Steve Jackson
Steve Jackson is the Frederick James Quick Professor of Biology in the Department of Biochemistry, School of the Biological Sciences at Cambridge University, UK, and a Senior Group Leader in the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute of Cancer and Developmental Biology in Cambridge. Steve receives his salary from the University of Cambridge with a supplement generously provided by Cancer Research UK. He is Head of Cancer Research UK Laboratories in the Institute. Steve has also recently become an Associate Faculty member of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. The aim of this association is to facilitate interactions and collaborations between the lab and scientists at the Sanger Institute.
Steve is originally from Nottingham in the English Midlands. He obtained his first degree from Leeds University and then did his PhD research with Jean Beggs on yeast RNA splicing, first at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London and then in the Department of Molecular Biology at Edinburgh University.
In 1997, Steve founded a biotechnology venture, KuDOS Pharmaceuticals Ltd, to transfer research on DNA repair to medical applications. KuDOS was acquired by AstraZeneca in 2005 and for many years operated as an AstraZeneca subsidiary with Steve as CSO. As of September 2010 all of KuDOS' programmes were transferred to the main AstraZeneca site in Macclesfield. Steve is still in contact with many former KuDOS scientists and continues to closely follow the clinical progress of the drugs that KuDOS developed.
In 2011, a team lead by Steve announced the launch of a new spin-out company MISSION Therapeutics Ltd. The company is so-named because a key aspect of Steve's life's mission is for him to identify and exploit opportunities that have the potential to alleviate human disease and suffering. Steve said "I am very excited by the prospect that MISSION and my academic lab will cooperate for their mutual benefit. Having said this, it is important for me to stress that MISSION is physically and operationally distinct from my academic group, and that MISSION does not direct or fund any of the work in my academic laboratory".
Steve has received several prizes including, Eppendorf European Young Investigator of the Year (1995), the Tenovus Medal (1997), the Biochemical Society Colworth Medal (1997), and the Anthony Dipple Carcinogenesis Young Investigator Award (2002). More recently, in recognition of his achievements, he has received the Biochemical Society GlaxoSmithKline Award (2008), the BBSRC Innovator of the Year Award (2009) and the Royal Society Buchanan Medal (2011). He is an elected member of several professional societies and organizations, including the European Molecular Biology Organization (1997), the Academy of Medical Sciences (2001) and the Fellowship of the Royal Society (2008).
Steve has been selected to appear on ISIHighlyCited.com, a free, publicly available website intended to highlight the world's most cited authors from the last two decades. He is also among the most highly cited European cancer researchers.