Dr. Peng Zhang is a multidisciplinary researcher whose work spans liver immunology, metabolic regulation, and computational biomedical science, with a focus on uncovering cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying liver diseases. His research integrates single-cell RNA sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, metabolic pathway analysis, and immunological profiling to explore conditions such as alcoholic-associated liver disease, cholestatic injury, NASH, liver cancer, ischemia–reperfusion injury, and metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease. He has contributed to defining the roles of CD4⁺ T lymphocytes, liver endothelial cells, macrophage heterogeneity, and innate lymphoid cells in disease progression, revealing how metabolic reprogramming, sphingolipid pathways, and NAD homeostasis shape liver injury and regeneration. His work additionally bridges computational and mechanobiological modeling, providing insights into blood-flow-dependent inflammation, lipoprotein transport, and vascular biomechanics that inform cardiometabolic disease mechanisms. Through high-impact publications in immunology, hepatology, metabolism, and biomedical engineering, he has advanced understanding of liver microenvironmental crosstalk, immune–metabolic interactions, and molecular drivers of liver pathology. Overall, his research aims to translate mechanistic discoveries into therapeutic strategies by integrating systems biology, immunometabolism, and advanced computational analysis to better diagnose, prevent, and treat complex liver disorders.
Featured Publications:
Zhang, P., Li, X., Liang, J., Zheng, Y., Tong, Y., Shen, J., Chen, Y., Han, P., Chu, S., Liu, R., Zheng, M., Zhai, Y., Tang, X., Zhang, C., Qu, H., Mi, P., Chai, J., Yuan, D., & Li, S. (2025). Chenodeoxycholic acid modulates cholestatic niche through FXR/Myc/P-selectin axis in liver endothelial cells. Nature Communications, 16(1), 2093.
Gao, C., Wang, S., Xie, X., Ramadori, P., Li, X., Liu, X., Ding, X., Liang, J., Xu, B., Feng, Y., Tan, X., Wang, H., Zhang, Y., Zhang, H., Zhang, T., Mi, P., Li, S., Zhang, C., Yuan, D., Heikenwalder, M., & Zhang, P. (2024). Single-cell profiling of intrahepatic immune cells reveals an expansion of tissue-resident cytotoxic CD4+ T lymphocyte subset associated with pathogenesis of alcoholic-associated liver diseases. Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 19, 101411.
Shen, J., Li, Z., Liu, X., Zheng, M., Zhang, P., Chen, Y., Tian, Q., Tian, W., Kou, G., Cui, Y., Xu, B., Zhai, Y., Li, W., Guo, X., Qiu, J., Li, C., He, R., Li, L., Ma, C., Li, Y., Zuo, X., Yuan, D., & Li, S. (2024). Sensing of liver-derived nicotinamide by intestinal group 2 innate lymphoid cells links liver cirrhosis and ulcerative colitis susceptibility. Advanced Science, 11(23), e2404274.
Feng, Y., Wang, S., Xie, J., Ding, B., Wang, M., Zhang, P., Mi, P., Wang, C., Liu, R., Zhang, T., Yu, X., Yuan, D., & Zhang, C. (2023). Spatial transcriptomics reveals heterogeneity of macrophages in the tumor microenvironment of granulomatous slack skin. Journal of Pathology, 261(1), 105–119.
Wang, S., Chen, S., Sun, J., Han, P., Xu, B., Li, X., Zhong, Y., Xu, Z., Zhang, P., Mi, P., Zhang, C., Li, L., Zhang, H., Xia, Y., Li, S., Heikenwalder, M., & Yuan, D. (2023). m6A modification-tuned sphingolipid metabolism regulates postnatal liver development in male mice. Nature Metabolism, 5(6), 842–860.