Peng Ji, Ph.D.

Education

• B.S., Animal Science, Shenyang Agricultural University
• M.S., Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University
• Ph.D., Animal Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Research Interests

My overarching goal is to evaluate the risks and opportunities of nutritional factors in enhancing neurodevelopment and host resilience to early-life adverse events (e.g. infection and stress). Our research use neonatal pigs as a translational model, becasue of broad resemblance between pigs and humans in many aspects, such as digestive physiology, components of immune system, anatomic structure of brain and perinatal neurodevelopment. Specifically, our current project investigates how unbalanced iron status in early life affects systemic and CNS iron hoemostasis, susceptibility to infections, brain energy metabolism, and social cognition using nursing pigs.

Selected Publications

Navazesh SE, Ji P. Iron Stress Reprograms Enterocyte Metabolism. Metabolites. 2025; 15(11):691. [Link]

Kim J, Poddar A, Sandoval K, Chu J, Horton E, Cui D, Nakamura K, Lu IL, Mui M, Bartels T, Wood CM, Ramos SI, Rowitch DH, Tsankova NM, Kim H, Sherwood CC, Kramer BW, Roberts AC, Ross PJ, Xu D, Robertson NJ, Maga EA, Ji P, Paredes MF. An expanded subventricular zone supports postnatal cortical interneuron migration in gyrencephalic brains. Nat Neurosci. 2025 Aug;28(8):1598-1609. doi: 10.1038/s41593-025-01987-2. Epub 2025 Jul 14. [PubMed]

Park J, Jinno C, Wickramasinghe S, Mills DA, Liu Y, Lönnerdal BL, Ji P. Iron Fortification and Inulin Supplementation in Early Infancy: Evaluating the Impact on Gut Microbiome in a Piglet Model. Curr Dev Nutr. 2025 Apr;9(4):104587. doi: 10.1016/j.cdnut.2025.104587. eCollection 2025 Apr. [PubMed]

Arballo J, Rutkowsky JM, Haskell MJ, De Las Alas K, Engle-Stone R, Du X, Ramsey JJ, Ji P. Pre- and Postnatal Vitamin A Deficiency Impairs Motor Skills without a Consistent Effect on Trace Mineral Status in Young Mice. Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Oct 8;25(19). doi: 10.3390/ijms251910806. [PubMed]

Park J, Wickramasinghe S, Mills DA, Lönnerdal BL, Ji P. Iron Fortification and Inulin Supplementation in Early Infancy: Evaluating the Impact on Iron Metabolism and Trace Mineral Status in a Piglet Model. Curr Dev Nutr. 2024 Apr;8(4):102147. doi: 10.1016/j.cdnut.2024.102147. eCollection 2024 Apr. [PubMed]

McClorry S, Ji P, Parenti MG, Slupsky CM. Antibiotics augment the impact of iron deficiency on metabolism in a piglet model. J Nutr Biochem. 2023 Sep;119:109405. doi: 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2023.109405. Epub 2023 Jun 11. [PubMed]
 
McMillen SA, Dean R, Dihardja E, Ji P, Lönnerdal B. Benefits and Risks of Early Life Iron Supplementation. Nutrients. 2022 Oct 19;14(20). doi: 10.3390/nu14204380.  [PubMed]
 
Kim K, Song M, Liu Y, Ji P. Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli infection of weaned pigs: Intestinal challenges and nutritional intervention to enhance disease resistance. Front Immunol. 2022;13:885253. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.885253. eCollection 2022. [PubMed]

Perng V, Navazesh SE, Park J, Arballo JR, Ji P. Iron Deficiency and Overload Modulate the Inflammatory Responses and Metabolism of Alveolar Macrophages. Nutrients. 2022 Jul 28;14(15). doi: 10.3390/nu14153100. [PubMed]

Kim K, Jinno C, Ji P, Liu Y. Trace amounts of antibiotic altered metabolomic and microbial profiles of weaned pigs infected with a pathogenic E. coli. J Anim Sci Biotechnol. 2022 May 9;13(1):59. doi: 10.1186/s40104-022-00703-5. [PubMed]

Zhou F, Ebea P, Mutai E, Wang H, Sukreet S, Navazesh S, Dogan H, Li W, Cui J, Ji P, Ramirez DMO, Zempleni J. Small Extracellular Vesicles in Milk Cross the Blood-Brain Barrier in Murine Cerebral Cortex Endothelial Cells and Promote Dendritic Complexity in the Hippocampus and Brain Function in C57BL/6J Mice. Front Nutr. 2022;9:838543. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.838543. eCollection 2022. [PubMed]

He Y, Jinno C, Li C, Johnston SL, Xue H, Liu Y, Ji P. Effects of a blend of essential oils, medium-chain fatty acids, and a toxin-adsorbing mineral on diarrhea and gut microbiome of weanling pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic Escherichia coli. J Anim Sci. 2022 Jan 1;100(1). doi: 10.1093/jas/skab365. [PubMed]

Qi M, Tan B, Wang J, Liao S, Deng Y, Ji P, Song T, Zha A, Yin Y. The microbiota-gut-brain axis: A novel nutritional therapeutic target for growth retardation. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2022;62(18):4867-4892. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2021.1879004. Epub 2021 Feb 1. [PubMed]

Perng V, Li C, Klocke CR, Navazesh SE, Pinneles DK, Lein PJ, Ji P. Iron Deficiency and Iron Excess Differently Affect Dendritic Architecture of Pyramidal Neurons in the Hippocampus of Piglets. J Nutr. 2021 Jan 4;151(1):235-244. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxaa326. [PubMed] 

Doan N, Liu Y, Xiong X, Kim K, Wu Z, Bravo DM, Blanchard A, Ji P. Organic selenium supplement partially alleviated diquat-induced oxidative insults and hepatic metabolic stress in nursery pigs. Br J Nutr. 2020 Jul 14;124(1):23-33. doi: 10.1017/S0007114520000689. Epub 2020 Mar 2.  [PubMed] 

Ji P, B Nonnecke E, Doan N, Lönnerdal B, Tan B. Excess Iron Enhances Purine Catabolism Through Activation of Xanthine Oxidase and Impairs Myelination in the Hippocampus of Nursing Piglets. J Nutr. 2019 Nov 1;149(11):1911-1919. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxz166. [PubMed] 

Ji P, Lönnerdal B, Kim K, Jinno CN. Iron Oversupplementation Causes Hippocampal Iron Overloading and Impairs Social Novelty Recognition in Nursing Piglets. J Nutr. 2019 Mar 1;149(3):398-405. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxy227. [PubMed]

Liu Y, Ji P. Dietary Factors in Prevention of Pediatric Escherichia coli Infection: A Model Using Domestic Piglets. ILAR J. 2018 Dec 31;59(3):338-351. doi: 10.1093/ilar/ilz005. [PubMed] 

Leyshon BJ, Ji P, Caputo MP, Matt SM, Johnson RW. Dietary Iron Deficiency Impaired Peripheral Immunity but Did Not Alter Brain Microglia in PRRSV-Infected Neonatal Piglets. Front Immunol. 2018;9:3150. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.03150. eCollection 2018.  [PubMed] 

Ji P, Schachtschneider KM, Schook LB, Walker FR, Johnson RW. Peripheral viral infection induced microglial sensome genes and enhanced microglial cell activity in the hippocampus of neonatal piglets. Brain Behav Immun. 2016 May;54:243-251. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2016.02.010. Epub 2016 Feb 9.  [PubMed]