Dr. Spence attended graduate school at Miami University (Ohio) where he earned his Ph.D. in 2006. His Ph.D. work, conducted in the lab of Katia Del Rio-Tsonis, focused on understanding mechanisms that drive regeneration and tissue repair in unique model organisms that maintain regenerative ability throughout life, including Notophthalmus viridescens (Eastern Newt), Ambystoma mexicanum (Axolotl) and the embryonic chick. He performed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the lab of Jim Wells at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where he turned his focus to understanding mechanisms that regulate embryonic development of endoderm-derived tissue (pancreas, liver, intestine, lung) and utilizing human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) to understand human differentiation and development. During this time, he pioneered efforts to generate 3-dimensional intestinal organoids from human pluripotent stem cells using an approach know as directed differentiation. In 2011, Dr. Spence joined the faculty of the University of Michigan Medical School. The strengths and focus of the Spence lab include using mouse models to study embryonic development of GI tract and the lung, and using 3-dimensional human models to study human development and disease. The lab is currently pursuing projects aimed at understand intestinal and lung development and function, and using human organoid models to study regeneration and disease.