Webex Link: https://uichicago.webex.com/meet/zhpeng

Principle Investigator: Center for Bioinformatics and Quantitative Biology

Research Interests: Multiscale Modeling; Microstructure-based Modeling of Cells, Organelles, Molecules, and Tissues; Modeling of Microfluidics, Nanofluidics, and Finite-Reynolds-Number Flows.

My research area is computational science and engineering, especially multiscale modeling. My research directions include microstructure-based biomechanical analysis of molecules/organelles/cells/tissues, red blood cell mechanics, primary cilia,  dynamics of DNA/RNA/structural proteins, blood vessel walls, microfluidics, and nanofluidics. Specifically, one main goal of my group is to apply multiscale modeling to predict how mutations and modifications of cytoskeletal proteins and other structural proteins affect the biomechanics and mechanobiology of cells, organelles, and tissues within in vitro and in vivo microenvironments. The multiscale modeling can also be applied to understand the mechanisms of related diseases such as hematologic disorders, malaria, ciliopathies, laminopathies, and cancer metastasis. In pursuit of this goal, the objective of my group is to integrate atomistic-based simulations such as all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) and coarse-grained dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) with continuum-based modeling approaches such as finite element method (FEM) and boundary element method (BEM) to model the cell-microenvironment interactions starting from the molecular scales, and to work closely with experimental collaborators for validations and hypothesis testing. My group is also applying multiphysics modeling to help develop deformation-based, inertial-based, acoustic-based, thermal-based, electrical-based microfluidic/nanofluidic devices for disease diagnostics and biotechnologies. In addition, I also studied several types of bio-inspired structures, including a flow energy harvester of flapping foils inspired by fish swimming, nacre shells, and tensegrity structures.

1. Mohammad Moein Naderi, Ludovica Barilla, Jian Zhou, Ian Papautsky*, Zhangli Peng*, Elasto-Inertial Focusing Mechanisms of Particles in Shear-Thinning Viscoelastic Fluid in Rectangular Microchannels. Micromachines. 13:2131. 2022.  pdf
2. Cho IS, Gupta P, Mostafazadeh N, Wong SW, Saichellappa S, Lenzini S, Peng Z, and Shin JW. Deterministic single cell encapsulation in asymmetric microenvironments to direct cell polarity. Advanced Science. 2206014. pdf
3. Giuseppe Lauricella, Jian Zhou, Qiyue Luan, Ian Papautsky, and Zhangli Peng.  Computational study of inertial migration of prolate particles in a straight rectangular channel. Physics of Fluids. Featured Article.  34: 082021, 2022; news,  pdf
4. Shuo Ma, Muhao Chen, Zhangli Peng, Xingfei Yuan, Robert E. Skelton. The Equilibrium and Form-Finding of General Tensegrity Systems with Rigid Bodies, Engineering Structures.  266 :114618, 2022. pdf
5. Antoni Garcia-Herreros, Yi-Ting Yeh, Zhangli Peng, Juan del Álamo. Cyclic mechanical stresses alter erythrocyte membrane composition and microstructure and trigger macrophage phagocytosis. Advanced Science. 9:2201481, 2022. pdf
6. Antonio Perazzo*, Zhangli Peng*, Y-N Young, Zhe Feng, David K Wood, John M Higgins, Howard A Stone. The effect of rigid cells on blood viscosity: linking rheology and sickle cell anemia. Soft Matter. 18(3):554-565, 2022. (*Contributed equally) news pdf
7. Timothy Leong, Chandhana Voleti and Zhangli Peng. Coarse-Grained Modeling of Coronavirus Spike Proteins and ACE2 Receptors. Frontiers in Physics.9:1-9. doi:10.3389/fphy.2021.680983. 2021.  news pdf
8. Zhangli Peng, Andy Resnick, Yuan-Nan Young. Primary Cilium: A Paradigm for Integrating Mathematical Modeling with Experiments and Numerical Simulations in Mechanobiology, Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering. 18(2): 1215–1237. 2021. pdf
9. Arjun Attri, Deepak Thakur,  Taranpreet Kaur, Sebastian Sensale,  Zhangli Peng, Deepak Kumar, Raman Preet Singh, Nanoparticles incorporating a fluorescence turn-on reporter for real-time drug release monitoring, a chemoenhancer and a stealth agent: Poseidon’s trident against cancer? Molecular Pharmaceutics, 18:124−147. 2021 pdf
10. Zhe Feng, Richard Waugh and Zhangli Peng, Constitutive Model of Erythrocyte Membranes with Distributions of Spectrin Orientations and Lengths, Biophysical Journal, 119:2190-2204, 2020. pdf
11. Yijie Liu, Yang Mei, Xu Han, Farida V Korobova, Miguel A Prado, Jing Yang, Zhangli Peng, Joao Paulo, Steven Gygi, Daniel Finley, Peng Ji. Membrane skeleton modulates erythroid proteome remodeling and organelle clearance. Blood. 137(3):398-409. 2020. pdf
12. Jian Zhou, Zhangli Peng, Ian Papautsky. Mapping inertial migration in the cross-section of a microfluidic channel with high speed imaging, Microsystems & Nanoengineering. 6:105, 2020 pdf
13. Sing Wan Wong, Raymond Bargi, Zhe Feng, Celine Macaraniag, James C. Lee, Zhangli Peng, and Jae-Won Shin, Controlled deposition of three-dimensional matrices to direct single cell functions. Advanced Science. 7(20): 20. 2020. pdf
14. Justin Flaherty, Zhe Feng, Yuan-Nan Young, Zhangli Peng, and Andrew Resnick. Primary cilia have a length-dependent persistence length. Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology. 19:445–460, 2020. pdf
15. Sebastian Sensale, Zhangli Peng, and H.Chia Chang. Biphasic signals during nanopore translocation of DNA and nanoparticles due to strong ion cloud deformation. Nanoscale, 11(47):22772-22779. 2019. pdf
16. Huijie Lu and Zhangli Peng. Boundary integral simulations of a red blood cell squeezing through a submicron slit under prescribed inlet and outlet pressures, Physics of Fluids, 31:031902, 2019. (featured as Editor’s choice). news pdf
17. Sebastian Sensale, Zhangli Peng, and H.Chia Chang. Acceleration of DNA Melting Kinetics Using Alternating Electric Fields. Journal of Chemical Physics,149(8):085102, 2018. pdf
18. Xuejin Li, Huijie Lu, and Zhangli Peng, Continuum- and Particle-based Modeling of Human Red Blood Cells. Handbook of Materials Modeling – Applications: Current and Emerging Materials, Edition: 4, Chapter: 11 1-16, Springer, 2018. pdf
19. Sebastian Sensale, Zhangli Peng and H.-C. Chang. Kinetic theory for DNA melting with vibrational entropy, Journal of Chemical Physics, 147:135101. 2017. pdf
20. Yan Bao, Dai Zhou, J.J. Tao, Zhangli Peng, H.B. Zhu, Z.L. Sun, and H.L. Tong, Dynamic interference of two anti-phase flapping foils in side-by-side arrangement in an incompressible flow. Physics of Fluids, 29:033601, 2017. pdf
21. Igor V. Pivkin*, Zhangli Peng*, George Em Karniadakis, Pierre A Buffet, Ming Dao, and Subra Suresh. Biomechanics of red blood cells in human spleen and consequences for physiology and disease. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A., 113 (28) 7804-7809, 2016. (* Contributed equally). pdf news
22. Szu-Pei Fu, Zhangli Peng, Hongyan Yuan,R. Kfoury, and Y.-N. Young, Lennard-Jones type pair-potential method for coarse-grained lipid bilayer membrane simulations in LAMMPS. Computer Physics Communications, 210:193-203. pdf
23. Zhangli Peng, On-Shun Pak, Allen Liu, and Yuan-Nan Young. On the gating of mechanosensitive channels by fluid shear stress. Acta Mechanica Sinica, 32: 1012–1022. 2016. pdf
24. Alexandra Witthoft, Alireza Yazdani, Zhangli Peng, Chiara Bellini, Jay D. Humphrey and George Em Karniadakis. A discrete mesoscopic particle model of the mechanics of a multi-constituent arterial wall. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 13: 20150964, 2015 pdf
25. Zhangli Peng, Yeng-Long Chen, Huijie Lu, Zehao Pan, Hsueh-Chia Chang. Mesoscale simulations of two model systems in biophysics: from red blood cells to DNAs. Computational Particle Mechanics, 4:339-357, 2015 pdf
26. Peng Li, Zhangming Mao, Zhangli Peng, Lanlan Zhou, Yuchao Chen , Po-Hsun Huang , Cristina I. Truica, Joseph J. Drabick, Wafik S. El-Deiry, Ming Dao, Subra Suresh, and Tony Jun Huang. Acoustic Separation of Circulating Tumor Cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 112:4970–4975. 2015 pdf News
27. Zhangli Peng, Sara Salehyar and Qiang Zhu. Stability of the Tank Treading Modes of Erythrocytes and Its Dependence on Cytoskeleton Reference States. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 771:449–467. 2015, pdf.
28. Xiaoyun Ding*, Zhangli Peng*, Sz-Chin Steven Lin, Michela Geri, Sixing Li, Peng Li, Yuchao Chen, Ming Dao, Subra Suresh and Tony Jun Huang. Cell Separation Using Tilted-Angle Standing Surface Acoustic Waves. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A., 111 (36) 12992-12997, 2014. (*Contributed equally). pdf, news
29. Xuejin Li, Zhangli Peng, Huai Lei, Ming Dao and George Em Karniadakis. Probing red blood cell mechanics, rheology and dynamics with a two-component multi-scale model. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A. 372(2021): 20130389, 2014. pdf
30. Zhangli Peng, Adel Mashayekh, and Qiang Zhu. Erythrocyte responses in low shear rate flows – effects of non-biconcave stress-free state in cytoskeleton. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 742:96-118, 2014. pdf
31. Zhangli Peng, Xuejin Li, Igor V. Pivkin, Ming Dao, George Em Karniadakis, and Subra Suresh. Lipid-bilayer and cytoskeletal interactions in a red blood cell. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A., 110:13356-13361, 2013. pdf
32. Zhangli Peng, and Qiang Zhu. Deformation of the erythrocyte cytoskeleton in tank treading motions. Soft Matter, 9:7617-7627, 2013. pdf
33. HeeSu Byun, Timothy R. Hillman, John M. Higgins, Monica Diez-Silva, Zhangli Peng, Ming Dao, Ramachandra R. Dasari, Subra Suresh, and YongKeun Park. Optical measurement of biomechanical properties of individual erythrocytes from a sickle cell patient. Acta Biomaterialia, 8:4130-4138, 2012. pdf
34. Mythili Aingaran*, Rou Zhang*, Sue Law*, Zhangli Peng*, Evan Meyer, Monica Diez-Silva, Christof Gruering, Luis Ibanez, Tobias Spielmann, Chwee Teck Lim, Subra Suresh, Ming Dao and Matthias Marti. Host cell deformability is linked to transmission in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Cellular Microbiology, 14:983-993, 2012. (Featured as Editors’s Choice, *Contributed equally) pdf
35. Zhangli Peng, Robert J. Asaro, and Qiang Zhu. Multiscale modelling of erythrocytes in Stokes flow. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 686: 299-337, 2011. pdf
36. Jiddu Bezares, Zhangli Peng, Robert J. Asaro, and Qiang Zhu. Macromolecular structure and viscoelastic response of the organic framework of nacre in Haliotis rufescens: a perspective and overview. Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 38: 75-106, 2011. pdf
37. Zhangli Peng, Robert J. Asaro, and Qiang Zhu. Multiscale modeling of erythrocyte membranes. Physical Review E, 81: 031904, 2010. pdf
38. Zhangli Peng and Qiang Zhu. Energy harvesting through flow-induced oscillations of a foil. Physics of Fluids, 21: 123602, 2009. pdf
39. Qiang Zhu and Zhangli Peng. Mode coupling and flow energy harvesting by a flapping foil. Physics of Fluids, 21: 033601, 2009. pdf
40. Xingfei Yuan, Zhangli Peng and Shilin Dong, Baojun Zhao. A new tensegrity module -“Torus”. Advances in Structural Engineering, 11: 243-251, 2008. pdf
41. Xingfei Yuan, Zhangli Peng, Shilin Dong. Study and application of tensegrity torus. China Civil Engineering Journal, 41: 8-13, 2008.
42. Xingfei Yuan, Zhangli Peng and Shilin Dong. Load-carrying capacity of welded hollow spherical joints subject to combined planar tri-directional axial force and bending moment. Journal of Zhejiang University (Engineering Science), 41: 1436-1442, 2007.
43. Zhangli Peng, Xingfei Yuan and Shilin Dong. Tensegrity torus. Spatial Structures, 13: 60-64, 2007.

News

August 19, 2022

To better understand how different shaped particles flow within inertial microfluidics, a UIC Engineering research team – composed of biomedical engineering Master student Giuseppe Lauricella from Politecnico di Milano under the supervision of Assistant Professor Zhangli Peng at UIC, Research Assistant Professor Jian Zhou and Ph.D. student Qiyue Luan from the lab of Richard and Loan Hill Professor Ian Papautsky – conducted a systematic investigation of non-spherical particles.

Study unlocks new information on ellipsoidal particles

April 15, 2022

Undergraduate student Lubna Shah from Assistant Professor Zhangli Peng’s lab won 2nd place in Poster Presentation in the  4th Annual Research Symposium in the Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Undergraduate student Timothy Leong from Assistant Professor Zhangli Peng’s lab won 3rd place in Poster Presentation in the  4th Annual Research Symposium in the Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Master student Giuseppe Lauricella from Assistant Professor Zhangli Peng’s lab won 2nd place in Oral Presentation in the  4th Annual Research Symposium in the Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering.

November 19, 2021

PhD student Moein Naderi from Assistant Professor Zhangli Peng’s lab took home the Best Poster Presentation award for his work titled “Computational Modeling of Elasto-Inertial Focusing of Particles.

CBQB hosts first annual research day

Researchers investigate impact of viscosity on sickle cell anemia

https://cbqb.uic.edu/news-stories/bioengineers-design-coronavirus-model/

Peng to develop mathematical models to investigate cilia in mammal cells

BioE researchers look to unlock the secrets of red blood cell membranes

Postdoc, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ph.D., University of California San Diego