Jessie Jacobsen is a senior lecturer in biological sciences at the University of Auckland.
Jacobsen's research areas include the 'genetic basis of autism spectrum disorder'.
[2] The following nine years she dedicated to research on Huntington's disease that started with a PhD at the University of Auckland and followed with receiving a substantial funding through fellowships.
[2] Jacobsen received a Neurological Foundation of New Zealand Postdoctoral Fellowship to study at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School,[1] and worked in the Harvard’s Centre for Human Genetic Research laboratory of Professor Marcy MacDonald,[2] developing her interest in complex genetic disorders leading to her research in 'autistic traits and their relationship to genetics'.
[5][6] In 2012 a NZ$100,000 repatriation fellowship from the Neurological Foundation was granted to Jacobsen,[5] followed by the Rutherford Discovery Fellowship (lead researcher) 'to establish a genetic research paradigm focused on uncovering underlying genetic causes of ASD in the New Zealand population' from 2013 to 2018.