Filter by Methodology Single CellSpatial OmicsIntegrationBatch CorrectionDenoising/ImputationDeconvolutionLong ReadDNA Copy NumberTumor EvolutionLineage TracingGene RegulationDifferential ExpressionPathway AnalysisAI and Deep LearningVariant DetectionChange-Point & Scan StatisticsNonparametric MethodsCausal Inference
Filter by Biology CancerImmunologyKidneyAgingNeuroscienceCardiovascularInfectious DiseaseGastrointestinal
Lab members in bold. equal contribution. * corresponding author.
In Press and In Review
Ultra-scalable differential testing for spatial omics
Mason K†, Jiang Y†, Klötzer KA, Zhang NR*
Nature Biotechnology (in press)
Spatial OmicsDifferential ExpressionSingle Cell
Dissecting the coordinated progression of cell states in spatial transcriptomics with CoPro
Miao Z, Qu Y, Huang S, Laux L, Peters S, Aristel A, Zhang Z, Zhang NR*
bioRxiv
Spatial OmicsSingle CellPathway Analysis
Deciphering cell fate and clonal dynamics via integrative single-cell lineage modeling
Fu Y, Mathew D, Wang M, Chen XE, Lin KZ, Schaff D, Shaffer SM, Pardoll DM, Jackson C, Zhang NR*
bioRxiv
Single CellLineage TracingIntegrationCancer
A measure of transcriptional dyscoordination for quantifying aging in single cells
Yang Y, Hess PR, Huang S, Teneche MG, Wang H, Miller KN, Davis AE, Miciano C, Li KY, Mamde S, Yip K, Ren B, Yang Q, Smoot E, Wang A, Johnson B, Wilson P, Adams PD, Zhang NR*
bioRxiv
Single CellNonparametric MethodsAging
Mitochondrial clone tracing within spatially intact human tissues
Bracht SA, Rong J, Gier RA, DeMarshall M, Golden H, Dhakal D, Zhang NR*, Shaffer SM*
bioRxiv
Spatial OmicsLineage TracingSingle CellGastrointestinal
Dual checkpoint blockade of glioblastoma with anti-PD-1 and anti-LAG-3 promotes expansion of tumor-reactive T cell clones along a unique pathway of differentiation
Wang M, Fu Y, Bom S, Ning Y, Matthews D, Zhang M, Lucas CH, Choi J, Zhang NR, Jackson CM*
bioRxiv
Single CellLineage TracingCancerImmunologyNeuroscience
Targeting interferon-driven inflammatory memory prevents epigenetic evolution of cancer immunotherapy resistance
Qiu J, Ye D, Chen XE, Dangle N, Yoshor B, Zhang T, Shao Y, Zhang NR, Minn AJ*
bioRxiv
Single CellGene RegulationCancerImmunology
Intestinal immune dysregulation fuels islet autoimmunity in type 1 diabetes
Bartolo L, Afroze S, Lin Y, Ansari A, Pan Y-G, Liu C, Zhang NR, Naji A, Su LF*
In review
Single CellImmunologyGastrointestinal
Temporal and clonal resolution of cellular evolution under stress
Chen XE†, Lin KZ†, Schaff D†, Vander Velde R, Cote C, Huang S, Minn AJ, Shaffer SM*, Zhang NR*
In review
Single CellLineage TracingTumor EvolutionCancer
2026
Integration of imaging-based and sequencing-based spatial omics mapping on the same tissue section via DBiTplus
Enninful A†, Zhang Z†, Klymyshyn D, Ingalls M, Yang M, Zong H, …, Zhang NR, …, Xu ML*, Ma Z*, Fan R*
Nature Methods 23, 1827–1839 (2026)
Spatial OmicsIntegrationSingle Cell
Pre-existing cell states predict resistance to multiple treatments
Schaff DL, White PE, Cote CJ, Watterson GE, Lin KZ, Fasse AJ, Zhang NR, Shaffer SM*
Cell Genomics 6, 101191 (2026)
Single CellLineage TracingTumor EvolutionCancer
Robust footprinting with sample-specific Tn5 bias correction for bulk and single cell ATAC-seq
Lin Y, Wang H, Wilson PC*, Zhang NR*
Nature Communications 17 (2026)
Gene RegulationSingle Cell
A longitudinal single-cell and spatial multiomic atlas of pediatric high-grade glioma
Sussman JH†, Oldridge DA†, Yu W†, Chen C-H, Zellmer AM, Rong J, …, Zhang NR, De Raedt T, Cole K, Tan K*
Cell Reports Medicine 7, 102766 (2026)
Single CellSpatial OmicsCancerNeuroscience
2025
Cancer subclone detection based on DNA copy number in single-cell and spatial omic sequencing data
Wu C-Y, Rong J, Sathe A, Hess PR, Lau BT, Grimes SM, Huang S, Ji HP*, Zhang NR*
Nature Methods 22, 1846–1856 (2025)
DNA Copy NumberTumor EvolutionSingle CellSpatial OmicsCancer
Analysis of individual patient pathway coordination in a cross-species single-cell kidney atlas
Klötzer KA, Abedini A, Li S, Balzer MS, Liang X, Levinsohn J, …, Halmos B, Zhang NR*, Susztak K*
Nature Genetics 57, 1922–1934 (2025)
Pathway AnalysisSingle CellIntegrationKidney
Longitudinal single-cell multiomic atlas of high-risk neuroblastoma reveals chemotherapy-induced tumor microenvironment rewiring
Yu W, Biyik-Sit R, Uzun Y, Chen C-H, Thadi A, Sussman JH, …, Zhang NR, Maris JM, Tan K*
Nature Genetics 57, 1142–1154 (2025)
Single CellIntegrationCancer
Improving gene isoform quantification with miniQuant
Li H, Wang D, Gao Q, Tan P, Wang Y, Cai X, Li A, Zhao Y, Thurman AL, Malekpour SA, Zhang Y, Sala R, Cipriano A, Wei C-L, Sebastiano V, Song C, Zhang NR, Au KF*
Nature Biotechnology 44, 477–489 (2025)
Long ReadDenoising/ImputationGene Regulation
Single cell and spatial alternative splicing analysis with Nanopore long read sequencing
Fu Y*, Kim H, Roy S, Huang S, Adams JI, Grimes SM, Lau BT, Sathe A, Ji HP*, Zhang NR*
Nature Communications 16, 6654 (2025)
Long ReadSingle CellSpatial OmicsGene RegulationCancer
Clonal cell states link gastroesophageal junction tissues with metaplasia and cancer
Gier RA, Bracht SA, Rong J, Reyes Hueros RLA, Wahlsten ML, Cote C, …, Falk GW, Zhang NR, Shaffer SM*
Nature Communications 16, 10952 (2025)
Single CellLineage TracingTumor EvolutionCancerGastrointestinal
2024
Recovery of biological signals lost in single-cell batch integration with CellANOVA
Zhang Z, Mathew D, Lim TL, Mason K, Martinez CM, Huang S, Wherry EJ, Susztak K, Minn AJ, Ma Z*, Zhang NR*
Nature Biotechnology 43, 1861–1877 (2024)
Batch CorrectionIntegrationSingle CellImmunologyKidney
A multiomic atlas identifies a treatment-resistant, bone marrow progenitor-like cell population in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Xu J†, Chen C†, Sussman JH, Yoshimura S, Vincent T, Pölönen P, …, Zhang NR, …, Mullighan CG, Tan K*, Teachey DT*
Nature Cancer 6, 102–122 (2024)
Single CellIntegrationCancer
Niche-DE: niche-differential gene expression analysis in spatial transcriptomics data identifies context-dependent cell-cell interactions
Mason K, Sathe A, Hess PR, Rong J, Wu C-Y, Furth E, Susztak K, Levinsohn J, Ji HP, Zhang NR*
Genome Biology 25, 14 (2024)
Spatial OmicsDifferential ExpressionSingle CellCancer
Combined JAK inhibition and PD-1 immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer patients
Mathew D, Marmarelis ME, Foley C, Bauml JM, Ye D, Ghinnagow R, Ngiow SF, Klapholz M, Jun S, Zhang Z, Zorc R, Diehn M, Hwang W-T, Zhang NR, Langer CJ, Wherry EJ, Minn AJ*
Science 384, eadf1329 (2024)
Single CellCancerImmunology
A comparative study of structural variant calling in WGS from Alzheimer's disease families
Malamon JS†, Farrell JJ†, Xia LC, Dombroski BA, Das RG, Way J, …, Zhang NR, …, Schellenberg GD, Lee WP†*, Vardarajan BN†*
Life Science Alliance 7, e202302181 (2024)
Variant DetectionNeuroscience
2023
Integration of spatial and single-cell data across modalities with weakly linked features
Chen S†, Zhu B†, Huang S, Hickey JW, Lin KZ, Snyder M, Greenleaf WJ, Nolan GP, Zhang NR*, Ma Z*
Nature Biotechnology 42, 1096–1106 (2023)
IntegrationSpatial OmicsSingle Cell
Quantifying common and distinct information in single-cell multimodal data with tilted canonical correlation analysis
Lin KZ, Zhang NR*
PNAS 120, e2303647120 (2023)
IntegrationSingle CellNonparametric Methods
Organization of the human intestine at single-cell resolution
Hickey JW, Becker WR, Nevins SA, Horning A, Perez AE, Zhu C, …, Zhang NR, …, Nolan GP*, Greenleaf WJ*, Snyder M*
Nature 619, 572–584 (2023)
Spatial OmicsSingle CellGastrointestinal
2022
Systematic single-cell pathway analysis to characterize early T cell activation
Bibby JA, Agarwal D, Freiwald T, Kunz N, Merle NS, West EE, Singh P, Larochelle A, Chinian F, Mukherjee S, Afzali B, Kemper C*, Zhang NR*
Cell Reports 41, 111697 (2022)
Pathway AnalysisSingle CellImmunology
Nonparametric single-cell multiomic characterization of trio relationships between transcription factors, target genes, and cis-regulatory regions
Jiang Y, Harigaya Y, Zhang Z, Zhang H, Zang C, Zhang NR*
Cell Systems 13, 737–751.e4 (2022)
Gene RegulationSingle CellNonparametric MethodsIntegration
The interferon-stimulated gene RIPK1 regulates cancer cell intrinsic and extrinsic resistance to immune checkpoint blockade
Cucolo L, Chen Q, Qiu J, Yu Y, Klapholz M, Budinich KA, Zhang Z, Shao Y, Brodsky IE, Jordan MS, Gilliland DG, Zhang NR, Shi J, Minn AJ*
Immunity 55, 671–685.e10 (2022)
Single CellCancerImmunology
Colorectal cancer metastases in the liver establish immunosuppressive spatial networking between tumor-associated SPP1+ macrophages and fibroblasts
Sathe A, Mason K, Grimes SM, Zhou Z, Lau BT, Bai X, Su A, Tan X, Lee H, Suarez CJ, Nguyen Q, Poultsides G, Zhang NR, Ji HP*
Clinical Cancer Research 29, 244–260 (2022)
Spatial OmicsSingle CellCancerImmunologyGastrointestinal
2021
Integrative single-cell analysis of allele-specific copy number alterations and chromatin accessibility in cancer
Wu C-Y, Lau BT, Kim HS, Sathe A, Grimes SM, Ji HP, Zhang NR*
Nature Biotechnology 39, 1259–1269 (2021)
DNA Copy NumberSingle CellIntegrationGene RegulationTumor EvolutionCancer
New frontiers in single-cell genomics
Navin NE, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Zhang NR
Genome Research 31, ix–x (2021)
Single Cell
Causal inference for heritable phenotypic risk factors using heterogeneous genetic instruments
Wang J, Zhao Q, Bowden J, Hemani G, Davey Smith G, Small DS, Zhang NR
PLoS Genetics 17, e1009575 (2021)
Causal Inference
A Mendelian randomization study of the role of lipoprotein subfractions in coronary artery disease
Zhao Q*, Wang J, Miao Z, Zhang NR, Hennessy S, Small DS, Rader DJ
eLife 10, e58361 (2021)
Causal InferenceCardiovascular
2020
DENDRO: genetic heterogeneity profiling and subclone detection by single-cell RNA sequencing
Zhou Z, Xu B, Minn AJ, Zhang NR*
Genome Biology 21, 10 (2020)
Tumor EvolutionSingle CellDNA Copy NumberCancer
Surface protein imputation from single cell transcriptomes by deep neural networks
Zhou Z, Ye C, Wang J, Zhang NR*
Nature Communications 11, 651 (2020)
AI and Deep LearningDenoising/ImputationSingle Cell
Data denoising and post-denoising corrections in single cell RNA sequencing
Agarwal D, Wang J, Zhang NR*
Statistical Science 35, 112–128 (2020)
Denoising/ImputationSingle Cell
Distribution-free multisample tests based on optimal matchings with applications to single cell genomics
Mukherjee S, Agarwal D, Zhang NR, Bhattacharya BB
Journal of the American Statistical Association 117, 627–638 (2020)
Nonparametric MethodsSingle Cell
The Human Tumor Atlas Network: charting tumor transitions across space and time at single-cell resolution
Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Regev A, Oberdoerffer P, Nawy T, Hupalowska A, …, Zhang NR, … (Human Tumor Atlas Network)
Cell 181, 236–249 (2020)
Single CellSpatial OmicsCancer
2019
Bulk tissue cell type deconvolution with multi-subject single-cell expression reference
Wang X, Park J, Susztak K, Zhang NR*, Li M*
Nature Communications 10, 380 (2019)
DeconvolutionSingle CellKidney
Data denoising with transfer learning in single-cell transcriptomics
Wang J, Agarwal D, Huang M, Hu G, Zhou Z, Ye C, Zhang NR*
Nature Methods 16, 875–878 (2019)
Denoising/ImputationAI and Deep LearningSingle Cell
Opposing functions of interferon coordinate adaptive and innate immune responses to cancer immune checkpoint blockade
Benci JL, Johnson LR, Choa R, Xu Y, Qiu J, Zhou Z, …, Zhang NR, …, Wolchok JD, Kambayashi T, Minn AJ*
Cell 178, 933–948.e14 (2019)
Single CellCancerImmunology
Elite control of HIV is associated with distinct functional and transcriptional signatures in lymphoid tissue CD8+ T cells
Nguyen S, Deleage C, Darko S, Ransier A, Truong DP, Agarwal D, …, Zhang NR, …, Deeks SG, Buggert M, Betts MR*
Science Translational Medicine 11, eaax4077 (2019)
Single CellImmunologyInfectious Disease
Cell-type-specific complement expression in the healthy and diseased retina
Pauly D, Agarwal D, Dana N, Schäfer N, Biber J, Wunderlich KA, …, Zhang NR, …, Stambolian D, Li M, Grosche A*
Cell Reports 29, 2835–2848.e4 (2019)
Single CellDifferential ExpressionImmunologyNeuroscience
Semblance: an empirical similarity kernel on probability spaces
Agarwal D, Zhang NR*
Science Advances 5, eaau9630 (2019)
Nonparametric Methods
2018
SAVER: gene expression recovery for single-cell RNA sequencing
Huang M, Wang J, Torre E, Dueck H, Shaffer S, Bonasio R, Murray JI, Raj A, Li M, Zhang NR*
Nature Methods 15, 539–542 (2018)
Denoising/ImputationSingle Cell
Gene expression distribution deconvolution in single-cell RNA sequencing
Wang J, Huang M, Torre E, Dueck H, Shaffer S, Murray JI, Raj A, Li M, Zhang NR*
PNAS 115, E6437–E6446 (2018)
DeconvolutionSingle Cell
CODEX2: full-spectrum copy number variation detection by high-throughput DNA sequencing
Jiang Y*, Wang R, Urrutia E, Anastopoulos IN, Nathanson KL, Zhang NR*
Genome Biology 19, 202 (2018)
DNA Copy NumberCancer
Integrative DNA copy number detection and genotyping from sequencing and array-based platforms
Zhou Z, Wang W, Wang L-S, Zhang NR*
Bioinformatics 34, 2349–2355 (2018)
DNA Copy NumberIntegration
Integrative pipeline for profiling DNA copy number and inferring tumor phylogeny
Urrutia E, Chen H, Zhou Z, Zhang NR*, Jiang Y*
Bioinformatics 34, 2126–2128 (2018)
DNA Copy NumberTumor EvolutionCancer
Sensitivity analysis and power for instrumental variable studies
Wang X, Jiang Y, Zhang NR, Small DS
Biometrics 74, 1150–1160 (2018)
Causal Inference
First giant steps toward a cell atlas of atherosclerosis
Zhang H, Zhang NR, Li M, Reilly MP*
Circulation Research 122, 1632–1634 (2018)
Single CellCardiovascular
2017
SCALE: modeling allele-specific gene expression by single-cell RNA sequencing
Jiang Y, Zhang NR*, Li M*
Genome Biology 18, 74 (2017)
Gene RegulationSingle Cell
Accounting for technical noise in differential expression analysis of single-cell RNA sequencing data
Jia C, Hu Y, Kelly D, Kim J, Li M*, Zhang NR*
Nucleic Acids Research 45, 10978–10988 (2017)
Differential ExpressionSingle CellDenoising/Imputation
Allele-specific copy number estimation by whole exome sequencing
Chen H, Jiang Y, Maxwell KN, Nathanson KL, Zhang NR*
Annals of Applied Statistics 11, 1169–1192 (2017)
DNA Copy NumberCancer
Identification of large rearrangements in cancer genomes with barcode linked reads
Xia LC, Bell JM, Wood-Bouwens C, Chen JJ, Zhang NR*, Ji HP*
Nucleic Acids Research 46, e19 (2017)
Variant DetectionCancer
BRCA locus-specific loss of heterozygosity in germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers
Maxwell KN, Wubbenhorst B, Wenz BM, De Sloover D, Pluta J, Emery L, …, Zhang NR, …, Feldman M, Domchek SM, Nathanson KL*
Nature Communications 8, 319 (2017)
DNA Copy NumberCancer
Genetic and genomic characterization of 462 melanoma patient-derived xenografts, tumor biopsies, and cell lines
Garman B, Anastopoulos IN, Krepler C, Brafford P, Sproesser K, Jiang Y, …, Zhang NR, Davies MA, Herlyn M, Nathanson KL*
Cell Reports 21, 1936–1952 (2017)
DNA Copy NumberCancer
DNA copy number profiling using single-cell sequencing
Wang X, Chen H, Zhang NR
Briefings in Bioinformatics 19, 731–736 (2017)
DNA Copy NumberSingle Cell
2016
Assessing intratumor heterogeneity and tracking longitudinal and spatial clonal evolutionary history by next-generation sequencing
Jiang Y, Qiu Y, Minn AJ, Zhang NR*
PNAS 113, E5528–E5537 (2016)
Tumor EvolutionDNA Copy NumberCancer
A genome-wide approach for detecting novel insertion-deletion variants of mid-range size
Xia LC, Sakshuwong S, Hopmans ES, Bell JM, Grimes SM, Siegmund DO, Ji HP*, Zhang NR*
Nucleic Acids Research 44, e126 (2016)
Variant DetectionChange-Point & Scan Statistics
Scan statistics on Poisson random fields with applications in genomics
Zhang NR, Yakir B, Xia LC, Siegmund DO
Annals of Applied Statistics 10, 726–755 (2016)
Change-Point & Scan Statistics
Global copy number profiling of cancer genomes
Wang X, Chen M, Yu X, Pornputtapong N, Chen H, Zhang NR, Powers RS, Krauthammer M*
Bioinformatics 32, 926–928 (2016)
DNA Copy NumberCancer
2015
Graph-based change-point detection
Chen H, Zhang NR
Annals of Statistics 43, 139–176 (2015)
Change-Point & Scan StatisticsNonparametric Methods
Allele-specific copy number profiling by next-generation DNA sequencing
Chen H, Bell JM, Zavala NA, Ji HP, Zhang NR*
Nucleic Acids Research 43, e23 (2015)
DNA Copy NumberCancer
CODEX: a normalization and copy number variation detection method for whole exome sequencing
Jiang Y, Oldridge DA, Diskin SJ, Zhang NR*
Nucleic Acids Research 43, e39 (2015)
DNA Copy NumberCancer
Emergence of hemagglutinin mutations during the course of influenza infection
Cushing A, Kamali A, Winters M, Hopmans ES, Bell JM, Grimes SM, Xia LC, Zhang NR, Moss RB, Holodniy M, Ji HP*
Scientific Reports 5, 16178 (2015)
Variant DetectionInfectious Disease
Memory acquisition and retrieval impact different epigenetic processes that regulate gene expression
Peixoto LL, Wimmer ME, Poplawski SG, Tudor JC, Kenworthy CA, Liu S, Mizuno K, Garcia BA, Zhang NR, Giese KP, Abel T*
BMC Genomics 16, S5 (2015)
Gene RegulationDifferential ExpressionNeuroscience
Allelic variation contributes to bacterial host specificity
Yue M, Han X, De Masi L, Zhu C, Ma X, Zhang J, …, Zhang NR, Rankin SC, Schifferli DM*
Nature Communications 6, 8754 (2015)
Variant DetectionInfectious Disease
2014
Metastatic tumor evolution and organoid modeling implicate TGFBR2 as a cancer driver in diffuse gastric cancer
Nadauld LD, Garcia S, Natsoulis G, Bell JM, Miotke L, Hopmans ES, …, Zhang NR, Ford JM, Kuo CJ*, Ji HP*
Genome Biology 15, 428 (2014)
Tumor EvolutionDNA Copy NumberCancerGastrointestinal
2013
Graph-based tests for two-sample comparisons of categorical data
Chen H, Zhang NR
Statistica Sinica 23, 1479–1503 (2013)
Nonparametric Methods
Identification of insertion deletion mutations from deep targeted resequencing
Natsoulis G†, Zhang NR†, Welch K, Bell JM, Ji HP*
Journal of Data Mining in Genomics & Proteomics 4, 132 (2013)
Variant Detection
2012
A cross-sample statistical model for SNP detection in short-read sequencing data
Muralidharan O, Natsoulis G, Bell JM, Newburger D, Xu H, Kela I, Ji HP, Zhang NR*
Nucleic Acids Research 40, e5 (2012)
Variant Detection
Ultrasensitive detection of rare mutations using next-generation targeted resequencing
Flaherty P, Natsoulis G, Muralidharan O, Winters M, Buenrostro J, Bell JM, Brown S, Holodniy M, Zhang NR, Ji HP*
Nucleic Acids Research 40, e2 (2012)
Variant Detection
Change-point model on nonhomogeneous Poisson processes with application in copy number profiling by next-generation DNA sequencing
Shen JJ, Zhang NR*
Annals of Applied Statistics 6, 476–496 (2012)
Change-Point & Scan StatisticsDNA Copy Number
Detecting mutations in mixed sample sequencing data using empirical Bayes
Muralidharan O, Natsoulis G, Bell JM, Ji HP, Zhang NR*
Annals of Applied Statistics 6, 1047–1067 (2012)
Variant Detection
Model selection for high-dimensional, multi-sequence change-point problems
Zhang NR, Siegmund DO
Statistica Sinica 22, 1507–1538 (2012)
Change-Point & Scan Statistics
Multiple hypothesis testing adjusted for latent variables, with an application to the AGEMAP gene expression data
Sun Y, Zhang NR, Owen AB
Annals of Applied Statistics 6, 1664–1688 (2012)
Batch CorrectionDifferential ExpressionAging
2011
Estimation of parent specific DNA copy number in tumors using high-density genotyping arrays
Chen H, Xing H, Zhang NR*
PLoS Computational Biology 7, e1001060 (2011)
DNA Copy NumberCancer
Detecting simultaneous variant intervals in aligned sequences
Siegmund DO, Yakir B, Zhang NR
Annals of Applied Statistics 5, 645–668 (2011)
Change-Point & Scan Statistics
False discovery rates and copy number variation
Efron B, Zhang NR
Biometrika 98, 251–271 (2011)
Change-Point & Scan StatisticsDNA Copy Number
A flexible approach for highly multiplexed candidate gene targeted resequencing
Natsoulis G, Bell JM, Xu H, Buenrostro JD, Ordonez H, Grimes S, Newburger D, Jensen M, Zahn JM, Zhang NR, Ji HP*
PLoS ONE 6, e21088 (2011)
Variant Detection
False discovery rate for scanning statistics
Siegmund DO, Zhang NR, Yakir B
Biometrika 98, 979–985 (2011)
Change-Point & Scan Statistics
For the complete list including work before 2011, see Google Scholar.