Dr Zhiling Guo PhD

Dr Zhiling Guo

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Assistant Professor

Contact details

Email
z.guo@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@zhiling_guo
View my research portal
Address
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr. Zhiling Guo is an environmental toxicologist interested in understanding the connection between human exposure to pollutants (nanomaterial, micro/nano-plastic, air pollutant, organic pollutant, heavy metal, virus, pollen, and emerging pollutants) and life-long health, and the potential underlying mechanisms. Her research also focuses on establishing the 3R alternatives (i.e. in vitro barrier model, organ-on-chip) as enabling technologies to facilitate investigation of the human and environmental impacts of pollution, and to link across different research areas. She is also interested in understanding the effects of pollutants on ecosystems (terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystem), and developing biosensors to detect the traditional and emerging pollutants in the environmental and biological samples.

She has multidisciplinary expertise in different areas including environmental health, material science, environmental toxicology, molecular toxicology, neurotoxicology, nanotoxicology, and aquatic toxicology. She has published over 50 papers in top-tier journals including Nature Protocol, Nature Plants, Nature Communication, PNAS, Water Research, ES&T, Nano Today, ES&T letter, etc. She is an Associate Editor for journal Frontiers in Toxicology and Guest Editor for Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zhiling-Guo-2

Qualifications

  • BSc. Biotechnology (2008)
  • PhD Marine Ecology (2014)

Teaching

  • BSc Environmental Sciences
  • Global Challenge in the Anthropocene
  • From molecules to materials: Deconstructing the environment

Other activities

  • Outstanding reviewer for Environmental Science: Nano
  • Associate Editor for Frontiers in Toxicology
  • Guest Editor for Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
  • Editorial Board member for Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
  • Full Member of Society of Toxicology
  • Member of Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
  • Full Member of Chinese Society of Toxicology

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Zhao, L, Cheng, S, Xing, S, Elgarahy, AM, Elwakeel, KZ, Yang, Z, Guo, Z, Li, Z, Graham, NJD & Lynch, I 2026, 'Amoeba-inspired nano-robots for trace low-molecular-weight emerging contaminant removal from water', Water Research, vol. 293, 125443. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2026.125443

Chen, H, Kang, M, Xie, C, Song, Z, Zhang, J, Wu, X, Song, Y, Zhao, J, Zhang, P, Xia, P, Zhang, Z, Lynch, I & Guo, Z 2026, 'Electrostatic Adsorption-Driven Reorganization of Phycosphere Eco-Corona as a Toxicity Mechanism of Cationic Nanoplastics', Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 60, no. 23, pp. 16472-16485. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6c00547

Zhang, J, Jiang, X, Yang, Z, Cheng, S, Guo, Z, Nolasco, MA, Etchepare, RG, Bian, B, Qian, J, Li, Z, Graham, NJD & Lynch, I 2026, 'Enhanced removal of pharmaceuticals in a 3D electrochemical reactor with scalable-produced tri-functional cyanobacterial-bloom-waste-derived single-Fe-atom particle electrodes', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 543, 178471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2026.178471

Xiao, L, Pang, J, Guo, Z, Zhang, K, Xiong, Z, Yang, M, Wang, J, Li, Y & Lynch, I 2026, 'PM2.5-Induced Multinucleation of Bronchial Epithelial Cells due to Microtubule Overacetylation and Disruption of Microtubule-Associated Proteins', Environment and Health, vol. 4, no. 6, pp. 1195-1209. https://doi.org/10.1021/envhealth.5c00580

Wang, X, Wu, K, Ning, P, Guo, Z, Zhang, P, Wu, L & Lynch, I 2025, 'Construction of glycine modified NZVI@gelatin aerogel for high efficient activation of dissolved oxygen towards catalytic degradation of tetracycline', Journal of Water Process Engineering, vol. 72, 107438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.107438

Brinkmann, BW, Guo, Z, Vijver, MG, Peijnenburg, WJGM & Chetwynd, AJ 2025, 'Host and microbiome proteins in eco-coronas: abundance, physicochemical properties and binding partners', Environmental Science: Nano. https://doi.org/10.1039/d5en00493d

Deng, Y, Wang, X, Ning, P, Lynch, I, Guo, Z, Zhang, P & Wu, L 2025, 'In situ growth of N-doped carbon nanotubes encapsulated nZVI as nanoconfinement catalyst for mitigating the hurdles of ferric cations leaching and low oxidant utilization in Fenton-like catalysis', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 523, 168772. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2025.168772

Li, X, Wu, X, Zhang, J, Xie, C, Song, Y, Liu, Y, Zheng, L, Zhang, S, Zhang, P, Vijver, MG, Peijnenburg, WJGM, Lynch, I & Guo, Z 2025, 'Key events relating to homeostasis and regeneration of freshwater planarians (Dugesia Japonica) after exposure to various ZnO-forms', Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 493, 138360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.138360

Friedrichs, S, Seitz, C, Bleeker, E, Vandebriel, R, Ouhajji, S, Duistermaat, E, Wiemann, M, Vennemann, A, Katsumiti, A, Buerki-Thurnherr, T, Gupta, G, Wick, P, Ortiz-Galvez, LM, Wu, J, Weltring, K-M, Haase, D, Heunisch, E, Pohl, A, Reilly, K, Guo, Z, Lynch, I, Exner, T, Hagenhoff, B & Breitenstein, D 2025, 'MACRAMÉ - Advanced characterisation methodologies to assess and predict the health and environmental risks of advanced materials', Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, vol. 29, pp. 95-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2025.03.032

Wang, X, Ge, F, Ning, P, Guo, Z, Zhang, P, Wu, L & Lynch, I 2025, 'Polysaccharide self-crosslinking and refrigerated air-drying interfacial modification: A new approach for konjac glucomannan-guar gum thin film loaded with NZVI for enhanced Cr(VI) removal', Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, vol. 719, 136993. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2025.136993

Lyu, Y, Guo, Z, Li, Z, Zhao, FG, Lynch, I, White, JC, Zhou, D & Zhang, P 2025, 'Prediction of Metal Nanoparticle Interactions with Soil Properties: Machine Learning Insights into Soil Health Dynamics', ACS Nano, vol. 19, no. 23, pp. 21629-21643. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.5c04197

Comment/debate

Liu, N, Li, Z, Cheng, S, Monikh, FA, Ye, Z, Ma, T, Zheng, L, Wang, X, Ni, B-J, Chen, Z, Jiang, B, Zhang, P, Guo, Z & Lynch, I 2025, 'Author Correction: Extracting and characterizing microplastics and nanoplastics from environmental samples', Nature protocols. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-025-01318-6

Review article

Xie, C, Lynch, I, Chen, C & Guo, Z 2026, 'Navigating the transcytosis highway: engineering protein coronas for enhanced drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier', Science Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2026.05.040

Xie, C, Li, X, Wu, X, Zhang, S, Zhang, P, Vijver, MG, Peijnenburg, WJGM, Pang, Q, Lynch, I & Guo, Z 2025, 'Bridging planarian bioassays and AOP-based environmental assessment: Toward mechanistic insights into pollutant-induced disruptions', Environmental Research, vol. 286, no. Part 1, 122787. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2025.122787

Liu, N, Li, Z, Cheng, S, Monikh, FA, Ye, Z, Ma, T, Zheng, L, Wang, X, Ni, B-J, Chen, Z, Jiang, B, Zhang, P, Guo, Z & Lynch, I 2025, 'Extracting and characterizing microplastics and nanoplastics from environmental samples', Nature protocols. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-025-01276-z

View all publications in research portal