Weiyi Peng Named Interim Director of CNRCS
Weiyi Peng was named interim director of the Center for Nuclear Receptors & Cell Signaling effective July 1. She replaces the outgoing director, Shaun Zhang, who became the chair of the Department of Biology & Biochemistry on July 1.
Peng, who will be promoted on September 1 to associate professor in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry, is part of the department’s Cell and Molecular Biology research division. Her long-term research goal is to understand and overcome the immune resistance in cancer patients. Aligned with this goal, her primary research efforts focus on elucidating the interplay between cancer and the immune system, dissecting regulatory pathways controlling the rate-limiting steps in the cancer immune cycle, and translating this knowledge into novel therapeutic approaches to improve the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy.
Her current studies include 1) the regulatory role of tumor oncogenic signaling pathways in modulating T-cell mediated antitumor immune response, in particular the PI3K pathway; 2) the impact of deregulated metabolic pathway in tumor on immune resistance; 3) the signaling pathways controlling T-cell proliferation, survival, and tumor trafficking.
Peng received her M.D. from Tongji Medical University and her Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine.