Peining Zhang
Computer Science Ph.D. student, University of Connecticut
Email: peining.zhang@uconn.edu [CV]
I am a 3rd-year Ph.D. student in the Computer Science and Engineering department of the University of Connecticut, advised by Prof. Jinbo Bi.
I received my master’s degree in computer science from Rutgers University and my bachelor’s degree from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), where I was advised by Prof. Linli Xu. My earlier work includes generative models for NLP and machine learning for personalized advertising at Kuaishou.
My current research focuses on 3D generative models and drug discovery. In particular, I develop diffusion models for generating physically realistic molecules, including molecules designed for specific protein binding pockets.
news
| Sep 2026 | Our paper PocketVE: Stable and Property-Guided Structure-Based Drug Design with Variance-Exploding Diffusion was accepted to NeurIPS 2026. |
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| Nov 2025 | Our paper VEDA: Generation of 3D Molecules via Variance-Exploding Diffusion with Annealing was accepted as an Oral paper at AAAI 2026. |
| Jun 2025 | Our review Unraveling the Potential of Diffusion Models in Small Molecule Generation was accepted for publication in Drug Discovery Today. |