Research Summary
The Peng Lab is interested in how the mesenchymal compartment integrates extracellular cues to modify the niche, with a focus on the niche supporting resident tissue stem cells. We utilize complex murine genetic models and human specimen to interrogate how mesenchymal compartments maintain organ homeostasis, initiate disease, and drive tissue aging. Tien is a pulmonologist by training and the lab utilizes the lung as a model organ due to its immense cellular diversity and architectural complexity.
Research Funding
February 1, 2021 - December 31, 2024 - Mesenchymal modulation of epithelial metaplasia in lung fibrosis , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01HL155622
August 22, 2018 - June 30, 2022 - Maintenance of the alveolar niche in emphysema , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01HL142552
September 30, 2016 - June 30, 2021 - Defining the resident mesenchymal stem cell niche and function in vivo , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: DP2AG056034
September 1, 2014 - June 30, 2019 - The roles of Hedgehog signaling in pulmonary vascular development and remodeling , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: K08HL121146
Education
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, B.A., 05/2000, Biology/Sociology
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, M.D., 05/2006, Medicine
Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, Residency, 06/2009, Internal Medicine
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, Fellowship, 12/2012, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, Postdoctoral research, 07/2015 Cell and Developmental Biology