My long-term goal is to create a research program centered around dissecting complex human genetic disease on the level of basic transcriptional control and the epigenetic modulation of transcriptional regulation.

Education

Jessica completed a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with an emphasis in Biochemistry at Richard Stockton College in 1997.

As a graduate student, she had the unique experience of training with two professors, both well–established in the field of epigenetics. In 1997, she began her training in Dr. John Lucchesi’s lab, where she studied the epigenetic aspects of dosage compensation in Drosophila melanogaster. She moved to Stony Brook University in the summer of 1999 and completed her PhD in 2004 under the mentorship of a yeast epigeneticist, Dr. Rolf Sternglanz. Jessica’s PhD thesis pursued her interest in the histone code by characterizing a domain (the BAH domain) that resides within proteins involved in regulating transcription through chromatin compaction. (For more information see research statement)

Jessica was a postdoc at the Duke Center for Human Genetics from 2004-2008. Her postdoctoral work allowed her to explore the fields of human genetics, genomics, and cardiovascular disease. She trained under Dr. Elizabeth Hauser, a human statistical geneticist, and Dr. Simon G. Gregory, a human genomicist.
(For more information, see career development)

Personal

I moved to Charlottesville in December of 2008 and started my faculty position in February 2009. We’ve settled in and love living here. I’m married to Dr. Jamie Morris, who is an assistant professor in Psychology at UVA. I have a fantastic son name Kegan who was born in 2009. I spend most of my time when I’m not in the lab with my boys and my awesome dogs, Sarah and Jack.
 

Current Research Support
R00HL089412 (Connelly, JJ) 01/01/09 – 01/31/12 PI
NIH/NHLBI
“Molecular Dissection of Cardiovascular Disease: From Genes to Models to Function”
The goal of the projects contained in this grant is to measure changes in DNA methylation in the human arterial endothelial cell caused by changes in intercellular S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine and homocysteine concentrations. Candidate genes for atherosclerosis and related diseases will also be defined in relationship to homocysteine levels in the blood.

R01ES017638 (Connelly, JJ) 09/01/09 – 08/30/13 PI
NIH/NHLBI
“Epigenomics of Atherosclerosis”
The goal of the projects contained in this grant is to measure changes in DNA methylation in response to atheroprone and atheroprotective flow. We will construct maps of the methyl-CpGenome and combine these maps with comprehensive methyl-CpGenome maps of diseased and non-diseased aorta.

Pending Research Support

R21HD066557 (Connelly, JJ and Moenter, SM) PI
NIH/NICHD
“Epigenetic Changes Induced by Prenatal Androgen Exposure”
The goal of the projects contained in this grant is to study the epigenetic changes
caused by androgen exposure during pregnancy. We hope to identify new targets for treatment of individuals with infertility and metabolic dysfunction that can result from this exposure.

R21HD066487 (Connelly, JJ) PI
NIH/NICHD
“Epigenetics of BPA Exposure & Neurodevelopmental Disorders”
The goal of the projects contained in this grant is to study the role of Bisphenol A (BPA) as a hypomethylator in the developing mouse brain and determine the downstream social deficits that result from in utero BPA exposure.

R01OD007887 (Connelly, JJ and Morris, JP) PI
NIH/Roadmap Initiative (TR01)
“Epigenetic modulation of the social brain”
The goal of the projects contained in this grant is to quantify and correlate epigenetic modulation of genes and demonstrate how this modulation affects social behavior. We use regional brain activation evoked by well-validated social tasks as an index of social function.

R01 (Connelly, JJ and Taylor, AG) PI
NIH/
“Novel Biomarkers for Clinical Studies of Mind-body Therapies”
The goal this project is to address the challenge of exploring the nature and prevalence of the
targeted benefit of mind-body therapies in reducing stress and inflammation, which may
facilitate future selection of mind-body therapies that knowingly result in stress reduction.