Steve JACKSON

Sir Stephen (Steve) Jackson is the University of Cambridge Frederick Professor of Biology and Senior Group Leader at the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Cambridge Institute. His research has identified key principles by which cells respond to and repair DNA damage and helped define how their dysfunction yields cancer and other age-related diseases. Steve is a fellow of the Royal Society, the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, The European Academy of Cancer Sciences, and EMBO. He has received various national and international prizes, and in 2023 was awarded a knighthood for his services to innovation and research.

In 1997, Steve founded the drug-discovery company KuDOS Pharmaceuticals, serving as its part-time Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) until and after its acquisition by AstraZeneca. KuDOS developed and took it into first patients the PARP inhibitor olaparib (LynparzaTM), now a marketed drug for certain ovarian, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers. In 2010, Steve founded Mission Therapeutics to exploit advances in protein ubiquitylation and deubiquitylation to derive new medicines and served as its part-time CSO until 2018 (he is now a Board member and chairs the Mission SAB). In 2018, Steve conceived of and co-founded Adrestia Therapeutics, served as its interim CEO and then its CSO. Following the 2023 acquisition of Adrestia by Insmed Inc., Steve is part-time Chief Research Officer for Insmed Innovation UK.

Steve’s academic laboratory (https://www.stevejacksonlab.org) in the CRUK Cambridge Institute is further defining mechanisms by which cells detect, signal the presence of and repair DNA damage.