Research Summary

The Peng Lab is interested in how fibroblasts integrate extracellular cues to modify the tissue niche, with a particular focus on fibroblasts that support tissue-resident stem cells and immune cells. We utilize complex murine genetic models and human specimen to interrogate how fibroblasts 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

Honors & Awards

  • 2000
    Phi Beta Kappa, University of Virginia
  • 2003
    Clinical Research Training Program Scholar, National Institutes of Health
  • 2013
    Travel Award, Program Faculty, Keystone Symposia Conference, Lung Development, Cancer
  • and Disease
  • 2013
    Travel Award, Vascular Biology 2013, North American Vascular Biology Organization (NAVBO)
  • 2013
    Stanley E. Bradley Award for Outstanding Bench Research, Department of Medicine, University
  • of Pennsylvania
  • 2014
    Travel Award, Gordon Research Conference, Lung Development and Repair
  • 2014
    Travel Award, Moderator, Keystone Symposia Conference, Fibrosis: From Bench to Bedside
  • 2014
    Joe Rae Wright Outstanding Young Investigator Award, Federation of American Societies for
  • Experimental Biology (FASEB)
  • 2016
    American Society for Clinical Investigation Young Physician-Scientist Award
  • 2016
    NIH New Innovator Award

Selected Publications

  1. Ye D, Feng S, Yang X, Su Y, Zhang J, Feng H, Zhou M, Zhou B, Duan L, Peng T, Wang C. Hedgehog-interacting protein orchestrates alveologenesis and protects against bronchopulmonary dysplasia and emphysema. Sci Adv. 2025 May 09; 11(19):eadu2958.  View on PubMed
  2. Zhu X, Xu M, Portal C, Lin Y, Ferdinand A, Peng T, Morrisey EE, Dlugosz AA, Castellano JM, Lee V, Seykora JT, Wong SY, Iomini C, Millar SE. Identification of Meibomian gland stem cell populations and mechanisms of aging. Nat Commun. 2025 Feb 15; 16(1):1663.  View on PubMed
  3. Lee JY, Peng T. Convergent evolution of senescent fibroblasts in fibrosis and cancer with aging. Semin Cancer Biol. 2024 Nov; 106-107:192-200.  View on PubMed
  4. Zhu X, Xu M, Portal C, Lin Y, Ferdinand A, Peng T, Morrisey EE, Dlugosz AA, Castellano JM, Lee V, Seykora JT, Iomini C, Millar SE. Identification of Meibomian gland stem cell populations and mechanisms of aging. bioRxiv. 2024 Aug 10.  View on PubMed
  5. Lee JY, Reyes N, Woo SH, Goel S, Stratton F, Kuang C, Mansfield AS, LaFave LM, Peng T. Senescent fibroblasts in the tumor stroma rewire lung cancer metabolism and plasticity. bioRxiv. 2024 Jul 30.  View on PubMed
  6. Lee JY, Reyes NS, Ravishankar S, Zhou M, Krasilnikov M, Ringler C, Pohan G, Wilson C, Ang KK, Wolters PJ, Tsukui T, Sheppard D, Arkin MR, Peng T. An in vivo screening platform identifies senolytic compounds that target p16INK4a+ fibroblasts in lung fibrosis. J Clin Invest. 2024 Mar 07; 134(9).  View on PubMed
  7. Chen X, Haribowo AG, Baik AH, Fossati A, Stevenson E, Chen YR, Reyes NS, Peng T, Matthay MA, Traglia M, Pico AR, Jarosz DF, Buchwalter A, Ghaemmaghami S, Swaney DL, Jain IH. In vivo protein turnover rates in varying oxygen tensions nominate MYBBP1A as a mediator of the hyperoxia response. Sci Adv. 2023 Dec 08; 9(49):eadj4884.  View on PubMed
  8. Peng T. Bad Neighbors or Bad Neighborhoods: Pathogenic Residency of T Cells in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2023 12 01; 208(11):1148-1150.  View on PubMed
  9. COVID Tissue Atlas Consortium, Granados AA, Bucher S, Song H, Agrawal A, Chen AT, Peng T, Neff N, Pisco AO, Huang F, Wang B. Single-nuclei characterization of pervasive transcriptional signatures across organs in response to COVID-19. Elife. 2023 10 13; 12.  View on PubMed
  10. Sbierski-Kind J, Cautivo KM, Wagner JC, Dahlgren MW, Nilsson J, Krasilnikov M, Mroz NM, Lizama CO, Gan AL, Matatia PR, Taruselli MT, Chang AA, Caryotakis S, O'Leary CE, Kotas M, Mattis AN, Peng T, Locksley RM, Molofsky AB. Group 2 innate lymphoid cells constrain type 3/17 lymphocytes in shared stromal niches to restrict liver fibrosis. bioRxiv. 2023 Apr 28.  View on PubMed
  11. Wang C, Hyams B, Allen NC, Cautivo K, Monahan K, Zhou M, Dahlgren MW, Lizama CO, Matthay M, Wolters P, Molofsky AB, Peng T. Dysregulated lung stroma drives emphysema exacerbation by potentiating resident lymphocytes to suppress an epithelial stem cell reservoir. Immunity. 2023 03 14; 56(3):576-591.e10.  View on PubMed
  12. Reyes NS, Krasilnikov M, Allen NC, Lee JY, Hyams B, Zhou M, Ravishankar S, Cassandras M, Wang C, Khan I, Matatia P, Johmura Y, Molofsky A, Matthay M, Nakanishi M, Sheppard D, Campisi J, Peng T. Sentinel p16INK4a+ cells in the basement membrane form a reparative niche in the lung. Science. 2022 10 14; 378(6616):192-201.  View on PubMed
  13. Allen NC, Reyes NS, Lee JY, Peng T. Intersection of Inflammation and Senescence in the Aging Lung Stem Cell Niche. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2022; 10:932723.  View on PubMed
  14. Kathiriya JJ, Wang C, Zhou M, Brumwell A, Cassandras M, Le Saux CJ, Cohen M, Alysandratos KD, Wang B, Wolters P, Matthay M, Kotton DN, Chapman HA, Peng T. Human alveolar type 2 epithelium transdifferentiates into metaplastic KRT5+ basal cells. Nat Cell Biol. 2022 01; 24(1):10-23.  View on PubMed
  15. Kathiriya JJ, Peng T. An inflammatory switch for stem cell plasticity. Nat Cell Biol. 2021 09; 23(9):928-929.  View on PubMed
  16. Cassandras M, Wang C, Kathiriya J, Tsukui T, Matatia P, Matthay M, Wolters P, Molofsky A, Sheppard D, Chapman H, Peng T. Gli1+ mesenchymal stromal cells form a pathological niche to promote airway progenitor metaplasia in the fibrotic lung. Nat Cell Biol. 2020 11; 22(11):1295-1306.  View on PubMed
  17. Wang C, Cassandras M, Peng T. The Role of Hedgehog Signaling in Adult Lung Regeneration and Maintenance. J Dev Biol. 2019 Jul 09; 7(3).  View on PubMed
  18. Dahlgren MW, Jones SW, Cautivo KM, Dubinin A, Ortiz-Carpena JF, Farhat S, Yu KS, Lee K, Wang C, Molofsky AV, Tward AD, Krummel MF, Peng T, Molofsky AB. Adventitial Stromal Cells Define Group 2 Innate Lymphoid Cell Tissue Niches. Immunity. 2019 03 19; 50(3):707-722.e6.  View on PubMed
  19. Kim SJ, Shan P, Hwangbo C, Zhang Y, Min JN, Zhang X, Ardito T, Li A, Peng T, Sauler M, Lee PJ. Endothelial toll-like receptor 4 maintains lung integrity via epigenetic suppression of p16INK4a. Aging Cell. 2019 06; 18(3):e12914.  View on PubMed
  20. Wang C, de Mochel NSR, Christenson SA, Cassandras M, Moon R, Brumwell AN, Byrnes LE, Li A, Yokosaki Y, Shan P, Sneddon JB, Jablons D, Lee PJ, Matthay MA, Chapman HA, Peng T. Expansion of hedgehog disrupts mesenchymal identity and induces emphysema phenotype. J Clin Invest. 2018 10 01; 128(10):4343-4358.  View on PubMed

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