Sir Stephen Philip Jackson, FRS, FMedSci (born 17 July 1962) is the Frederick James Quick Professor of Biology. He is a senior group leader at the

Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organization. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

Cambridge Institute and associate group leader at the

Gurdon Institute The Gurdon Institute (officially the Wellcome/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute) is a research facility at the University of Cambridge, specialising in developmental biology and cancer biology. History The Institute was founded in 1989 to prov ...

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Education

Jackson was educated at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry in 1983. He then carried out his PhD research working with

Jean Beggs Jean Duthie Beggs CBE Royal Society, FRS Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE Doctor of Science, DSc (née Lancaster, born 16 April 1950) is a Scottish geneticist. She is the Royal Society Darwin Trust Professor in the Wellcome Trust C ...

on yeast RNA splicing at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

and

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

, earning his PhD in 1987.

Research

Following his PhD, Jackson carried out postdoctoral research with

Robert Tjian Robert Tjian (; born 1949) is a Hong Kong-born American biochemist best known for his work on eukaryotic transcription. He is currently Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley and an Investigator ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where he developed an interest in the regulation of

transcription Transcription refers to the process of converting sounds (voice, music etc.) into letters or musical notes, or producing a copy of something in another medium, including: Genetics * Transcription (biology), the copying of DNA into RNA, the fir ...

. He returned to the UK in 1991 as a Junior Group Leader at the then Wellcome-CRC Institute, now the

. Jackson's work has provided key insights into cellular processes that respond to

DNA damage DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as radiation can cause DNA da ...

; processes fundamental to life and whose defects cause various diseases particularly cancer. Through his discovery that the DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) enzyme is activated by DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), Jackson's laboratory identified and characterised various components of the

non-homologous end joining Non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) is a pathway that repairs double-strand breaks in DNA. NHEJ is referred to as "non-homologous" because the break ends are directly ligated without the need for a homologous template, in contrast to homology direc ...

(NHEJ) system that repairs most DSBs in human cells. These studies also provided a paradigm for Jackson's later work on DNA-damage signalling by the

ATM serine/threonine kinase ATM serine/threonine kinase or Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated, symbol ATM, is a serine/ threonine protein kinase that is recruited and activated by DNA double-strand breaks. It phosphorylates several key proteins that initiate activation of the D ...

and ATR (

Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related Serine/threonine-protein kinase ATR also known as ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related protein (ATR) or FRAP-related protein 1 (FRP1) is an enzyme that, in humans, is encoded by the ''ATR'' gene. It is a large kinase of about 301.66 kDa. ATR bel ...

), and his studies on how these and additional DNA repair factors interact with and influence one another, often in ways regulated by post-translational modifications. Jackson's work has also helped establish how DSB repair is controlled during the cell cycle, at telomeres in response to cell aging/senescence, and within chromatin. In 1997 Jackson founded KuDOS Pharmaceuticals with the aim of translating knowledge of DNA damage response pathways into new treatments for cancer. KuDOS developed small-molecule inhibitors of several DNA damage response enzymes. The most advanced of these is the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (

PARP1 Poly DP-ribosepolymerase 1 (PARP-1) also known as NAD+ ADP-ribosyltransferase 1 or poly DP-ribosesynthase 1 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''PARP1'' gene. It is the most abundant of the PARP family of enzymes, accounting for 90% o ...

) inhibitor

Olaparib Olaparib, sold under the brand name Lynparza, is a medication for the maintenance treatment of BRCA-mutated advanced ovarian cancer in adults. It is a PARP inhibitor, inhibiting poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP), an enzyme involved in DNA repair ...

/Lynparza™, which is now a registered medicine worldwide. KuDOS developed into a fully integrated drug-discovery and drug-development company and was acquired by

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includin ...

in 2005. In 2011 Jackson founded MISSION Therapeutics a firm to develop drugs to improve the management of life-threatening diseases, particularly cancer. In 2017, he founded Adrestia Therapeutics Ltd and currently serves as Chief Scientific Officer.

Paper retractions

In 2018, Jackson's former postdoctoral scholar, Abderrahmane Kaidi, then working at the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

was found guilty of research fraud. Kaidi additionally confessed that he had made false data in two of his research papers published with Jackson. Bristol conveyed the matter to the University of Cambridge which took up an investigation. On 19 August 2018, Cambridge and Jackson informed ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

'' that the paper published 2010 was investigated for research misconduct. The journal issued an

expression of concern In academic publishing, an expression of concern is a notice issued by a publisher against a particular publication, warning that it may contain errors or be otherwise untrustworthy. Definitions Practice for issuing expressions of concern is not ...

over the article the next month. Cambridge made its final decision in April 2019 that the paper in ''Science'' and another in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'' (in 2013) contain fabricated data that were done by Kaidi. Jackson was not involved in the misdeed. The two journals simultaneously retracted the papers on 11 April 2019.

Honours and awards

Jackson has received numerous awards, medals and honorary degrees: the inaugural Eppendorf-Nature European Young Investigator Award (1995); the Tenovus Medal for Cancer Research (1997); the

Colworth Medal The Colworth Medal is awarded annually by the Biochemical Society to an outstanding research biochemist under the age of 35 and working mainly in the United Kingdom. The award is one of the most prestigious recognitions for young scientists in the ...

(1997); the Anthony Dipple Carcinogenesis Young Investigator award (2002); the

Biochemical Society The Biochemical Society is a learned society in the United Kingdom in the field of biochemistry, including all the cellular and molecular biosciences. Structure It currently has around 7000 members, two-thirds in the UK. It is affiliated with th ...

GlaxoSmithKline Award (2008); the

BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, is a non-departmental public body (NDPB), and is the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience. It predominantly funds scientific rese ...

Innovator of the Year Award (2009); the Royal Society Buchanan Medal (2011), the latter in recognition of his "outstanding contributions to understanding DNA repair and DNA damage response signalling pathways", and the Gagna A. & Ch. Van Heck Prize (2015) for "his cardinal contributions related to cellular events that detect, signal the presence of and repair DNA damages". Jackson is the co-winner of the

King Faisal International Prize The King Faisal Prize ( ar, جائزة الملك فيصل, formerly King Faisal International Prize), is an annual award sponsored by King Faisal Foundation presented to "dedicated men and women whose contributions make a positive difference". T ...

for Science 2016, in recognition of his "outstanding contribution to defining the link between the basic mechanism of genomic DNA instability and its relationship to cancer. Specifically, he unraveled the salient components of the pathway involved in DNA repair. He is also credited with an innovative approach to bring his findings into tangible therapeutic products to treat cancer". He was elected a member of the

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 1,800 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

(EMBO) in 1997, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2001 and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2008. In 2016, Jackson was awarded the Dr A. H. Heineken Prize for Medicine for his "fundamental research into DNA repair in human cells and for the successful application of knowledge of that process in the development of new cancer drugs". In 2017 he was awarded the Genome Stability Network medal for his contributions to the field of genome stability and particularly for the realisation of the therapeutic potential of targeting the DDR. The Fondation ARC's Leopold Griffuel Prize in Translational and Clinical Research was presented to Jackson in 2019 for his work on DNA damage repair and his role in the development of medicines such as PARP1 and 2 inhibitors, currently used for cancer treatment. In 2020, he was awarded the Royal Society's

Mullard Award The Mullard Award is awarded annually by the Royal Society to a person who has "an outstanding academic record in any field of natural science, engineering or technology and whose contribution is currently making or has the potential to make a co ...

for his research on DNA repair mechanisms and synthetic lethality that led to the discovery of olaparib which has reached blockbuster status for the treatment of ovarian and breast cancers. In 2022, Jackson was awarded the Johann Anton Merck Award, which is given for outstanding scientific preclinical research accomplishments in the areas of Merck Healthcare‘s strategic focus.

honoured Steve with Cancer Research Horizon's Entrepreneurship Recognition Award in recognition of his longstanding academic entrepreneurship and his outstanding contributions that have enhanced the field of oncology. Jackson was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to innovation and research.

References

External links

Meet Steve Jackson (video)
by

2 September 2016
Cancer patient Sandy meets Steve Jackson (video)
by

Worldwide Cancer Research Worldwide Cancer Research is Scotland’s only cancer research charity. A small charity with a big reach, it funds discovery research (also called early-stage, basic or fundamental research) worldwide that aims to lay the groundwork for cures for ...

15 January 2018
Steve Jackson on the power of blue skies research (video)
by

Abcam plc Abcam is a producer, distributor and seller of protein research tools. History The company was founded in 1998 by Jonathan Milner with co-founders professor Tony Kouzarides and David Cleevely, with the idea of making it easier for research scie ...

20 December 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Stephen Philip 1962 births Living people Scientists from Nottingham Alumni of the University of Leeds Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 20th-century British biologists 21st-century British biologists Cancer researchers Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge Winners of the Heineken Prize Fellows of the Royal Society Quick Professors of Biology Knights Bachelor