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 70+ 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 Throax as the Statistical Editor, on the editorial boards of Current Environmental Health Reports and Biomedical and Environmental Sciences, and the executive 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

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

Representative scientific research projects

1. National Natural Science Foundation of China (82574035). Impact of black carbon exposure on circadian rhythm disruption and brain function impairment in older adults: a mechanistic investigation of ATXN2/2L nucleic acid methylation. 2026.01 – 2029.12. PI

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. China National Key R&D Program (No. 2023YFC3603400). Investigation on the health factors and anti-aging targets of long-lived populations in China. 2023.12-2026.11. Key investigator

6. 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

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

8. 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

9. 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

(Published in 2020-2025; *as corresponding author)

1. Jiang M, Wang Y, Tian S, Liu S, Luo Y, Song H, Qin J, Lv Y, Baccarelli AA, Zhang Z, Shi X*#, Gao X*#. Air Pollution Control Mitigates Frailty Progression: Evidence from Two Cohorts of Older Adults and DNA Methylation Insights. Environmental Science & Technology, 2025; 59, 9907−9917. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.4c13675.

2. Wang Y#, Li H#, Huang J#, Jiang M, Tian S, Liu S, Zhang L*#, Wu S*#, Kan H*#, Gao X*#. Short-term PM2.5 exposure and DNA methylation changes of circadian rhythm genes: Evidence from two experimental studies. Environmental Science & Technology, 2024; 58 (23), 9991–10000. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.4c00108.

3. 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. (Research highlights)

4. Gao X*, Tian S, Huang N, Sun G, Huang T. Associations of daily sedentary behavior, physical activity, and sleep with irritable bowel syndrome: a prospective analysis of 362,193 participants. Journal of Sport and Health Science. 2024; 13 (1), 72-80. doi: 10.1016/j.jshs.2023.02.002. (ESI high-cited)

5. 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. (ESI high-cited)

6. 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. (ESI high-cited)

7. 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.

8. 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. （Cover story）

9. 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.

10. 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.