Yi-Rong Peng

Dr. Yi-Rong Peng is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), under the David Geffen School of Medicine. Her research focuses on uncovering molecular mechanisms in retinal circuit formation and disease pathogenesis through advanced transcriptomic and genomic approaches.

• Education: PhD in Neurobiology (2011) from the Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Postdoctoral Training: Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Joshua Sanes at Harvard University (2011–2019)

Dr. Peng's work leverages high-throughput single-cell RNA sequencing to identify transcriptional regulators governing retinal cell specification. Her recent studies on sea lamprey retinas reveal evolutionary conserved and divergent retinal cell types, while her lab develops innovative tools to study retinal disease mechanisms. Current projects investigate gene regulatory networks in rod bipolar cell evolution, foveal specialization in primates, and synaptic organization principles.

Her publications span top-tier journals like Cell, Neuron, and Current Opinion in Neurobiology, focusing on:

• Retinal cell type specification
• Evolutionary origins of visual processing
• Transcriptional regulation in neural circuits
• Developmental mechanisms of neuronal diversity

Dr. Peng's lab actively engages in conference presentations at ARVO and ASGCT, with ongoing research supported by major biomedical funding agencies. She maintains a collaborative research environment at UCLA's Stein Eye Institute, integrating computational biology with experimental approaches to advance retinal disease research.