Jason R Spence, PhD

 Jason Spence
H Marvin Pollard Professor of Gastrointestinal Sciences
Professor of Internal Medicine
Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Medical School and Professor of Biomedical Engineering
College of Engineering and Medical School
Email:
[email protected]
Available to mentor
Jason R Spence, PhD
Jason Spence
Professor
  • Center Memberships
  • Research Overview
  • Links
  • Recent Publications

  • Manage Your Profile

    • Center Memberships
    • Center Member
      Biosciences Initiative
    • Center Member
      Center for Cell Plasticity and Organ Design
    • Center Member
      Caswell Diabetes Institute
    • Center Member
      Rogel Cancer Center

    Research Overview

    1. Developmental Biology: Using model organisms and human tissue to understand mechanisms by which the embryo develops, with a focus on specification, differentiation and organogenesis of tissue derived from the endoderm.

    2. Stem Cell Biology, Regenerative Medicine and Disease Modeling: Directing differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into different endodermal lineages such that we may generate tissue for replacement therapies and discover novel in vitro methods to model and study human development and disease.

    Links
    • Jason Spence Lab
    • Translational Tissue Modeling Laboratory
    • @TheSpenceLab

    Recent Publications

     See All Publications
    • Journal Article
      Building and regenerating intestines by manipulating intestinal stem cells.
      Kuo CJ, Blutt S, Donowitz M, Estes MK, Guha C, Klein OD, Li L, Niland JC, Santos AJM, Shivdasani RA, Spence JR, Swanson CJ, Wang TC, Yan KS, Zachos NC, Helmrath MA. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol, 2026 Sep 3; DOI:10.1038/s41575-026-01242-4
      PMID: 42693242
    • Preprint
      GSTT2 Switches from a Homeostatic Antioxidant to a Cell-Cycle-Coupled Factor in Therapy-Resistant Esophageal Adenocarcinoma
      Ferrer-Torres D, Ray P, Etzioni N, Hammer MA, Ghosh A, Liu M, Jeeyar V, Wani S, Kim SS, Mungo B, Marasligiller S, Turgeon DK, Lin J, Higgins PDR, Spence JR, Lagisetty KH, Beer DG, Ray D. 2026 Aug 31; Preprints.org, DOI:10.20944/preprints202608.1955.v1
    • Preprint
      Diverse Intestinal Injuries Drive Heterogeneous Transcriptional Responses and Limited Reactivation of Developmental Gene Programs in Human Enteroids
      Villanueva JW, Tsai Y-H, Wu A, Caldwell C, Vallie A, Buerk M, Huang S, Spence JR. 2026 Aug 26; bioRxiv, DOI:10.64898/2026.08.21.746334
    • Journal Article
      Mapping mesenchymal diversity in the human small intestine and organoids
      Johnson KF, Dong X, Tsai YH, Wu A, Clark SG, Vallie A, Huang S, Childs CJ, Zwick RK, Glass I, Walton KD, Klein OD, Spence JR. Nature Cell Biology, 2026 Aug 1; 28 (8): 1758 - 1770. DOI:10.1038/s41556-026-02027-2
      PMID: 42486901
    • Journal Article
      RUNX2 promotes chromatin accessibility and WNT signaling in inflamed intestinal epithelial cells
      Cabrera-Silva RI, Wilson ZS, Miranda J, Fan S, Dame M, Bishu S, Spence JR, Brazil JC, Colacino J, Nusrat A, Parkos CA. Mucosal Immunology, 2026 Aug 1; 19 (4): DOI:10.1016/j.mucimm.2026.100361
      PMID: 42276192
    • Preprint
      Suspension-Based Human Esophagoids Recapitulate WNT2B-Dependent Regulation of Esophageal Basal Progenitors
      Etzioni N, Frum T, Johnson K, Álvarez-Maldonado AP, Yllescas-Lopez HM, Bayer DE, Xiao Z, Eiken MK, Loebel C, Wu JH, Tsai Y-H, Wu A, Zhang CJ, Dame MK, Gunuguntla B, Cuttitta AJ, Ho H, Tigani DJ, Sexton J, Dasuri VS, Makogonov N, O’Connell AE, Spence JR, Torres DF. 2026 Jun 26; bioRxiv, DOI:10.64898/2026.06.23.733451
    • Additional Scholarship
      Data from GRAIL1 Stabilizes Misfolded Mutant p53 through a Ubiquitin Ligase-Independent, Chaperone Regulatory Function
      Ray P, Jaiswal S, Ferrer-Torres D, Wang Z, Nancarrow D, Curtin M, Martinho MS, Lacy SM, Kasturirangan S, Thomas D, Spence JR, Truttmann MC, Lagisetty KH, Lawrence TS, Wang TD, Beer DG, Ray D. 2026 Jun 17; DOI:10.1158/1541-7786.c.7520410
    • Figure
      Supplementary Figure S1 from GRAIL1 Stabilizes Misfolded Mutant p53 through a Ubiquitin Ligase-Independent, Chaperone Regulatory Function
      Ray P, Jaiswal S, Ferrer-Torres D, Wang Z, Nancarrow D, Curtin M, Martinho MS, Lacy SM, Kasturirangan S, Thomas D, Spence JR, Truttmann MC, Lagisetty KH, Lawrence TS, Wang TD, Beer DG, Ray D. 2026 Jun 17; DOI:10.1158/1541-7786.32710742

    Featured News & Stories

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    Health Lab

    Evolutionary insights into the development of the human intestine

    An international research team finds that the human gut is a site of rapid change, with recent and important deviations from other mammals.
    Department News

    New Publication from the Spence Lab!

    Cell Reports published "Lysophosphatidic acid and sphingosine-1-phosphate are apical polarity cues in multiple organoid systems" by the Spence Lab.
         Ansley Conchola
    Points of Blue

    Ansley Conchola, MD, PhD: Developing as a physician scientist and mom

    Ansley Conchola, MD, PhD, shares her experience in the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Michigan.