Dr. Annie Peng
Email: congyup@clemson.edu
Annie Peng received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2015 from the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry at Clemson University. Her postdoc research investigated Cryptococcus neoformans pathogenesis and its interaction with the extracellular matrix protein of the host, as well as antifungal drug resistance. During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked as a research assistant professor to establish an interdisciplinary effort on infectious disease mitigation and surveillance at Clemson University. Peng has been welcomed to the Bioengineering department as an Assistant Professor in 2025 to establish a unique program that integrates molecular medicine, computing and regenerative medicine.
Research Interests
Ongoing projects in Peng lab focus on identifying potential biomarkers that are associated with the prognosis of triple-negative breast cancer, developing protein-delivery and cell-therapy approaches for spinal muscular atrophy, and developing diagnosis and therapies targeting respiratory pathogen and oral mucosal microbiome dysbiosis.
Publications
Forsman, D., Smith, A.R., Pratt, A., Comerford, P., Sparano, F., Peng, C., & Dean, D. Surrogate Virus Neutralization Test (sVNT) to determine salivary neutralizing antibody inhibition of ACE2 and SARS-CoV-2 Spike RBD complex. Frontiers in Immunology, 17, 1803393.
Bagwell, E., Shin, M., Henkel, N., Migliaccio, D., Peng, C., & Larsen, J. (2024). 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-treated adult zebrafish as a model for Parkinson’s Disease. Neuroscience Letters, 842, 137991.
O’Mahoney, C., Watt, I., Fiedler, S., Devenish, S., Srikanth, S., Justice, E., … & Peng, C. (2024). Microfluidic Diffusional Sizing (MDS) Measurements of Secretory Neutralizing Antibody Affinity Against SARS-CoV-2. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 52(6), 1653-1664.
Napolitano, J.M., Srikanth, S., Noorai, R.E., Wilson, S., Williams, K.E., Rosales-Garcia, R.A., … & Dean, D. (2024). SARS-CoV-2 variant introduction following spring break travel and transmission mitigation strategies. PLoS One, 19(5), e0301225.
Peng, C.A., Altamirano, S., Paladugu, N., Crowe, L.P., Aboobakar, I.F., Chandrasekaran, S., & Kozubowski, L. (2022). Role of the anillin-like protein in growth of Cryptococcus neoformans at human host temperature. Fungal Genetics and Biology, 160, 103697.
Peng, C.A., Gaertner, A.A., Henriquez, S.A., Fang, D., Colon-Reyes, R.J., Brumaghim, J.L., & Kozubowski, L. (2018). Fluconazole induces ROS in Cryptococcus neoformans and contributes to DNA damage in vitro. PLoS One, 13(12), e0208471.
Hafner, K., Montag, D., Maeser, H., Peng, C., Marcotte Jr., W.R., Dean, D., & Kennedy, M.S. (2017). Evaluating adhesion and alignment of dental pulp stem cells to a spider silk substrate for tissue engineering applications. Materials Science and Engineering: C, 81, 104-112.
Peng, C.A., Russo, J., Lyda, T.A., & Marcotte Jr., W.R. (2017). Polyelectrolyte fiber assembly of plant-derived spider silk-like proteins. Biomacromolecules, 18(3), 740-746.
Peng, C.A., Ferreira, J.F., & Wood, A.J. (2006). Direct analysis of artemisinin from Artemisia annua L. using high-performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detector, and gas chromatography with flame ionization detector. Journal of Chromatography A, 1133(1-2), 254-258.