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