Jessica P. Hollenbach, PhD

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, CT Children’s Medical Center (Affiliate)

Research Overview

General topics which I am interested in are pediatric asthma and how environmental exposures, such as fetal exposure to chronic maternal psychosocial stress, can affect risk for asthma development. I am also interested in the neuroendocrine and inflammatory pathways that are affected by and may govern the link between chronic stress and asthma, a project I plan to work on as an InCHIP affiliate. Understanding the timing of stressors, how to prevent them, and the intergenerational effects of exposures suggest epigenetic mechanisms, another area of interest. Recent data also suggest that perinatal stress may compromise the infant gut microbiota. As a future research interest, I am interested in understanding whether gut microbiota, and/or epigenetic mechanisms, are involved in these associations. As the Program Director for the Easy Breathing program I am also interested in dissemination and implementation research. In the past my dissertation research at UCHC focused on understanding how the loss of the DNA mismatch repair system affects stem cells in vivo in planarians.

Education

2001 – 2005 B.S. Biochemistry, French minor
Union College, Schenectady NY

2005 – 2011 Ph.D. Biomedical Science
University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington CT

2012 Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Radiobiology and Radiotherapy,
Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven CT

Recent Publications