معرفی
Shelly Peyton is Professor and Department Chair of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University, with joint appointments in Chemical and Biological Engineering and as a Graduate Biomedical Sciences Member in Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology. Previously, she was a Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 2011 until moving to Tufts in 2024.
Dr. Peyton received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University in 2002 and her MS and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine in 2007. She completed an NIH Kirschstein post-doctoral fellowship in Biological Engineering at MIT before beginning her academic career.
Her research focuses on creating and applying novel biomaterials platforms to address challenges in human health. Her lab builds simplified models of human tissue using synthetic biomaterials to understand: 1) the physical relationship between metastatic breast cancer cells and tissues they spread to, 2) the role of extracellular matrix dynamics in drug resistance, and 3) how to create bioinspired, mechanically dynamic biomaterials. Her work spans biomaterials science, cancer biology, mechanobiology, neuroscience, and tissue engineering, with recent publications covering brain injury mechanics, cancer dormancy, and diversity initiatives in engineering education.
Dr. Peyton has received numerous honors including being a 2013 Pew Biomedical Scholar, recipient of an NIH New Innovator Award, and NSF CAREER grant awardee. She is a Fellow of both the Biomedical Engineering Society and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
Her scientific awards include:
- 2013 Pew Biomedical Scholar
- NIH New Innovator Award
- NSF CAREER Award
- Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society
- Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering
- UMass College of Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award (2018)
- Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Young Innovator Award
- Kavli Fellow
- Conti Fellow
- AIChE 15D/E Division Plenary Award
Dr. Peyton is passionate about graduate student training and diversifying the academy. She has led an REU Site, co-directed a Biotechnology NIH T32 training program, and was lead PI of a PREP program at UMass for students from historically excluded groups. She also runs an NSF-funded program called "Engineering the Cell" for female high school students. Her interdisciplinary lab combines engineering expertise with molecular cell biology to create innovative solutions for human health challenges.
