Jessica Lang

About

Jessica Lang, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is also a faculty member at the Center for Precision Medicine and an affiliate faculty member at the Center for Genomic Science Innovation. Jessica obtained her bachelor's degree in Genetics in 2009 and her doctorate in Cancer Biology in 2014, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Following her doctoral studies, she completed two postdoctoral fellowships at Arizona State University and The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen). In 2019, she was awarded an NCI K99/R00 grant to focus her research on the role of super-enhancers in high-grade serous ovarian carcinomas. Jessica joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty in 2021, where she applies her expertise in translational biology, genomics, and epigenetics to advance her research. Outside of her professional work, Jessica enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, outdoor activities, reading, and game nights.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Computer Science
• Internal medicine
• Oncology
• Nanotechnology
• Materials science
• Gastroenterology
• Gynecology
• Biology
• Intensive care medicine

Selected publications

• The DNA methylation landscape of advanced prostate cancer

  Nature Genetics · 2020 · 348 citations

  DOI

• A role for microfluidic systems in precision medicine

  Nature Communications · 2022 · 198 citations

  Precision oncology continues to challenge the "one-size-fits-all" dogma. Under the precision oncology banner, cancer patients are screened for molecular tumor alterations that predict treatment response, ideally leading to optimal treatments. Functional assays that directly evaluate treatment efficacy on the patient's cells offer an alternative and complementary tool to improve the accuracy of precision oncology. Unfortunately, traditional Petri dish-based assays overlook much tumor complexity,…

  DOI

• Trial Design and Objectives for Patients With Prostate Cancer: Recommendations From the Prostate Cancer Working Group 4

  Journal of Clinical Oncology · 2026-02-26 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  PURPOSE: The continuous development of new imaging approaches, molecular phenotyping, genetic subtypes, prognosis assessments, and effective therapies across a range of disease states has created a need to redefine terminology and best practices for clinical trial conduct in patients with advanced prostate cancer. METHODS: We convened an international expert committee of diverse working groups, the Prostate Cancer Working Group 4 (PCWG4), between 2016 and 2025. Our objective was to formulate upd…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Multi-Institutional Study Evaluating the Role of Early Circulating Tumor DNA Dynamics During Treatment With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Patients With Advanced-Stage Melanoma

  JCO Precision Oncology · 2026-02-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  PURPOSE The role of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) monitoring in predicting treatment response and survival outcomes in early-stage and metastatic solid tumors has shown promising results. The value of early ctDNA dynamics in solid tumors treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) merits further investigation. Our study aims to assess the role of early ctDNA changes, measured 3-4 weeks after initiating ICI therapy, in predicting clinical outcomes in patients with advanced-stage melanoma. ME…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Prostate Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts: A Review on CAF Functions, Heterogeneity, Resistance Mechanisms, and Future in a Chip

  International Journal of Molecular Sciences · 2026-02-05 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are key regulators of the prostate tumor microenvironment (TME) with influence on disease progression and therapeutic response. CAFs originate from multiple precursors and retain remarkable plasticity while tumors evolve. Therefore, the CAF pool displays considerable functional heterogeneity, which is well-reflected in complex molecular signatures. However, overlapping biomarker patterns with other stromal subsets make it challenging to identify and assess th…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Cancer Center Administration

  NIH · $99.8M · 1997–2028

• Mechanisms of microenvironment mediated resistance to cancer cell surface targeted therapeutics

  NIH · $1.6M · 2020–2022

• Enhancing Epigenetic Analysis Of Rare Cells With Multi-Phase Microfluidics

  NIH · $3.1M · 2020–2026

Frequent coauthors

• Jamie M. Sperger

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  194 shared

• Shuang G. Zhao

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  158 shared

• David J. Beebe

  University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center

  146 shared

• Erika Héninger

  117 shared

• David Kosoff

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  96 shared

• Anupama Singh

  92 shared

• Charlotte N. Stahlfeld

  85 shared

• Jennifer L. Schehr

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  83 shared

Labs

• Lang LabPI

  Translational Ovarian Cancer Genomics and Epigenetics Lab at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Similar researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Rudolph C. Johnsonh-65
• Wei Huangh-62