimate of human exposure to p-phenylenediamine derived quinones in diet: Evidence from a cross-country survey of contaminants in chicken eggs, Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2026, 504: 141259. 

[2] Zhou Yanqiu#, Zhang Jing#, Liu Hongxiu, Yang Chenhui, Ran Jinjun, Su, Xiuli, Cai, Zongwei, Xu Shunqing*; Cao Guodong**. Prenatal exposure to tire-derived chemical mixtures and childhood neurodevelopment at 2 years: Integrating mixture and single-pollutant models, Environmental Research, 2026, 294: 123840. 

[3] Editorial: Life in the “Plastisphere”: linking the biodiversity of microbial communities to the risk of micro-(nano-)plastics and related new contaminants, Shuyi Zhao, Hongli Tan, Xingcheng Zhao, Tong Yang, Guodong Cao*, Pengfei Wu**. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 2025, 13: 1749080. 

[4] Zhang Jing, Liu Hongxiu, Zhao Hongzhi, Dai Qingyuan, Wang Wei, Wang Fuyue, Cao Guodong*, Zhou Yanqiu, Xu Shunqing, Cai Zongwei**. Patterns, variability, and predictors of pphenylenediamine quinones and parent p-phenylenediamines in pregnant women across three trimesters, Environment International, 2025, 203: 109729 

[5] Guodong Cao, Wei Wang, Jing Zhang, Pengfei Wu, Han Qiao, Huankai Li, Gefei Huang, Zhu Yang, Zongwei Cai*. Occurrence and fate of substituted p-phenylenediamine derived quinones in Hong Kong Wastewater Treatment Plants. Environmental Science & Technology. 2023, 57, 15635−15643 

[6] Guodong Cao, Zongwei Cai*. Getting health hazards of inhaled nano/microplastics into focus: expectations and challenges. Environmental Science & Technology. 2023, 57, 3461−3463 

[7] Guodong Cao, Wei Wang, Jing Zhang, Pengfei Wu, Xingchen Zhao, Zhu Yang, Di Hu, Zongwei Cai*. New evidence of rubber-derived quinones in water, air, and soil. Environmental Science & Technology. 2022, 56, 4142-4150 

[8] Guodong Cao, Jing Zhang, Wei Wang, Pengfei Wu, Yi Ru, Zongwei Cai*. Mass spectrometry analysis of a ubiquitous tire rubber-derived quinone in the environment. Trac-Trends in Analytical Chemistry. 2022, 157, 116756 

[9] Guodong Cao, Kun Li, Jinggong Guo, Minghua Lu, Yanjun Hong*, Zongwei Cai*. Mass spectrometry for analysis of changes during food storage and processing. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2020, 68, 6956-6966 

[10] Guodong Cao, Zhengbo Song, Yanjun Hong*, Zhiyi Yang, Yuanyuan Song, Zhongjian Chen, Zhaobin Chen, Zongwei Cai*. Large-scale targeted metabolomics method for metabolite profiling of human samples. Analytica Chimica Acta. 2020, 1125, 144-151 

[11] Guodong Cao, Zhengbo Song, Yanjun Hong*, Zhiyi Yang, Yuanyuan Song, Zhongjian Chen, Zhaobin Chen, Zongwei Cai*. Database-assisted global metabolomics profiling of pleural effusion induced by tuberculosis and malignancy. Chinese Chemical Letters. 2021, 32: 3207-3210 

[12]. Guodong Cao, Yanjun Hong*, Huiqin Wu, Zhaobin Chen, Minghua Lu, Zongwei Cai*. Visual authentication of edible vegetable oil and used cooking oil using MALDI imaging mass spectrometry. Food Control. 2021, 125, 107966 

[13]. Guodong Cao, Cheng Ding, Dongliang Ruan, Zhaobin Chen, Huiqin Wu, Yanjun Hong*, Zongwei Cai*. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based profiling reveals six monoglycerides as markers of used cooking oil. Food Control. 2019, 96, 494-498 

[14]. Guodong Cao, Cheng Ding, Zhiyi Yang, Zhaobin Chen, Yanjun Hong*, Zongwei Cai*. Mass spectrometry investigation of nucleoside adducts of fatty acid hydroperoxides from oxidation of linolenic and linoleic acids. Journal of Chromatography A. 2021, 1649: 462236 

[15] Guodong Cao, Dongliang Ruan, Zhaobin Chen, Yanjun Hong*, Zongwei Cai*. Recent developments and applications of mass spectrometry for the quality and safety assessment of cooking oil. Trac-Trends in Analytical Chemistry. 2017, 96, 201-211