Following his PhD, Jackson carried out postdoctoral research with
Robert Tjian at the
University of California, Berkeley, where he developed an interest in the regulation of
transcription. He returned to the UK in 1991 as a Junior Group Leader at the then Wellcome-CRC Institute, now the
Gurdon Institute. Jackson's work has provided key insights into cellular processes that respond to
DNA damage; 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 (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 and ATR (
Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related), 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) inhibitor
Olaparib/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 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 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 that the paper published in 2010 was investigated for research misconduct. The journal issued an
expression of concern over the article the next month. Cambridge made its final decision in April 2019 that the paper in
Science and another in
Nature (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. In 2024 further evidence of scientific fraud was identified and another paper from Jackson's laboratory was retracted. This time the first author was Abdeladim Moumen, and the paper 'hnRNP K: An HDM2 Target and Transcriptional Coactivator of p53 in Response to DNA Damage' was retracted from Cell. ==Honours and awards==