Jennifer Berger, Ph.D.

Jennifer Berger, Ph.D., is an Instructor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern and a member of its Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine.

Dr. Berger holds a bachelor's degree in biology and biomolecular science from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, which she earned cum laude. She received a doctorate in microbiology from the Unviersity of Colorado-Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado, where she also completed postdoctoral training in immunology and microbiology under the mentorship of Leslie Berg, Ph.D.

Dr. Berger’s research centers on understanding immune responses to viral infection, with a particular emphasis on T cell–mediated immunity in neurotropic and oncogenic viral contexts. Her work integrates virology, immunology, and advanced genomic approaches to define how viruses and host immune systems interact at cellular and molecular levels. During her doctoral training, she investigated gene expression dynamics across the gammaherpesvirus (MHV68) lifecycle, employing high-dimensional single-cell analyses to reveal heterogeneity in viral and host transcription during infection, latency, and reactivation. Building on this foundation, her postdoctoral research focused on innate-like T cell populations and their roles in controlling neurotropic viral infections such as West Nile virus and encephalitic viruses. Her presentations and invited lectures have highlighted the importance of bystander and innate CD8+ T cells as key antiviral effectors in the brain, advancing understanding of neuroimmune defense mechanisms. Across her publications, Dr. Berger has contributed to studies on antiviral T cell regulation, viral manipulation of host immunity, and tumor immunology, including work on HPV-mediated immune evasion and chemokine regulation, as well as alphavirus and herpesvirus pathogenesis. Overall, her research is defined by a systems-level approach to viral immunology that combines mechanistic studies with translational insights into immune protection and immune-mediated pathology.