Xu Gao

Assistant Professor
xu.gao@hsc.pku.edu.cn
Xueyuanlu 38., Haidian district, Beijing, China
Peking University

Personal profile

Dr. Xu Gao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences at Peking University. As an environmental epidemiologist, he focuses on the precision environmental health and human aging by integrating population-based data with genetic and epigenetic biomarkers as well as other multi-omic biomarkers. Dr. Gao has published 60+ peer-reviewed papers in journals of public health, including Nature Aging, Nature Cardiovascular Research, Nature Communications, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Environmental Health Perspectives, Environmental Science & Technology, International Journal of Epidemiology, and European Journal of Epidemiology. He also serves on the editorial boards of Current Environmental Health Reports and The Innovation, and the committee member of International Society of Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE).

Education and research experience

2006 – 2011 Bachelor Fudan University China

2011 – 2014 Master Fudan University China

2014 – 2018 PhD (summa cum laude) Heidelberg University Germany

2018 – 2020 Postdoctoral Research Scientist Columbia University US

Main research directions

Aging, Precision Environmental Health, Brain Health, Elderly Health, Epidemiology

Representative scientific research projects

1. National Natural Science Foundation of China (82304098). Impact of black carbon exposure on the cognitive function of older adults: a mechanistic investigation of the DNA methylation dynamic regulation of SLC25A51. 2024.01 – 2026.12. PI

2. Open Foundation of Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Exposomics and Lifelong Health (2023-GKLEH-03): A Longevity Cohort Study on Environmental Heavy Metal Exposure and Biological Age in the Elderly. 2023.10 - 2025.09. PI

3. Open Foundation of China CDC Key Laboratory of Environment and Population Health (2022-CKL-03). Effects of chronic exposure to cadmium and arsenic on frailty and DNA methylation mechanisms in the older adults. 2022.01-2023.12. PI

4. China National Key R&D Program (No. 2022YFC3702704). Investigation on the life course health effect spectrum of air pollution exposure in Chinese residents. 2022.10-2026.03. Key investigator

5. NIH R01 (R01ES025225): Circulating microRNAs in Extracellular Vesicles, Air Particulate Pollution, and Lung Function in an Aging Cohort. 2018 – 2020 Co-investigator

6. NIH R01 (R01ES027747): Air Particulate, Metals, and Cognitive Performance in an Aging Cohort – Roles of Circulating Extracellular Vesicles and Non-coding RNAs. 2018 – 2020 Co-investigator

7. Fondazione Cariplo (Bando Ricerca Malattie invecchiamento, #2017-0653): The Trithorax and Polycomb group proteins UTX and EzH2 in the Frailty Syndrome. 2017-2020 Co-investigator

10 representative papers

1. Jiang M, Tian S, Liu S, Wang Y, Guo X, Huang T, Lin X, Belsky D, Baccarelli AA, Gao X*. Accelerated biological aging elevates the risk of cardiometabolic multimorbidity and mortality. Nature Cardiovascular Research, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s44161-024-00438-8. (专题报道)

2. Gao X*, Tong G, Jiang M, Huang N, Zheng Y, Belsky D*, Huang T. Accelerated biological aging and risk of depression and anxiety: evidence from 424,299 UK Biobank participants. Nature Communications, 2023, doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-38013-7. (IF = 16.6)

3. Gao X*, Jiang M, Huang N, Guo X, Huang T. Long-Term Air Pollution, Genetic Susceptibility, and the Risk of Depression and Anxiety: A Prospective Study in the UK Biobank Cohort. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2023, doi: 10.1289/EHP10391. (IF = 10.4)

4. Gao X#, Huang J#, Cardenas A, Zhao Y, Sun Y, Wang J, Xue L, Baccarelli AA, Guo X, Zhang L, Wu S. Short-Term Exposure of PM2.5 and Epigenetic Aging: A Quasi-Experimental Study. Environmental Science & Technology, 2022, doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c05534. (IF = 11.4)

5. Gao X*, Coull B, Lin X, Vokonas P, Spiro A III, Hou L, Schwartz J, Baccarelli AA. Short-term air pollution, cognitive performance and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use in the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study. Nature Aging. 2021; 1(5):430-437. doi:10.1038/s43587-021-00060-4. （IF = 16.6; 封面文章）

6. Gao X*, Coull B, Lin X, Vokonas P, Sparrow D, Hou L, DeMeo D, Litonjua A, Schwartz J, Baccarelli AA. Association of Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio with Reduced Pulmonary Function in a 30-Year Longitudinal Study of US Veterans. JAMA Network Open. 2020; 3:e2010350. (IF = 13.8)

7. Gao X*, Coull B, Lin X, Vokonas P, Schwartz J, Baccarelli AA. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs modify the effect of short-term air pollution on lung function. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2020; 201(3):374-8. (IF = 24.7)

8. Gao X*, Colicino E, Shen J, Kioumourtzoglou MA, Just AC, Nwanaji-Enwerem JC, Coull B, Lin X, Vokonas P, Zheng Y, Hou L, Schwartz J, Baccarelli AA. Impacts of air pollution, temperature, and relative humidity on leukocyte distribution: An epigenetic perspective. Environment International. 2019; 126, 395-405. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.02.053. (IF = 11.8)

9. Gao X, Gào X, Zhang Y, Holleczek B, Schöttker B, Brenner H. Oxidative stress and epigenetic mortality risk score: associations with all-cause mortality among elderly people. European Journal of Epidemiology. 2019; 451-462. (IF = 13.6)

10. Gao X*, Colicino E, Shen J, Just AC, Nwanaji-Enwerem JC, Wang C, Coull B, Lin X, Vokonas P, Zheng Y, Hou L, Schwartz J, Baccarelli AA. Comparative validation of an epigenetic mortality risk score with three aging biomarkers for predicting mortality risks among older adult males. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2019; 48, 1958-1971. (IF = 7.7)