Lulu Shang, PhD
Department of Biostatistics, Division of Division of Discovery Science
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Department of Biostatistics, Division of Discovery Science, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Experience & Service
Other Appointments/Responsibilities
Volunteer, ICSA 2023 Applied Statistics Symposium (Ann Arbor), Ann Arbor, MI, 2023
Graduate Student Research Assistant, University of Michigan, Department of Biostatistics, Ann Arbor, MI, 2017 - Present
Graduate Student Research Assistant, University of Michigan, Department of Epidemiology, Ann Arbor, MI, 2017 - Present
Visiting Undergraduate Research Assistant, Vanderbilt University, Center for Quantitative Science, Nashville, TN, 2015 - 2016
Institutional Committee Activities
Organizer, JSM invited paper session: Advances in Statistical Methods for Single Cell and Spatial Omics Data Analysis, 2024
Student Representative, Biostatistics Department Faculty Search Committee, 2021
Student Representative, Biostatistics Department Recruitment Committee, 2020
Professional Memberships
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Shang L, Peijun W, Xiang Z. Statistical identification of cell type-specific spatially variable genes in spatial transcriptomics. Nature Communications. e-Pub 2024.
- Ding J, Li L, Lu Q, Venegas J, Wang Y, Wu L, Jin W, Wen H, Liu R, Tang W, Dai X, Li Z, Zuo W, Chang Y, Lei YL, Shang L, Danaher P, Xie Y, Tang J. SpatialCTD: A Large-Scale Tumor Microenvironment Spatial Transcriptomic Dataset to Evaluate Cell Type Deconvolution for Immuno-Oncology. J Comput Biol. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39117342.
- Ellie X, Tutu H, Chloe Y, Shang L, Xiang Z, Yongsheng B. Identification of Key Biomarkers Associated with Ductal Breast Cancer in Spatial Transcriptomics Data. 2023 IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine (BIBM), 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Shang L, Zhao W, Wang YZ, Li Z, Choi JJ, Kho M, Mosley TH, Kardia SLR, Smith JA, Zhou X. meQTL mapping in the GENOA study reveals genetic determinants of DNA methylation in African Americans. Nat Commun 14(1):2711, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37169753.
- Zhu J, Shang L, Zhou X. SRTsim: spatial pattern preserving simulations for spatially resolved transcriptomics. Genome Biol 24(1):39, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36869394.
- Shang L, Zhou X. Spatially aware dimension reduction for spatial transcriptomics. Nat Commun 13(1):7203, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36418351.
- Anderson AC, Yanai I, Yates LR, Wang L, Swarbrick A, Sorger P, Santagata S, Fridman WH, Gao Q, Jerby L, Izar B, Shang L, Zhou X. Spatial transcriptomics. Cancer Cell 40(9):895-900, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36099884.
- Song M, Yu J, Li B, Dong J, Gao J, Shang L, Zhou X, Bai Y. Identification of functionally important miRNA targeted genes associated with child obesity trait in genome-wide association studies. BMC Genomics 23(Suppl 4):360, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35546387.
- Li Z, Zhao W, Shang L, Mosley TH, Kardia SLR, Smith JA, Zhou X. METRO: Multi-ancestry transcriptome-wide association studies for powerful gene-trait association detection. Am J Hum Genet 109(5):783-801, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35334221.
- Wang YZ, Zhao W, Ammous F, Song Y, Du J, Shang L, Ratliff SM, Moore K, Kelly KM, Needham BL, Diez Roux AV, Liu Y, Butler KR, Kardia SLR, Mukherjee B, Zhou X, Smith JA. DNA Methylation Mediates the Association Between Individual and Neighborhood Social Disadvantage and Cardiovascular Risk Factors. Front Cardiovasc Med 9:848768, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35665255.
- Ammous F, Zhao W, Ratliff SM, Kho M, Shang L, Jones AC, Chaudhary NS, Tiwari HK, Irvin MR, Arnett DK, Mosley TH, Bielak LF, Kardia SLR, Zhou X, Smith J. Epigenome-wide association study identifies DNA methylation sites associated with target organ damage in older African Americans. Epigenetics 16(8):862-875, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33100131.
- Wen J, Xie M, Rowland B, Rosen JD, Sun Q, Chen J, Tapia AL, Qian H, Kowalski MH, Shan Y, Young KL, Graff M, Argos M, Avery CL, Bien SA, Buyske S, Yin J, Choquet H, Fornage M, Hodonsky CJ, Jorgenson E, Kooperberg C, Loos RJF, Liu Y, Moon JY, North KE, Rich SS, Rotter JI, Smith JA, Zhao W, Shang L, Wang T, Zhou X, Reiner AP, Raffield LM, Li Y. Transcriptome-Wide Association Study of Blood Cell Traits in African Ancestry and Hispanic/Latino Populations. Genes (Basel) 12(7), 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34356065.
- Li B, Dong J, Yu J, Fan Y, Shang L, Zhou X, Bai Y. Pinpointing miRNA and genes enrichment over trait-relevant tissue network in Genome-Wide Association Studies. BMC Med Genomics 13(Suppl 11):191, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33371893.
- Kho M, Smith JA, Verweij N, Shang L, Ryan KA, Zhao W, Ware EB, Gansevoort RT, Irvin MR, Lee JE, Turner ST, Sung J, van der Harst P, Arnett DK, Baylin A, Park SK, Seo YA, Kelly KM, Chang YPC, Zhou X, Lieske JC, Kardia SLR. Genome-Wide Association Meta-Analysis of Individuals of European Ancestry Identifies Suggestive Loci for Sodium Intake, Potassium Intake, and Their Ratio Measured from 24-Hour or Half-Day Urine Samples. J Nutr 150(10):2635-2645, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32840624.
- Kho M, Zhao W, Ratliff SM, Ammous F, Mosley TH, Shang L, Kardia SLR, Zhou X, Smith JA. Epigenetic loci for blood pressure are associated with hypertensive target organ damage in older African Americans from the genetic epidemiology network of Arteriopathy (GENOA) study. BMC Med Genomics 13(1):131, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32917208.
- Shang L, Smith JA, Zhao W, Kho M, Turner ST, Mosley TH, Kardia SLR, Zhou X. Genetic Architecture of Gene Expression in European and African Americans: An eQTL Mapping Study in GENOA. Am J Hum Genet 106(4):496-512, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32220292.
- Shang L, Smith JA, Zhou X. Leveraging gene co-expression patterns to infer trait-relevant tissues in genome-wide association studies. PLoS Genet 16(4):e1008734, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32310941.
- Ren J, Shang L, Wang Q, Li J. Ranking Cancer Proteins by Integrating PPI Network and Protein Expression Profiles. Biomed Res Int 2019:3907195, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30723737.
Other Articles
- Zhu H, Shang L, Zhou X A Review of Statistical Methods for Identifying Trait-Relevant Tissues and Cell Types. Front Genet 11:587887, 2020. PMID: 33584792.
Selected Presentations & Talks
Local Presentations
- 2024. Statistical methods in spatial transcriptomics. Houston, Texas, US.
Regional Presentations
- 2022. Spatially Aware Dimension Reduction in Spatial Transcriptomics. Conference. Michigan Student Symposium for Interdisciplinary Statistical Sciences. Ann Arbor, MI, US.
- 2021. Spatially Aware Dimension Reduction in Spatial Transcriptomics (Reviewer’s Choice Award). Conference. American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting, Virtual, US.
- 2019. Leveraging gene co-expression patterns to infer trait-relevant tissues in genome-wide association studies (Most Interesting Methodological Advancement Award). Conference. Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS) symposium. Ann Arbor, MI, US.
- 2019. Leveraging gene co-expression patterns to infer trait-relevant tissues in genome-wide association studies. Conference. Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS) single cell working group. Ann Arbor, MI, US.
- 2019. Spatially Aware Dimension Reduction in Spatial Transcriptomics. Leveraging gene co-expression patterns to infer trait-relevant tissues in genome-wide association studies. Genetic determinant of DNA methylation and gene expression in African Americans: An meQTL mapping study in GENOA. Conference. Center for Statistical Genetics, Department of Biostatistics. Ann Arbor, MI, US.
National Presentations
- 2025. Statistical methods in spatial transcriptomics. Invited. Boston, US.
- 2025. Statistical methods in spatial transcriptomics. Invited, Idaho, US.
- 2024. Statistical identification of cell type-specific spatially variable genes in spatial transcriptomics. Invited. 2024 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM). Portland, OR, US.
- 2024. Statistical identification of cell type-specific spatially variable genes in spatial transcriptomics. Invited. 2024 ICSA Applied Statistics Symposium. Nashville, TN, US.
- 2024. Statistical identification of cell type-specific spatially variable genes in spatial transcriptomics. Invited. American Statistical Association (ASA) Section on Statistics in Genomics and Genetics (SSGG) 2024. Pittsburgh, PA, US.
- 2023. Spatially Aware Dimension Reduction in Spatial Transcriptomics. Invited. Tools and Technology seminar, Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatic, University of Michigan, US.
- 2023. Statistical Methods for Genetic and Genomic Studies. Invited. Department of Biostatistics, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Virtual, US.
- 2023. Spatially Aware Dimension Reduction in Spatial Transcriptomics. Invited. Single-Cell Analysis Club, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Virtual, US.
- 2023. Spatially Aware Dimension Reduction in Spatial Transcriptomics. Invited. Single Cell Spatial Analysis Program (SCSAP), University of Michigan, US.
- 2023. Statistical Methods for Genetic and Genomic Studies. Invited. Department of Statistics and Probability, Michigan State University, MI, US.
- 2023. Statistical Methods for Genetic and Genomic Studies. Invited. Division of Biostatistics, University of Minnesota, MN, US.
- 2023. Statistical Methods for Genetic and Genomic Studies. Invited. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Carolina, SC, US.
- 2023. Statistical Methods for Genetic and Genomic Studies. Invited. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, US.
- 2023. Statistical Methods for Genetic and Genomic Studies. Invited. Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Emory University, GA, US.
- 2023. Statistical Methods for Genetic and Genomic Studies. Invited. Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, University of Washington, Virtual, US.
- 2022. Spatially Aware Dimension Reduction in Spatial Transcriptomics. Invited. Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Utah, Virtual, US.
- 2022. Genetic determinant of DNA methylation and gene expression in African Americans: An meQTL mapping study in GENOA, Platform Talk. Conference. American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting. Los Angeles, CA, US.
- 2022. Spatially Aware Dimension Reduction in Spatial Transcriptomics. Invited. Department of Pathology, University of California, San Diego, Virtual, US.
- 2022. Spatially Aware Dimension Reduction in Spatial Transcriptomics. Invited. Human Functional Regulatory Genomics Seminar, Department of Biostatistics, UNC Chapel Hill, Virtual, US.
- 2022. Spatially Aware Dimension Reduction in Spatial Transcriptomics. Invited. Eastern North American Region (ENAR) Spring Meeting. Houston, TX, US.
- 2020. Genetic determinant of DNA methylation and gene expression in African Americans: An meQTL mapping study in GENOA. Platform talk. Conference. American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting, Virtual, US.
- 2020. Contrasting the genetic architecture underlying gene expression levels in European Americans and African Americans: An eQTL mapping study in GENOA. Invited. Biostatistics Department Diversity Equity and Inclusion Seminar. Ann Arbor, MI, US.
- 2019. Leveraging gene co-expression patterns to infer trait-relevant tissues in genome-wide association studies. Platform talk. Conference. American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting. Houston, TX, US.
International Presentations
- 2024. Statistical identification of cell type-specific spatially variable genes in spatial transcriptomics. Invited. Sydney Precision Data Science Centre, US.
- 2024. Statistical identification of cell type-specific spatially variable genes in spatial transcriptomics. The 7th International Conference on Econometrics and Statistics, US.
- 2023. Spatially Aware Dimension Reduction in Spatial Transcriptomics. Invited. CMStatistics 2023. Berlin, DE.
- 2023. Spatially Aware Dimension Reduction in Spatial Transcriptomics. Invited. Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, School of Mathematical Sciences, and Zhiyuan Honor College, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, CN.
- 2023. Spatially Aware Dimension Reduction in Spatial Transcriptomics. Invited. The Institute of Statistics and Big Data (ISBD), The Renmin University of China, CN.
- 2023. Spatially Aware Dimension Reduction in Spatial Transcriptomics. Invited. 2023 ICSA China Conference, Chengdu, CN.
- 2023. Statistical Methods for Genetic and Genomic Studies. Invited. Department of Statistics & Actuarial Science, University of Hong Kong, Virtual, CN.
Grant & Contract Support
| Date: | 2026 - 2027 |
| Title: | Leveraging tumor-associated B cell receptors for therapeutic targeting of undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma |
| Funding Source: | Worldwide Cancer Research |
| Role: | Other |
| ID: | #TBA |
| Date: | 2025 - 2030 |
| Title: | Training Program in Biostatistics for Cancer Research |
| Funding Source: | Rice University |
| Role: | Mentor |
| ID: | #TBA |
| Date: | 2025 - 2030 |
| Title: | Enhancing Immunotherapy Efficacy using Molecular Glue in Hepatocellular Carcinoma |
| Funding Source: | NIH |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | #TBA |
| Date: | 2025 - 2030 |
| Title: | The Metabolic Underpinning of Cancer Dormancy |
| Funding Source: | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | #TBA |
| Date: | 2025 - 2030 |
| Title: | Cancer Immunoprevention Network Data and Resource Coordinating Center (CIP-Net DRCC) |
| Funding Source: | NIH |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | #TBA |
| Date: | 2025 - 2030 |
| Title: | Single Cell Multiomics of Primary Soft Tissue Sarcomas and Their Matched Metastases |
| Funding Source: | SSO |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | #TBA |
| Date: | 2025 - 2028 |
| Title: | LC240299: A Novel Therapeutic Target for Lung Cancer |
| Funding Source: | US Department of Defense |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | LC240299 |
| Date: | 2025 - 2030 |
| Title: | INSPECT: Investigating and Neutralizing Spatial Progenitor-Environment Interactions for Lung Cancer Immunoprevention |
| Funding Source: | NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | GRANT14200453 |
| Date: | 2025 - 2028 |
| Title: | RP250106: Metabolic Reprogramming Leading To Dormancy In Breast Cancer And Its Potential Therapeutic Implication |
| Funding Source: | CANCER PREVENTION RESEARCH INST OF TX |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | RP250106 |
| Date: | 2025 - 2028 |
| Title: | Computational Tools for Detecting and Phenotyping Clinically Significant Multicellular Neighborhoods and Spatially Recurrent Ecotypes in Tumor Microenvironment |
| Funding Source: | CANCER PREVENTION RESEARCH INST OF TX |
| Role: | PD/PI |
| ID: | RP250334 |
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified May 08, 2025