Jae W. Lee, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Clinical Pathology & Laboratory Medicine

Email: jwl5@iu.edu
Address: Long Hall 237
1110 West Michigan Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202
PubMed:

Bio

Dr. Jae W. Lee is a pathologist-scientist with expertise in pathology of the digestive system. His research has combined basic science with clinical studies to advance understanding of the biology of cancer development and metastasis and define novel therapeutic targets.

He has investigated (i) mechanisms that direct the metastatic spread of cancer cells to the liver, (ii) genetic alterations in neoplasms that arise in the digestive system, and (iii) mechanisms that regulate immunosurveillance in cancer. He has applied spatial transcriptomics, multiplex immunohistochemistry, imaging mass cytometry (IMC), mass cytometry (CyTOF), and RNA sequencing for his studies and has expertise in these techniques.

In addition to his research experience in cancer biology, he has collaborated investigators who conduct studies on a range of diseases, including pruritic skin rashes and germline mutations in pediatric patients.

Key Publications

Cancer Immunobiology:

Cho Y*, Lee JW*, Shin SM, Hernandez AG, Yuan X, Schneider J, Hooper JE, Wood LD, Jaffee EM, Deshpande A, Ho WJ. Computational Modeling of Cellular Influence Delineates Functionally Relevant and Distinct Cellular Neighborhoods in Primary and Metastatic Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. Cancer Immunol Res. 2026 Apr 2;14(4):571-584. PubMed PMID: 41592755. (*)Co-first authors.
Stone ML, Lee J, Lee JW, Coho H, Tariveranmoshabad M, Wattenberg MM, Choi H, Herrera VM, Xue Y, Choi-Bose S, Zingone SK, Patel D, Markowitz K, Delman D, Balachandran VP, Beatty GL. Hepatocytes coordinate immune evasion in cancer via release of serum amyloid A proteins. Nat Immunol. 2024 May;25(5):755-763. PubMed PMID: 38641718.
Lee JW, Stone ML, Porrett PM, Thomas SK, Komar CA, Li JH, Delman D, Graham K, Gladney WL, Hua X, Black TA, Chien AL, Majmundar KS, Thompson JC, Yee SS, O'Hara MH, Aggarwal C, Xin D, Shaked A, Gao M, Liu D, Borad MJ, Ramanathan RK, Carpenter EL, Ji A, de Beer MC, de Beer FC, Webb NR, Beatty GL. Hepatocytes direct the formation of a pro-metastatic niche in the liver. Nature. 2019 Mar;567(7747):249-252. PubMed PMID: 30842658.

Cancer Genetics and Biomarkers:

Wang Y, Lih TM, Lee JW, Ohtsuka T, Hozaka Y, Mino-Kenudson M, Adsay NV, Luchini C, Scarpa A, Maker AV, Kim GE, Paulino J, Chen L, Woo J, Jiao L, Sun Z, Goodman D, Pflüger MJ, Roberts NJ, Matthaei H, Goggins MG, Wood LD, Furukawa T, Zhang H, Hruban RH. Multi-omic profiling of intraductal papillary neoplasms of the pancreas reveals distinct patterns and potential markers of progression. Cancer Cell. 2025 Nov 10;43(11):2156-2170.e6. PubMed PMID: 40882635.
Lee JW, Hruban RH, Brosens LAA, Condello V, Nikiforova MN, Singhi AD, Pancreatic Cyst Alliance. RNA Sequencing Identifies Frequent Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase-associated Fusion Genes in Intraductal Tubulopapillary Neoplasms of the Pancreas. Gastroenterology. 2023 Jun;164(7):1310-1313.e6. PubMed PMID: 36801389.
Lee JW, Zhang Y, Yoshizawa T, Argani P, Wood LD, Oshima K. Cancerization of ducts in hilar cholangiocarcinoma. Virchows Arch. 2022 Aug;481(2):1-10. PubMed PMID: 35527321.

Complete list of publications can be found below:

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Year	Degree	Institution
2026	Fellowship	Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
2025	Residency	Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
2020	MD	University of Pennsylvania
2020	PhD	University of Pennsylvania
2009	AB	Princeton University

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Jae W. Lee, MD, PhD

Bio

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