The Peyton Lab
Soft Materials, Cancer Bioengineering, and More
Principal Investigator
Shelly Peyton, PhD (she/her/hers)
Provost Professor
Provost Professor, Chemical Engineering
Faculty member, Molecular and Cell Biology Graduate Program
Adjunct faculty member, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Visiting Professor, Tufts University Department of Biomedical Engineering
PI of NIH R25 PREP Program at UMass Amherst
PI of NSF Funded MURALS REU Site at UMass Amherst
CV, Updated 9-2-21
Graduate Students, Post-docs, and Research Technicians
Undergraduate Students
The Peyton lab is always recruiting undergraduate students passionate about applying their quantitative classroom training to solving problems in human health. See the Open Positions page for information about joining.
Current Undergraduates
Benjamin Pepper
Dhimitraq Nikolla
Mahidhar Lakkavaram
Hsu Shwe Yee Naing
Dora Eng-Wu
Narine Berberian
Publications from Peyton lab that have Peyton lab undergraduate authors (shown in bold).
Kundu, A.N., Dougan, C.E., Mahmoud, S., Kilik, A., Panagiotou, A., Irakoze, N., Richbourg, N., and Peyton, S.R.*, (2023) “Tenascin-C activation of lung fibroblasts in a 3D synthetic lung extracellular matrix mimic” Advanced Materials doi: 10.1101/2023.02.24.529926
Kim, H., Wirasaputra, A., Mohammadi, F., Kundu, AN, Esteves, J.A.E., Heiser, L.M., Meyer, A.S., and Peyton, S.R.*, (2023) “Live cell lineage tracing of dormant cancer cells” Advanced Healthcare Materials doi: 10.1101/2022.10.08.511405
Jansen, L.E., McCarthy, T., Lee, M., and Peyton, S.R., (2022) A synthetic, three-dimensional bone marrow hydrogel, Biomaterials doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2021.121270 PMID: 34890973 PMCID: PMC8890749
Barney, L.E., Hall, C.L., Schwartz, A.D., Parks, A.N., Sparages, C., Galarza, S., Platt, M.O., Mercurio, A.M., and Peyton, S.R. (2020) “Tumor cell-organized fibronectin is required to maintain a dormant breast cancer population”, Science Advances doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/686527
Polio, S., Kundu, A., Dougan, C., Birch, N., Aurien-Blajeni, D.E., Schiffman, J., Crosby, A., and Peyton, S.R., (2018) “Cross-platform mechanical characterization of lung tissue” PLOSOne DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0204765
Luzhansky, I.D., Schwartz, A.D., MacMunn, J.P., Cohen, J.D., Barney, L.E., Jansen, L.E., and Peyton, S.R., (2018) “Anomalous diffusion as a descriptive model of cell migration” APL Bioengineering doi: 10.1063/1.5019196
Brooks, E.A., Jansen, L.E., Gencoglu, M.F., Yurkevicz, A.M., and Peyton, S.R. (2018) “Complementary, semiautomated methods for creating multidimensional PEG-based biomaterials” ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering, doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.7b00737.
Tran, Y.H., Rasmuson, M.J., Emrick, T.S., Klier, J., and Peyton, S.R. (2017) “Strain-stiffening gels based on latent crosslinking” Soft Matter DOI: 10.1039/C7SM01888F
Herrick, W.G., Rattan, S., Nguyen, T.V., Grunwald, M.S., Barney, C.W., Crosby, A.J., and Peyton, S.R. (2015) “Smooth muscle stiffness sensitivity is integrin specific and FAK driven” Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering. DOI: 10.1007/s12195-015-0397-4.
Barney, L.E., Dandley, E.C., Jansen, L.E., Reich, N.G., Mercurio, A.M., Peyton, S.R. (2015) “A cell-ECM screening method to predict breast cancer metastasis” Integrative Biology. 7:198-212. DOI: 10.1039/C4IB00218K.
Nguyen, T.V., Sleiman, M., Moriarty, T. Herrick, W.G, and Peyton, S.R. (2014) “Sorafenib resistance and JNK signaling in carcinoma during extracellular matrix stiffening” Biomaterials. 35(22):5749-5759. DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2014.03.058.
Herrick, W.G, Nguyen, T.V., Sleiman, M., McRae, S., Emrick, T.S. and Peyton, S.R., (2013) “PEG-Phosphorylcholine Hydrogels As Tunable and Versatile Platforms for Mechanobiology” Biomacromolecules. 14(7):2294-2304. DOI: 10.1021/bm400418g.
Peyton Lab Alumni
Graduate Student Alumni
Baktha Kannadasan, Chemical Engineering MS, PhD student at UMass Amherst, https://www.linkedin.com/in/bakthavachalam-kannadasan-21481a156/
Carey Dougan, Chemical Engineering PhD, Post-doc Smith College, https://www.linkedin.com/in/careydougan/
Hyuna Kim, Molecular and Cell Biology PhD, Post-doc UT Austin, https://www.linkedin.com/in/hyuna-kim/
Katie Bittner, Molecular and Cell Biology PhD, https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbittner/
Aritra Nath Kundu, Chemical Engineering PhD, Associate Scientist, United Therapeutics https://www.linkedin.com/in/aritra-nath-kundu/
Ning-Hsuan Tseng, Molecular and Cell Biology PhD, Alltrna, https://www.linkedin.com/in/nhtseng/
Yen Tran, Chemical Engineering PhD candidate, Afton Chemical, https://www.linkedin.com/in/yen-tran-cheme/
Sualyneth Galarza, Chemical Engineering PhD, Millipore, https://www.linkedin.com/in/s-galarza/
Elizabeth Brooks, Chemical Engineering PhD, https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-b-6b061a111/
Alyssa Schwartz, Chemical Engineering PhD, Seattle Genetics, https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssaschwartz2/
Jamiu Giwa-Owatsu, B.S. (PREP Program), University of Maryland, https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiu-giwa-otusajo-0a7015127/
Igor Luzhansky, Chemical Engineering M.S., Washington University https://www.linkedin.com/in/igorluzhansky/
Lauren Jansen, Chemical Engineering PhD, Sigilon, https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-jansen-ph-d-48ba7335/
Lauren Barney, Chemical Engineering PhD, Sigilon
Lenny Negron-Piniero, B.S. (PREP Program), PhD student NYU, https://www.linkedin.com/in/lenny-negrón-piñeiro-4a8a489a/
Thuy Nguyen, Chemical Engineering PhD, Pfizer, https://www.linkedin.com/in/thuy-nguyen-2b150564/
Marcos Manganare, Molecular and Cell Biology MS, CDC, https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcos-manganare-4b5202114/
Nathan Colon, B.S. (PREP Program), Drexel, https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-colon-17b8b022/
William Herrick, Chemical Engineering PhD, Post-Doc: Leidos, https://www.linkedin.com/in/wherrick/
Dannielle Berlinghieri (Ryman). Molecular and Cell Biology MS, Leidos, https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannielleryman/
Formber Post-Docs and Lab Managers
Sonu Kizhakkepura, PhD
Carey Dougan, B.S.
Maria Gencoglu, PhD
Chris Hall, PhD
Sam Polio, PhD
Former Undergraduate Studuents
Cam Lobik, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Sage Seymour, UFP Technologies
Nimesha Ratnatuge, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Diana Barr, B.S. Rice University PhD program
Gary Ren, B.S., Pall Corporation
Alara Kilic, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Jennifer Esteves, Washington University Biomedical Engineering PhD program
Sean Tipps, University of Washington PhD Program
Sean Corriveau, UMass Chemical Engineering
Max Hayward, Georgia Tech Chemical Engineering
Jacob Ong, B.S., Moderna
Bryan Kennedy, B.S., Moderna
Jenna Elsner, B.S., Abbvie
Allie Triozzi, B.S.
Samantha Downs, B.S., Epic
Ian Kilcoyne, B.S., Eastman
Eric Blanchard, B.S.
Sarah Duquette, B.S., PhD Program at MIT
Adam Selsman, B.S., PhD Program at Tufts University
Chris Sparages, B.S., Sigilon
Annali Yurkevicz, B.S., PhD Program at Yale University
Dave Podorefsky, B.S., PhD Program at UCSB
Jessica Belliveau, B.S., PhD Program at Delaware
Matt Rasmuson, B.S., Lanxess
Marisa Souza, UMass ChemEng Department
Michael Fitman, B.S., Wayfair
John MacMunn, B.S.
Tom McCarthy, B.S., Emerson
Ari Gilman, PhD program at Princeton University
Shayna Nolan, B.S., Waters
Mariusz Rdultowski, B.S., PhD Program at RPI
Justine Jesse, B.S., MassBiologics
Marianne Sleiman, B.S. University of California, Berkeley PhD Program
Michael Grunwald, B.S. Moderna Therapeutics
Nick Koenig, B.S., Banner Health
Tim Moriarty, B.S., Eversource
David Gallagher, University of Massachusetts Chemical Engineering Department
Jonathan Chiang, University of Massachusetts School of Public Health, Biostatistics
Aidan Gilchrist, B.S., University of Illinois Materials Science PhD Program
Isaac Han, B.S., Brigham and Women's
Elyse Hartnett, Process Development Engineer at Illumina
Maxsimillyan Nowak, UCSB Chemical Engineering PhD Program
Matthew Crotty, B.S., Koch Membrane Systems
Rob Gunther, University of Massachusetts Chemical Engineering Department
Danielle LaValley, B.S. Cornell University Biomedical Engineering PhD Program
Jaclyn Somadelis, B.S. Process Development Engineer, Applied Medical
Prateek Katti, B.S. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill MD/Ph.D Program
Erinn (Dandley) Needham, B.S., (PhD at NC State), IDEXX
Tyler Vlass, B.S., Moderna