Members

Dr. Cai graduated from Hunan Medical University in China (M.D. equivalent) and Tokushima University School of Medicine in Japan (Ph.D.). His primary research interest is on the study of polycystic kidney disease with current focus on the molecular basis of the PKD pathogenesis. Dr. Cai is the co-author of more than 40 publications that published in well known professional journals including "Science", "Nature Genetics" (4 papers), "Cell", "Nature Cell Biology", "Science Signaling", "Journal of Clinical Investigation", "Journal of Biological Chemistry", "PNAS", "Nature Communication", and many others, which have been cited by around 8000 articles (ScholarGPS, 2024)(. Dr. Cai is ranked as the "Top 0.5% of all scholars worldwide" and "Top Scholar-Lifetime" by ScholarGPS (November 2024). Dr. Cai is the recipient of the American Heart Association Scientist Development Award (grant) (2001-2004), the PKD Foundation Research Grant (2005-2006), the Travel Award of the American Society of Nephrology (six times, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, & 2013), and The Jared Grantham Symposium Travel Award (2014). Dr. Cai is the invited reviewer for many professional journals such as the "Journal of American Society of Nephrology", "Kidney International", "Cancer Letter", "Human Molecular Genetics", and others. Dr. Cai is the invited speaker by many Institutions/conference in USA, Japan, Canada, Korea, Netherlands, and in China. Dr. Cai was honored as the "Guest Professor" by the Southern Medical University and the Central South University respectively in China (2008-2012/2013).

My research is focused on genetics and molecular biology of polycystic kidney diseases. The research involves various kinds of mouse models and in vitro systems to understand this disease.