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 protected]
Available to mentor
Jason R Spence, PhD
Jason Spence
Professor
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  • Research Overview
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  • Recent Publications
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  • 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
    • 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
    • Additional Scholarship
      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
    • Additional Scholarship
      Supplementary Figure S2 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:10.1158/1541-7786.32710739
    • Additional Scholarship
      Supplementary Figure S3 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:10.1158/1541-7786.32710736
    • Additional Scholarship
      Supplementary Figure S4 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:10.1158/1541-7786.32710733
    • Additional Scholarship
      Supplementary Figure S5 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:10.1158/1541-7786.32710730
    • Additional Scholarship
      Supplementary Figure S6 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:10.1158/1541-7786.32710727

    Featured News & Stories

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    Health Lab

    Evolutionary insights into the development of the human intestine

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