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About the PI

Peng Wu

Peng Wu is a Professor in the Department of Molecular Cell and Biology. Before joining the faculty at Scripps Research, Peng was an Associate Professor of Biochemistry and the Scientific Director of the Chemical Biology Core Facility at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York.

Peng Wu received his doctorate from Scripps Research in 2005 under the guidance of Professor K. Barry Sharpless. From September 2004 to early 2005, he was a visiting student in the laboratory of Professor Craig J. Hawker at IBM Almaden Research Center and at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His graduate studies, in collaboration with the Hawker lab, demonstrated for the first time the powerful utilization of click chemistry in the preparation of well-defined macromolecules and nanostructured materials.

From August 2005 to September 2008, Peng was a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Professor Carolyn R. Bertozzi at the University of California, Berkeley. There, he combined his interests in bioorthogonal chemistry and biotechnology by developing a method for site-specific modification of monoclonal antibodies using a genetically encoded aldehyde tag.

Research in the Wu lab integrates synthetic chemistry with glycobiology to explore the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control immune responses toward cancer and human pathogens. The primary goal of the laboratory is to develop chemical biology platforms to engineer cell-surface glycans for the study and tuning of the immune system. The laboratory is also interested in chemical tools that enable the selective enrichment of glycoproteins in leukocytes for their molecular identification and functional studies. These new tools will facilitate the discovery of new biomarkers for human disease and aid in the development of clinical diagnostics and therapeutics.

Team

Dedication. Expertise. Passion.

Lab Alumni:
 

Postdoctoral Fellows

Dr. Wenjian Wang (2021 – 2026)

Dr. Ivan Chernikov (2024 – 2026)

Dr. Chao Wang (2019 – 2025) Joint with Sharpless Lab

Research Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago

Dr. Zilei Liu (2017 – 2021) Joint with Sharpless Lab
Principal Scientist, Translational Immunology at ImmunityBio, Inc.

 

Dr. Senlian Hong (2017 – 2021)
Assistant Professor, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking Unviersity

 

Dr. Mingkuan Chen (2016 – 2020) Postdoctoral Researcher

Principal Scientist, Neurocrine Biosciences
 

Dr. Jie Li (2015 – 2020) Joint with Sharpless Lab

Professor of Chemistry, Nanjing University
 

Dr. Yi Yang (2017 – 2020)

CEO, Glycotherapy
 

Dr. Aime Lopez Aguilar (2016 – 2018)

Assurex Health/Myraid Genetics- Miami, Florida

Dr. Jennie Briard Depatie (2016 – 2017)
Miltenyi Biotec, Medical Science Liaison

Dr. Yiran Zhou (2015 – 2017)
Sorrento Valley Therapeutics

Dr. Lei Feng (2010 – 2016)
Assistant Director, Kodikaz Therapeutic Solutions, Inc

Dr. Hao Jiang (2010 – 2015)
Associate Professor, Ocean University of China

Dr. Wei Wang (2015 – 2017)
Technology Specialist, New Weiming Law Group

Dr. David Soriano del Amo (2008 – 2011)
Acellera, Business Development Associate

Staff Scientist

Dr. Hua Wang (2018)
Senior Principal Scientist, Genentech

Research Technicians

Angel Gandrarilla (2008)

Xiaomeng Hou (2016 – 2017)

Linda Zhang (2016 – 2017)

Research Assistants

Leigh-Anne Cui (2023 – 2025)

Brandon Dinner (2021 – 2022)
Natalie R (2018 – 2023)

Graduate Students

Dr. Kefei Gao (2023 – 2025)

Dr. Yujie Shi (2019 – 2025)

Postdoctoral Associate at Scripps Research

Dr. Eleanor Bashian (2020 – 2025)

MD student at The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Dr. Zhou Yang (2019 – 2023)
Senior Scientist at AstraZeneca Biologics Engineering Department

 

Dr. Tianqing Zheng (2008 – 2013)
PI, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine Chinese Academy of Sciences

 

Dr. Sara Rouhanifard (2010 – 2014)
Assistant Professor at Northeastern University

 

Dr. Abubaker Jalloh (2010 – 2016)
Scripps Research, Corporate Development Assoc. Director

 

Dr. Christen Besanceney (2008 – 2012)

Medical School Student Intern

Xindi Wang

Undergraduate Students

  • Jiahao Zhang

  • Xinyu Lan

  • Jinghao Zhi

  • Kaitlyn Kim

  • Ruitong Li

  • Qi Kong

  • Jiaqi Chen

  • Yuning Zhang

  • Rebecca Triano

  • Yizheng He

  • Pepsi Mock

  • Yujia Wang

  • Haoran Pang

  • Andrew Tran

 

Student Research Interns

Daniel Toobian, University of California San Diego

Nicole Chang

Emily Yang

10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037

MB 208-210

858-784-7626

© 2025 by The Wu Lab

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