Weiruo Zhang

Assistant Professor
765-494-4174
LILYG-343
zhan6033@purdue.edu

Associated website(s):

PROFESSIONAL FACULTY RESEARCH

Spatial multi-omics, computational biology, cancer systems biology, multi-modality machine learning and AI to study tumor progression and improve treatment

BIO

My research focuses on Biomedical AI for cancer systems biology. A challenge in oncology is the gap between understanding disease mechanisms and applying that knowledge to clinical practice. To address this, my lab develops quantitative and machine learning approaches that integrate spatial multi-omics, medical imaging and clinical data to study tumor progression and treatment response. Our goal is to generate biologically grounded insights that inform cancer diagnostics, prognostics, and therapeutic strategies.

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Stanford University (California, USA)
M.S., Stanford University (California, USA)
B.S., National University of Singapore (Singapore)

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

W. Zhang , I. Li, N. Reticker-Flynn, Z. Good, S. Chang, N. Samusik, S. Saumyaa, X. Zhou, Y. Li, R. Liang, C. Kong, Q.T. Le, J. Sunwoo, A. Gentles, G. Nolan, E. Engleman, S. Plevritis, “Identification of cell types in multiplexed in situ images by combining protein expression and spatial information using CELESTA”, Nature Methods , 19(6):759-769, (2022)
N. Reticker-Flynn, W. Zhang , J. Belk, P. Basto, N. Escalante, G. Pilarowski, A. Bejnood, M. Martins, J. Kenkel, I. Linde, S. Bagchi, R. Yuan, S. Chang, M. Spitzer, Y. Carmi, J. Cheng, L. Tolentino, O. Choi, N. Wu, C. Kong, A. Gentles, J. Sunwoo, A. Satpathy, S. Plevritis, E. Engleman, “Lymph node colonization alters the systemic immune response to enable metastasis to distant tissues”, Cell , 185(11):1924-1942, (2022)
J. Hickey, W. Becker, S. Nevins, A. Horning, A. Perez, C. Zhu, B. Zhu, B. Wei, R. Chiu, D. Chen, D. Cotter, E. Esplin, A. Weimer, C. Caraccio, V. Venkataraaman, C. Schurch, S. Black, M. Brbic, K. Cao, S. Chen, W. Zhang , E. Monte, N. Zhang, Z. Ma, J. Leskovec, Z. Zhang, S. Lin, T. Longacre, S. Plevritis, Y. Lin, G. Nolan, W. Greenleaf, M. Snyder, “Organization of the human intestine at single-cell resolution”, Nature , 619, 572-584, (2023)
D. Nambiar, V. Viswanathan, H. Cao, W. Zhang , L. Guan, M. Chamoli, B. Holmes, C. Kong, R. Hildebrand, A. Koong, R. von Eyben, S. Plevritis, L. Li, A. Giaccia, E. Engleman, Q.T. Le, “Galectin-1 mediated chronic tumoral-STING activation promotes metastasis through MDSC recruitment”, Cancer Research , 83(19):3205-3219, (2023)
L. Guan, D. Nambiar, H. Cao, V. Viswanathan, S. Kwok, A. Hui, Y. Hou, R. Hildebrand, R. Eyben, B. Holmes, J. Zhao, C. Kong, N. Wamsley, W. Zhang , M. Major, S.W. Seol, J. Sunwoo, N. Hayes, M. Diehn, Q.T. Le, “ NFE2L2 mutations enhance radioresistance in head and neck cancer by modulating intratumoral myeloid cells”, Cancer Research , 83(6):861-874, (2023)
S. Bagchi, R. Yuan, H. Huang, W. Zhang , D. Chiu, H. Kim, S. Cha, L. Tolentino, J. Lowitz, Y. Liu, A. Moshnikova, O. Andreev, S. Plevritis, E. Engleman, “The acid-sensing receptor GPR65 on tumor macrophages drives tumor growth in obesity”, Science Immunology , 9:100, (2024)
N. Li , W. Zhang , D. Haensel, A. Jussila, C. Pan, S. Gaddam, S. Plevritis, A. Oro, “Basal-to-inflammatory transition and tumor resistance via crosstalk with a pro-inflammatory stromal niche”, Nature Communications , 15:8134, (2024)
G. Bouchard, W. Zhang , I. Li, I. Ilerten, A. Bhattacharya, Y. Li, W. Trope, J. Shrager, C. Kuo, L. Tian, A. Giaccia, S. Plevritis, “A quantitative spatial cell-cell colocalizations framework enabling comparisons between in vitro assembloids and pathological specimens”, Nature Communications , 16:1392, (2025)