Jessica received a BA in Anthropology and Ancient History and a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Auckland, New Zealand in 2010. In 2015 she was awarded her PhD from the University of York, where she explored the application of ancient protein analysis to understanding ancient diets and disease. Following her PhD, she then took up a postdoctoral research associate position at York, applying genomics and proteomics to understand pathogen exposure and food consumption practices in 19th century Britain. In 2016 Jessica became a postdoctoral researcher and then group leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. Jessica became a Lecturer in Palaeoproteomics in the Department of Archaeology in July 2019.