Steve Jackson BSc, PhD

Steve Jackson FRS, FMedSci is University of Cambridge and Cancer Research UK Professor of Biology, and Head of Cancer Research UK Laboratories at the Gurdon Institute. In his research publications, he has identified many key principles by which cells respond to and repair DNA damage. He identified many DNA repair proteins, established how they function, and helped define how their dysfunction yields cancer and other age-related diseases. Steve has received various prizes, including most recently the 2015 Gagna and van Heck Prize for Medicine, the 2016 King Faisal International Prize for Science, the 2016 AH. Heineken Prize for Medicine, and the 2017 Genome Stability Network Medal.To translate his academic work towards patient benefit, in 1997 Steve founded the drug-discovery company KuDOS Pharmaceuticals Ltd., then served as part-time Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) until and after its acquisition by AstraZeneca. Several KuDOS-generated drugs are currently in clinical trials, with the most advanced, the PARP inhibitor olaparib/LynparzaTM, now being a marketed anti-cancer drug for certain ovarian cancers in over 40 countries. In 2010, Steve founded Mission Therapeutics Ltd. (Babraham, Cambridge) to exploit recent advances in protein ubiquitylation and deubiquitylation to derive new medicines, and serves as its part-time CSO. Steve’s academic laboratory is currently further defining mechanisms of DNA repair and associated processes, with a view to identifying new therapeutic opportunities for cancer as well as various other genetic diseases.