Prof. CAI is an assistant professor in aquaculture and aquatic animal health and the Research Degree Coordinator in PH at City University of Hong Kong. He has spent over 11 years in North America studying and working on both freshwater and marine fish diseases. He undertook his postdoctoral training at the University of Prince Edward Island (PE, Canada), where he worked on a joint project on integrated health management of Atlantic salmon in collaboration with multiple industry partners and government research institutes. He obtained a PhD degree from the School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Science at Auburn University in the United States in 2018. Courses taught: Professional service: Note: For RPg-related questions, please directly contact ph.go@cityu.edu.hk
As a fish health specialist, Prof. CAI’s research has covered topics including pathogen-host interactions, selective breeding, and vaccine development strategies for disease prevention. Prof. CAI is a faculty member of the State Key Lab of Marine Environment Health (CityUHK), and an affiliated member of the Center for Applied One Health Research and Policy Advice (CityUHK).
VM2106: Aquaculture and Aquatic Animal Health (Course Leader)
PH8006: Advanced Molecular Diagnostics and Imaging (Course Leader)
Associate Editor of Review in Fish Biology and Fisheries, Dec. 2025-present
Associate Editor of Journal of Aquatic Animal Health, 2022
Member of Consultative Committee on Guangdong-Hong Kong Co-operation(Guangzhou Nansha), Apr. 2026-present
Prof. CAI Wenlong’s research is centered on advancing our understanding of aquatic animal health, disease mechanisms, and sustainable aquaculture practices. His work integrates molecular biology, genomics, and bioinformatics to address critical challenges in aquatic animal production, particularly focusing on the interactions between pathogens and hosts in marine and freshwater species.
Key areas of research interest include:
Vaccine development: Development of live modified vaccines for aquatic species to combat prevalent infectious diseases.
Selective breeding: Improving desirable traits in aquaculture species using genomic and other chemical tools, such as stress tolerance, growth rate, and sex control in fish.
Microplastics impact: Investigating the impact of microplastics on aquatic animals and potential methods for microplastic removal in the marine environment.
Selected publication in the past 3 years. For full list please see Google Scholar
Gao, Shengnan, Liang Zhong, Yuxuan Zhang, Ruoxi Zhu, Yanwen Shao, Runsheng Li, Yongtao Zhu, and Wenlong Cai. "Optimal Preservation Method for Long-term Preservation in ddH2O and Starvation Adaptive Mechanisms of Flavobacterium columnare Revealed by Multi-omic Analysis." Microbial Ecology (2026).
Zhang, Yuxuan, Yanwen Shao, Shengnan Gao, Runsheng Li, and Wenlong Cai. "Prolonged starvation drives epigenetic remodeling: Insights from DNA methylation profiling in the aquatic pathogen Flavobacterium columnare." Water Biology and Security (2026): 100604.
Zhang, Y., Shao, Y., Liu, X., Zhong, L., Zhong, Z., Zeng, W., Zhang, J., Cai, W. and Li, R., (2025). Chromosome-level genome assembly of black carp Mylopharyngodon piceus using Nanopore and Hi-C technologies. Scientific Data, 12(1), p.145.
Cai, Wenlong, Liang Zhong, Kathleen Parrish, Surendra Kumar, Khalil Eslamloo, Eyesun Fajei, Shona K. Whyte et al. "Synergies of co-infecting pathogens, sea lice (Lepeophetheirus salmonis) and Moritella viscosa, are impacted by exposure order, and host response to initial infection." Aquaculture 591 (2024): 741115.
Gao, S., Tan, S., Purcell, S. L., Whyte, S. K., Parrish, K., Zhong, L., ... & Cai, W. (2024). A comparative analysis of alternative splicing patterns in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in response to Moritella viscosa and sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) infection. Fish & Shellfish Immunology, 149, 109606.