Xiaofeng Cao

Cao Xiaofeng (; born May 1965) is a Chinese plant scientist who researches epigenetics in plants using model species in the genus Arabidopsis and rice plants. She is an elected member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the US National Academy of Sciences

Early life and education Xiaofeng Cao was born and grew up in Beijing.

Career After finishing her PhD, Cao came to the US for a postdoctoral research appointment at Washington State University. She then worked as a research associate at the University of California, Los Angeles before becoming a principal investigator at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (Chinese Academy of Sciences). She has been part of the editorial boards of several journals, including Journal of Genetics and Genomics, The Plant Cell, Annual Review of Plant Biology, Science China Life Sciences, National Science Review, and Current Opinion in Plant Biology.

Awards and honors She is an elected member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015. In 2020, she was elected as an international member of the US National Academy of Sciences in its plant biology division. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2026.