Jessica Osterhout is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Utah. Her research examines how the brain detects changes in immune state and coordinates the responses to illness. More broadly, her research explores how bidirectional signaling between the immune system and central nervous system shapes behavior and physiology during inflammation and other challenges to homeostasis.

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Jessica earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon, where she studied neuroblast self-renewal in Drosophila under the mentorship of Dr. Chris Doe. She then pursued her PhD at the University of California, San Diego, with Dr. Andrew Huberman, investigating the mechanisms that guide axon-target matching in the developing mouse visual system. She completed her doctorate in 2015 with support from an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

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Jessica conducted her postdoctoral training with Dr. Catherine Dulac at Harvard University, where she identified molecular and neural circuit mechanisms through which the brain senses peripheral inflammation and generates fever and other coordinated sickness responses. Her postdoctoral research was supported by the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund, the Y. Eva Tan Postdoctoral Fellowship, and an NIH/NINDS K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award.

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In 2022, Jessica joined the University of Utah and established the Osterhout Laboratory. Her independent research has been recognized with a Klingenstein–Simons Fellowship in Neuroscience, a Whitehall Foundation Research Grant, a Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Grant, and selection as a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences.