News from 2015
14/12/15: One year on from being approved by the FDA, NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has approved the use of Lynparza™(Olaparib) on the NHS for women with advanced ovarian cancer. This could benefit up to 400 women per year in the UK. Read about this and the science behind Olaparib here
25/11/15: Congratulations to postdoc Serena Bologna on being awarded a Swiss National Science Foundation fellowship.
19/11/15: Steve Jackson has been awarded the prestigious Gagna A. & Ch. Van Heck prize "for his cardinal contributions related to cellular events that detect, signal the presence of and repair DNA damages". "Congratulations Steve" from all the lab!
27/10/15: A screen for E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes in the DNA damage response by postdocs Christine Schmidt and Yaron Galanty and colleagues is published today in Nature Cell Biology
26/10/15: Former postdoc Pable Huertas is elected an EMBO Young Investigator
09/10/15: A paper describing the role of deubiquitylase USP4 in the regulation of DNA repair, the culmination of research by PhD student Paul Wijnhoven and colleagues in the lab, is published in Molecular Cell
17/09/15: The results of a collaboration between the Jackson lab, former postdoc Sebastien Britton and Patrick Calsou's lab, CNRS, are now published in Nucleic Acids Research. This research sheds new light on the machanisms involved in the repair of DNA double-strand breaks.
10/09/15: Action for AT announce funding for a new project in the Jackson lab studying how genetic factors might reduce the severity of
A-T. Read about the project and listen to an interview with Steve here
17/08/15: Read about the story of Olaparib from lab to clinic here
17/08/15: Watch the 22nd Sackler Distinguished Lecture given by Steve last month here
04/08/15: A novel method developed by post-doc Josep Forment is published in Nature Protocols. This describes a simple method to analyse and quantify protin bound to chromatin in mammalian cells using flow cytometry combined with immunofluorescence microscopy.
03/06/15: Novel findings on the role of post-translational modifications in the release of Ku from sites of DNA damage are reported in Cell Reports.
22/04/15: New research from the Jackson lab and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is now out online in EMBO Journal. In this paper, Puddu et al., describe a synthetic viability screening approach combined with whole genome sequencing in yeast that sheds new light on DNA double-strand break repair mechanisms.
08/04/15: Congratulations to postdoc Fabio Puddu for winning third prize (sponsored by Singer Instruments) at the British Yeast Group Meeting for his talk on "Synthetic-viability genomic screening defines Sae2 function in DNA repair".
01/04/15: A review on "Ubiquitylation, neddylation and the DNA damage response" by Wellcome Trust clinical fellow Jessica Brown and Steve Jackson is published in Open Biology.
24/03/15: A new paper from the Jackson lab is published in Molecular Cell. This work, carried out in collaboration with Wojciech Niedwiedz's lab in Oxford, provides novel molecular insights into how the Bloom syndrome helicase is regulated.
05/02/2015: Following recent approval of Lynparza™, Steve discusses its origins and opportunities for DNA damage response based therapeutics. View his interview here.
9/01/2015: A new DNA repair factor is described in this week's Science. This work was carried out by Jackson lab postdoc Andy Blackford in collaboration with Takashi Ochi, in Tom Blundell's lab, Department of Biochemistry.
6/01/2015: Postdoc Gabriel Balmus is first author of a paper published in this month's Nature Protocols, describing a high-throughput micronucleus assay to screen for genome instability in mice.
6/01/2015: A new paper is published in Nature Structural Molecular Biology. This work, the result of a collaboration between the Jackson lab and Luca Pellegrini's lab (Dept of Biochemistry), describes, through biophysical and X-ray crystallographic analyses, the molecular basis for how CtIP functions to promote DNA-end resection and ensure effective repair of DNA double-strand breaks.
News from 2014
24/12/2014: Watch a Youtube video where Steve describes PARP inhibitors: a new generation of cancer drugs.
19/12/2014: The U.S Food and Drug Administration approved Lynparza™/Olaparib for treatment of women with advanced ovarian cancer. Read AstraZeneca's Press Release here.
18/12/2014: Today, Lynparza™/Olaparib, the first of a new generation of cancer drugs has been granted European approval for use in the treatment of ovarian cancer. Read about the development of Lynparza™ from research in Steve's lab in the mid-1990s to today here.
02/12/2014: A project in the Jackson lab has been selected as a winner in GlaxoSmithKline's 2014 Discovery Fast Track Challenge. This will allow postdoc Dr Delphine Larrieu to work with scientists in GSK's Molecular Discovery Research teams to screen their chemical libraries for compounds that inhibit/bind the N-acetyl transferase protein Nat10. These may then go on to be developed as potential therapies for the treament of inherited laminopathies.
28/10/2014: Postdoc Andy Blackford won the 'Best Talk' prize at the Biochemical Society's Young Life Scientists' symposium
24/10/2014: Read Kat Arney's science blog about the development of Olaparib from lab to clinic here
24/10/2014: Lynparza™/Olaparib, a drug that was generated by KuDOS Pharmaceuticals, the company founded by Steve Jackson, was today recommended for approval for use in ovarian cancer by the EMA (European Medicines Agency). KuDOS Pharmaceuticals was founded by Steve to develop drugs to target DNA repair enzymes in ways that would selectively kill cancer cells.
13/10/2014: Congratulations to Steve Jackson on being elected to the European Academy of Cancer Sciences. Hosted under the auspices of the European CanCer Organisation (ECCO), the Academy strives for excellence, independence, leadership, diversity and flexibility. It operates as a ‘virtual’ body, grouping together representatives with outstanding scientific and academic backgrounds from all cancer disciplines to provide knowledgeable and unbiased advice on matters of policy priorities at the national, European and global level.
09/09/2014: A new paper is published in Nature Cell Biology by postdoc Ryotaro Nishi and colleagues in the Jackson lab and Liverpool University. This research describes a multidimensional systematic screen of all deubiquitylating enzymes for functions in the DNA damage response and maintenance of genome integrity. This study has identified novel roles for some DUBs in these pathways and highlights their potential as therapeutic targets for cancer treatment.
05/09/2014: Work started in the Jackson lab by former postdoc Melanie Blasius and continued in Jiri Bartek's lab is published as an Advance Online Article in Genes and Development. This research, describing a proteomic screen with the 14-3-3 complex, has identified new connections between the DNA damage response and RNA biology.
14/07/2014: Postdoc Josep Forment has been awarded a prize for his poster at the Gordon Research Conference "Genomic Instability: Mechanisms That Cause DNA Damage and Related Diseases" in Hong Kong.
02/05/2014: A new paper is published in Science by postdoc Delphine Larrieu and colleagues describing how the small molecule Remodelin corrects nuclear damage and cellular fitness in patients with a form of accelerated ageing (Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome). This work may suggest ways to treat this disease and also other disease associated with normal ageing. Read the press release here
03/04/2014: Congratulations to Steve on being elected to the Fellowship of Imperial College Faculty of Medicine. The Faculty of Medicine Fellows are elected annually and are awarded to former staff or students for their outstanding achievements or of exceptional services rendered to the Faculty. They are also awarded to those who are not former members of the Faculty but who are of outstanding distinction in the appropriate fields and whom the Faculty wishes to honour.
02/04/2014: Congratulations to postdoc Delphine Larrieu on being awarded an MRC Project Grant. This will allow her to continue her research into the role of lamins in premature ageing syndromes and cancer.
02/04/2014: Postdoc Rimma Belotserkovskaya and colleagues in the Jackson lab have published a paper in Molecular and Cellular Biology in collaboration with the lab of Travis Stracker. This work describes the recruitment of USP28 to sites of DNA damage in a 53BP1-dependent manner, but report tht USP28 is not a critical factor in double-strand break metabolism.
14/03/2014: Listen to an interview with Steve Jackson as part of a NakedGenetics podcast on DNA Damage and Repair
14/03/2014: Postdoc Christine Schmidt has published novel findings on the use of rolled-up nanomembranes to study the effect of spatial constraints on mammalian cells in 3-D; findings that give new insights into how cancerous cells may behave when they metastasize. This work was carried out in collaboration with the Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, Germany.
28/01/2014: Read about the research of postdoc Josep Forment, funded by the Ataxia Telangiectasia Society
17/01/2014: This short video presents interviews with the scientists, clinicians and industrial partners of the European funded collaborative project DDResponse. In this video they give an overview of the DDResponse project, whose aim is to study the basic mechanisms of the DNA damage reponse, identify novel inhibitors and turn these into new medicines for cancer patients as well as improving current cancer treatments.
News from 2013
24/06/2013: Kaidi and Jackson's Nature paper is a Research Highlight in Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology
07/06/2013: Steve has been awarded a one year grant by the A-T Society to identify ways to correct cellular defects caused by mutations in the gene responsible for A-T.
06/06/2013: Cancer Discovery News feature "KAT5 phosphorylation links chromatin to ATM activation"
03/06/2013: The Nature paper by Kaidi and Jackson (see below) is featured in CRUK's Science blog
03/06/2013: A new publication by postdoc Abdul Kaidi is now out online in the prestigious journal Nature. This paper describes a novel regulatory mechanism linking phosphorylation of the histone acetyl transferase KAT5 to the detection and signaling of chromatin alterations that occur with DNA damage by the DNA damage sensor kinase ATM.
01/03/2013: Two new publications are now out. The first, a review on the regulation of the DNA damage response by the covalent protein modifications ubiquitylation and sumoylation is published in Molecular Cell. The second, a research paper by former PhD student Richard Chahwan and former postdoc Serge Gravel, describes the functional conservation of Dma proteins in yeast and humans.
01/02/2013: A new publication in the journal Cell Cycle is now out as an Epub ahead of print. This paper addresses the issue of how p53-mediated transcription is controlled in response to DNA damage.
03/12/2013: Congratulations to postdoc David Weismann on being awarded an EMBO Long-Term Fellowship. This prestigious award will allow him to continue his research in the lab developing screens to identify new players in the DNA damage response.
19/11/2013: MISSION Therapeutics, the drug discovery company co-founded by Steve Jackson, has announced the securement of £20m Series B financing. Read MISSION's press release here. This announcement has already been widely reported by the Pharma Industry press
03/10/2013: Congratulations to former PhD student Simon Boulton on being awarded the Paul Marks Cancer Research Prize
24/09/2013: Postdoc Delphine Larrieu will be presenting her work at the EMBO Conference "Nuclear Structure and Dynamics"
06/08/2013: Former postdoc Sophie Polo has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant.
06/08/2013: A new brochure 'Hope on the Horizon' giving background information on hereditary breast cancer, its links with DNA repair and the aim of the DDResponse project has just been published and is available here.
05/08/2013: A new publication by former postdoc Sebastien Britton is now out in Journal of Cell Biology. This work, carried out during Seb's postdoc in the Jackson lab, describes a novel method for visualizing Ku foci at sites of DNA damage and provides novel insight into the mechanism of DNA repair at DNA double-strand breaks.
News from 2012
08/05/2012: A new paper has been published in J Cell Science, the culmination of work carried out by Ross Chapman when a postdoc in the lab and continued during his postdoc in Simon Boulton's lab. This work describes the spatial and temporal distribution of BRCA1 and 53BP1 following DNA damage, visualized for the first time at subdiffraction-limit resolution.
24/04/2012: Congratulations to former postdoc Fabrizio d'Adda di Fagagna on his election to EMBO Membership.
04/03/2012: Former postdoc Sophie Polo has been awarded the Olga Sain prize from the Paris Committee of la Ligue contre le Cancer. This award is presented to young researchers who have made a significant contribution to cancer research. Many congratulations Sophie!
27/03/2012: A joint publication between the Jackson lab and Chuna Choudhary's lab in Copenhagen has been published as an advance online publication in Molecular Cell. This paper describes a spectrometry-based proteomics screen designed to analyze global cellular responses to DNA damage. This identified a number of previously unidentified target proteins that were phosphorylated in a DNA damage-dependent manner including proteins involved in the splicing machinery. This work thus highlights the link beteen RNA metabolism and DNA repair.
26/03/2012: Following the joint Wellcome Trust/Biochemical Society's meeting last August "From beads on a string to the pearls of regulation: the structure and dynamics of chromatin", Steve Jackson and former postdoc Kyle Miller have written a review on "Histone marks: repairing DNA breaks within the context of chromatin". This and other articles from this meeting have been published in the latest issue of Biochemical Society Transactions
08/03/2012: MISSION Therapeutics, the company co-founded by Steve, is the subject of a News Maker article by Ken Garber in this month's Nature Biotechnology. Read the article here
27/02/2012: A new joint publication between the Jackson lab and Roger Grand's lab in Birmingham has been published in Molecular Cell. This paper describes the association of hnRNPUL (heterogenoeous nuclear ribonuclearprotein U-like) proteins with the double-strand break sensing complex MRN and discusses their role in the sensing and repair of damaged DNA. Read the full text here
24/02/2012: Steve Jackson and Tony Kouzarides are amongst the top 30 most cited authors in European Cancer Research between 1998 and 2009, as reported in Lab Times
20/02/2012: Our recent publication in Nature Chemical Biology (see below) has been featured in the journal's News and Views. Read the News and Views article here
07/02/2012: A joint publication by the groups of Steve Jackson and Shankar Balasubramanian is published in Nature Chemical Biology today. This work describes a synthetic small molecule (pyridostatin) that targets four-stranded non-Watson-Crick DNA structures to show that such structures can form in the DNA of cancer cells. By targeting such structures we have shown that pyridostatin can inhibit the growth of cancer cells. This work thus paves the way for the development of new approaches to target cancer. Read the full paper here
01/10/2012: The inaugural meeting of the Cambridge 3R's (Replication, Repair, Recombination) seminar series is on 11th October. Postdoc Melanie Blasius will be speaking at this first meeting. The idea of Cambridge 3R's seminar series is to bring together Cambridge-based groups with an interest in the 3Rs for a meeting roughly every 3 months. It is hoped that these seminars will promote discussions between scientists from the various research institutes and departments in Cambridge and act as a platform to discuss their work and exchange ideas. The Cambridge 3R's series is kindly supported by MISSION Therapeutics.
13/09/2012: A new review article has been published in Nature Reviews Cancer. It describes the phenomenon of chromothripsis that results in chromosome rearrangements in tumour cells. This Review discusses the possible mechanisms underlying this process and its implications for cancer biology and in the clinic.
29/08/2012: A new publication by postdoc Josep Forment has been publsihed in Cytometry A. This technical paper, the result of a collaboration between the Jackson lab and Rachel Walker of the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, describes a high-throughput flow-cytometry method that allows the use of RPA staining to measure cell proliferation and DNA damage repair.
25/06/2012: The Mre11–Rad50–Nbs1 (MRN) complex tethers, processes and signals DNA double-strand breaks, promoting genomic stability. A new paper describing the crystal structure of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe protein Mre11 dimeric catalytic domain alone, and in complex with a fragment of Nbs1, has been published in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. This work, a collaboration between Karl-Peter Hopfner's group in Munich and Steve's group including postdoc Ilaria Guerini, shows how Mre11 forms a flexible dimer and how clinical mutations in Mre11 affect its interaction with Nbs1.
14/06/2012: Work by senior postdoc Yaron Galanty and colleagues has been published this month in Genes and Development. This work describes the role of the SUMO targeted E3 ubiquitin ligase (STUBL) RNF4 in the DNA damage response in promoting DNA double-strand break repair, shedding new light on the molecular dynamics regulating DSBs signaling and repair as well as the importance of the interplay between ubiquitylation and SUMOylation.
01/06/2012: A new paper has been published in EMBO Reports featuring work by former postdoc Jacob Falck. Read the paper here
16/05/2012: A feature article in Cambridge University's 'Research Horizons' magazine describes the recent research carried out in the labs of Shankar Balasubramanian and Steve Jackson and the potential this has for the development of new cancer therapeutics. Original research paper
15/05/2012: Congratulations to former graduate student Simon Boulton on his election to the Academy of Medical Sciences. Read the press release here
News from 2011
19/07/2011: Steve Jackson has been awarded the 2011 Buchanan Medal by the Royal Society, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to understanding DNA repair and DNA damage response signalling pathways. Everyone in the lab would like to offer him our congratulations. Read about the Buchanan Medal
21/04/2011: Former PhD student Simon Boulton (1994-1998) has been awarded the EMBO Gold Medal 2011. The EMBO Gold Medal recognizes the outstanding contributions of young researchers in the molecular life sciences and has been awarded in recognition of Simon's work on DNA repair mechanisms and, in particular, for his pioneering role in establishing the nematode worm C. elegans as a model system for studying genome instability. Everyone in the Jackson lab would like to congratulate Simon on his award.
29/03/2011: A new publication by postdoc Jeanine Harrigan and colleagues describes the identification of 53BP1-containing large nuclear bodies in cells in G1 phase of the cell cycle. These structures are associated with fragile sites and may serve as markers of sites of DNA damage to allow repair to take place in subsequent stages of the cell cycle. Read the full paper here.
02/03/2011: Dr John Rouse has been awarded the 2011 Tenovus Medal. John was a postdoc in the Jackson lab from 1997 to 2002. He is now a Programme leader at the MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit, University of Dundee. Previous Tenovus recipients include former postdocs Robert White and Steve Bell and Steve Jackson was also a recipient of this award in 1997. Congratulations to John from everyone in the Jackson lab.
24/01/2011: Steve speaks to ecancertv at the recent NCRI 2010 conference about cancer treatments that target cells' ability to repair DNA damage. Watch his interview here
24/01/2011: Find out about the ground-breaking research that is being carried out in the Jackson lab in this Cancer Research UK video, and the importance of Cancer Research UK funding in helping us continue this vital work.
6/12/2011: Congratulations to postdoc Delphine Larrieu on being awarded an EMBO Long-Term Fellowship. This prestigious award will allow her to continue her research on the role of lamins in the DNA damage response.
7/10/2011: Qvist et al. have identified CtIP (required for DNA double-strand break processing) as a disease gene for Seckel and Jawad syndromes, thus identifying the molecular basis of SCKL2. This work is published today in PLoS Genetics.
26/08/2011: A team lead by Steve Jackson have announced the launch of MISSION Therapeutics Ltd (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). This new spin-out company was formed based on work carried out in Steve's main lab and also by the "MISSION Team", which has been funded by a CRUK Discovery Award. 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". MISSION will be based on the Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge. Read all about this exciting new venture here.
22/08/2011: Two new papers from the Jackson lab featuring the work of postdocs Melanie Blasius, Josep Forment and Ilaria Guerini are published in PLoS One and Genome Biology. The paper in PLoS One describes the mechanism by which inactivation of Chk1 leads to replication-fork collapse, while the Genome Biology publication describes a phospho-proteomics screen that identified many novel Chk1 substrates and a target site consensus motif.
5/08/2011: Congratulations to former postdoc Pablo Huertas on being awarded an ERC Starting Grant. These grants are awarded to early-career top researchers in host institutions in Europe. This will enable Pablo to work on the "Relevance of double strand break repair pathway choice in human disease and cancer".
1/08/2011: A new lab publication is now out in EMBO Reports. Read about "Regulation of Rad51 function by phosphorylation" here
News from 2010
10/08/10: Three new papers from the lab have been published in the last month: one in JCB co-authored by PhD student Simona Giunta and postdoc Rimma Belotserkovskaya (featured in 'In this Issue'); an advance online publication in EMBO journal by postdoc Sophie Polo; and Steve has a joint publication with Azim Surani in Science. These shed light on a variety of aspects of the DNA damage response from what happens to DNA damage during mitosis to how chromatin is remodelled both during development and following DNA damage.
04/07/10: 9 runners including 4 members of the Jackson lab took to the streets of Cambridge last weekend to take part in this year's Race for Life, raising over £300 for Cancer Research UK.
28/05/10: And congratulations to postdoc Ross Chapman on being awarded a highly prestigious Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship. These annual awards are given to the most promising newly qualified postdoctoral researchers to make an early start in developing their independent research careers.
27/05/10: Congratulations to postdoc Sebastien Britton on being awarded a prestigious EMBO long-term fellowship. This will allow him to continue his research into novel proteins involved in the DNA damage response.
07/01/10: A Perspective on "DNA resection in eukaryotes" by postdoc Pablo Huertas is published in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology this month.
05/01/10: The breakthrough described in the two Nature papers featured on 21st Dec has been featured in a BBC news report
3/12/10: New postdoc Carlos le Sage has been awarded a prestigious Long-Term EMBO Fellowship which will support his research for up to two years.
5/10/10: Abdul Kaidi's talk "SIRT6 joins the HR team" was awarded the prize for the best postdoctoral talk at the recent Cambridge Cancer Centre Postdoctoral Meeting.
25/10/10: "SIR-viving DNA Damage": Kaidi et al., is highlighted in Stress Select in the latest issue of Molecular Cell. This feature presents recent work on the molecular mechanisms that underlie diverse cellular stress responses, covering pathways that affect the fundamental processes of DNA synthesis, DNA repair, translation, and protein turnover.
18/10/10: Steve is listed in the top 20 Most Cited Authors in the field of Molecular Genetics and Genomics, as reported in Lab Times, for papers published between 1997 and 2008.
14/09/10: Kaidi et al., is featured as Editors Choice in this week's Science Signaling.
10/09/10: Two new papers have been published, an advance online publication in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology by postdoc Kyle Miller and colleagues; and a Report in Science by postdoc Abdul Kaidi. Both papers highlight the importance of deacetylation in regulating DNA damage repair and provide important insights into the use of histone and lysine deacetylase inhibitors in cancer therapy.
News from 2009
20/7/09: Postdoc Sophie Polo was awarded a prize for her poster entitled "New players in the DNA damage response in human cells: focus on chromatin remodeling factors" at the BACR/EACR Summer Symposium on Chromatin and Cancer, held at Churchill college, Cambridge last week. The prize, sponsored by the European Journal of Cancer, was awarded by the EACR.
30/6/09: Steve and postdoc Jeanine Harigan have been awarded a Cancer Research UK Project Grant. This will allow Jeanine to continue her research into the role of 53BP1 in transcription, cell-cycle progression and the DNA-damage response.
14/6/09: Nine members of the Institute, including five from the Jackson lab took part in this year's Race for Life in Cambridge, raising hundreds of pounds for Cancer Research UK, and helping to support research in the lab too!
9/6/09: Former postdoc Abdel Moumen has been awarded a prize by the Moroccan government in the Grand Prix for invention and research in science and technology. Abdel is now a lecturer at St George's University of London.
1/5/09: A publication from the Jackson lab co-authored by PhD student Jorrit Tjeertes and postdoc Kyle Miller has been published in EMBO Journal as an advance online publication. This paper describes the identification of two novel histone modifications in human cells which are regulated in response to DNA damage. Read more here
26/3/09: Steve Jackson was named as the first BBSRC Innovator of the Year at an awards ceremony and gala dinner in London last night (24 March). Everyone in the lab would like to offer him their congratulations. The BBSRC press release and more pictures of the awards ceremony can be found here. See also Cambridge University news.
6/3/09: Congratulations to PhD student Simona Giunta for being awarded "best presentation" for her talk entitled "DNA damage responses in the context of the cell cycle". She gave this talk at the recent EU-IP DNA Repair Workshop for Young Scientists held on Sicily. Follow the link on this website to find out more about this workshop and the EU-IP DNA Repair Network.
24/2/09: Congratulations to Abdul Kaidi on being awarded a prestigious Herchel Smith postdoctoral research fellowship. This fellowship provides funding for Abdul's research into post-translational modifications and DNA repair for another three years.
16/2/09: Postdoc Pablo Huertas' second paper on the mechanisms of DNA-end resection has been published in jbc ONLINE.
27/1/09: A joint paper with Dana Branzei's lab in Milan has been published online in Molecular Biology of the Cell. Read the abstract here
7/1/09: Congratulations to Melanie Blasius on being awarded a prestigious Swiss National Science Foundation fellowship. Previous recipients of this award in the Jackson lab Manuel Stucki and Alex Sartori are both now group leaders back in Switzerland at the University of Zurich.
05/01/10: The breakthrough described in the two Nature papers featured on 21st Dec has been featured in a BBC news report
21/12/09: In the Nature paper "Mammalian SUMO E3-ligases PIAS1 and PIAS4 promote responses to DNA double-strand breaks", postdoc Yaron Galanty, along with fellow postdocs Rimma Belotserkovskaya, Sophie Polo, and Kyle Miller, describe how modification of key DNA damage response proteins with the ubiquitin-related protein SUMO is required for the regulation of DNA double-strand break repair. Yaron is also a co-author on related Nature paper "The SUMO modification pathway is involved in the BRCA1 response to genotoxic stress". Both papers have been featured in a News and Views article by Simon Boulton describing the significance of these findings.
10/11/09: A review on "The DNA damage response in human biology and disease" by Steve Jackson and Jiri Bartek was published in Nature last month. The abstract of this seminal paper can be viewed here
8/10/09: Ph D student Ross Chapman is co-first author on a Cell paper published last week describing the crystal structure of the N-terminal region of fission yeast Nbs1. Read this and related work by Williams et al., here and the Commentary in Cell here. This paper has been selected as a Research Highlight in Nature this week (15/10/09).
7/10/09: Congratulations to former postdoc Fabrizio d"Adda di Fagagna on being named the EACR Young Cancer Researcher 2009. He is the second former member of the Jackson lab to receive this prestigious award
5/10/09: The first Jackson lab reunion was held at Magdalene College, Cambridge, 23-25 September. It is eighteen years since Steve set up his lab here in Cambridge and this meeting was a celebration of past scientific successes and an opportunity to hear about the scientific achievements of those who have continued to work in the DNA damage response field. We welcomed many former lab members, giving everyone who attended a wonderful chance to catch-up and reminisce with friends old and new. A list of those who attended can be found here and some photos of the event can be viewed here.
29/7/09: Congratulations to Pablo Huertas on being awarded a "Ramon y Cajal" grant on Molecular and Cellular Biology from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. He will be joining the Department of Genetics, University of Seville in May 2010 and will be setting up his own lab at the CABIMER (Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine).
29/7/09: Former Jackson lab postdoc Veronique Smits has also been awarded a "Ramon y Cajal" grant. This will allow her to set up her own group at Unidad de investigacion, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Tenerife.
News from 2008
2/04/08: PhD student Jorrit Tjeertes has been awarded the 'van Nieuwenhoven award’. This award, founded in memory of the first professor of zoology at Nijmegen University, is given to the best student in the Faculty of Biology. Additionally, Jorrit was presented with an award for the best presentation and active participation at the 4th Course on Epigenetics that he recently attended in Paris. Congratulations Jorrit for both achievements.
14/03/08: Sonja Flott has been awarded a prestigious Ernst Schering Fellowship to carry out postdoctoral research on DNA damage signalling responses. These awards are given to “support outstanding young scientists in the field of biological, medical and chemical basic research”. Congratulations Sonja!
01/03/08: Fabrizio d'Adda di Fagagna, a former postdoc in the lab, has been selected for an EMBO Young Investigator award for his work on senescence and DNA damage checkpoints. You can read about his research here.
06/02/08: Manuel Stucki, a former postdoc in the lab, has been awarded the Dr. Ernst Th. Jucker Prize for Cancer Research. Manuel is now a group leader at Zurich University. You can read about his research here.
01/02/08: Hear Steve Jackson discuss how research in the lab is being transformed into the cancer drugs of tomorrow in Cancer Research UK's February podcast. Visit the CRUK homepage and click on the player to hear the show: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/news/podcast/.
31/01/08: The top 100 cell cycle publications of 2007 as listed by the Ion Channel Media Group includes two Jackson lab publications in the top 30 with Driscoll et al. at number 11 and Sartori et al. at number 27>>>read here.
04/01/08: The Science article (Kolas et al. Orchestration of the DNA-damage response by the RNF8 ubiquitin ligase. Science 318, 1637-1640) has been featured in the Research Highlights of Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, January issue. It has also featured in a PNAS commentary "Launching a ubiquitination cascade at DNA breaks" PNAS 2007 104: 20645-20646>>>read the commentary here and in a News and Views article in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology >>>read here.
19/12/08: Congratulations to Tobias Oelschlaegel on being awarded a prestigious EMBO long-term fellowship. These fellowships have an excellent reputation due to the rigorous selection procedure and offers opportunities to young researchers to exchange knowledge and skills with other young scientists across Europe.
2/12/08: On 20th November former PhD student Simon Boulton was presented with the Eppendorf Young Investigator Award 2008. Steve himself, was the first recipient of this award in 1995. This follows Simon being named EACR Young Cancer Researcher 2008, earlier this year. Congratulations to Simon from everyone in the Jackson lab.
25/11/08: Steve and postdoc Kyle Miller have been awarded a 3 year Wellcome Trust project grant "Genetic dissection of the role of H2AX in maintaining genomic stability in mammalian cells". More information on the Wellcome Trust and the research they support can be found here
18/11/08: The Genes and Development paper by Gravel et al has also been highlighted in a Perspective by Patrick Sung in 1 November issue of Genes and Development
15/10/08: New Genes and Development paper by Gravel et al "DNA helicases Sgs1 and BLM promote DNA double-strand break resection" that you can read here has been featured in the Nature News and Views article "Molecular biology:DNA endgames".
28/09/08: As part of their radio show "Young at Heart - Healthy Ageing" - Naked Scientists Ben Valsler and Helen Scales interviewed Steve Jackson. You can read a transcript of the interview or listen to the Podcast of the show here
21/08/08: New Nature publication by Huertas et al "CDK targets Sae2 to control DNA-end resection and homologous recombination" has been selected for Advance Online Publication
16/05/08: Steve Jackson is elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society. Congratulations Steve on this prestigious award. New Fellows elected in 2008
15/05/08: Cambridge Enterprise (commercialising Cambridge University Science) have featured KuDOS Pharmaceuticals as a Success Story.
News from 2007
03/04/07: Sophie Polo, a postdoc in the lab from Paris, has been awarded a Human Frontier Science Program Long-term Fellowship. This will allow her to continue her postdoctoral studies in the lab for up to three years.>>>announcement of this year's Awardees
27/03/07: Regulation of histone H3 lysine 56 acetylation in Schizosaccharomyces pombe >>>read more
07/03/07: Jorrit Tjeertes, currently a visiting MSc student from the Netherlands, has been awarded a BBSRC/CASE studentship to train for a PhD starting in October.
02/03/07: Last month's Science paper (Driscoll, R. et al. Yeast Rtt109 promotes genome stability by acetylating histone H3 on lysine 56. Science 315, 649–652) has been featured in the Research Highlights of Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, March issue >>>read more
22/02/07: Steve Jackson has been awarded the 2008 GlaxoSmithKline Award. This is a new award supported by GlaxoSmithKline for distinguished research leading to new advances in medical science. The award will be presented to Steve in 2008 when he gives his Medal lecture. Read the Biochemical Society's press release. Listen to Steve's interview with CRUK by downloading their April podcast.
22/02/07: John Rouse, a post-doc in Steve's lab from 1997-2002, has been the awarded the 2008 Colworth Medal. The Colworth Medal is awarded annually for outstanding research by a young biochemist of any nationality who has carried out the majority of his/her work in the UK. John is now a group leader at the MRC protein phosphorylation Unit, Dundee University. For further information about his research please visit his lab web page.
12/02/07: Dr Sonja Flott has joined the lab as a new post-doc. She was a PhD student in John Rouse's lab, Dundee.
02/02/07: Yeast Rtt109 promotes genome stability by acetylating histone H3 on lysine 56 >>>read more.
16/12/07: Jeanine ran 2K dressed as Father Christmas and raised £56 for East Anglia's Children's Hospices.
05/12/07: Last month's Nature article (Sartori et al. Human CtIP promotes DNA end resection. Nature 450, 509-514) has been featured in the Research Highlights of Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, December issue >>> read here
20/11/07: ScienceXpress publication ahead of print: "Orchestration of the DNA-Damage Response by the RNF8 Ubiquitin Ligase">>>read the article here
29/10/07: Nature advance online publication "Human CtIP promotes DNA end resection">>>read the article here
25/09/07: Six members of the Jackson lab took part in the Chariots of Fire relay race at the weekend, an annual charity event; this year raising money for the Arthur Rank Hospice at Home Appeal. Each runner has to complete one lap of a picturesque 1.7 mile course around the streets of Cambridge. The Jackson Joggers finished 121st out of almost 400 teams, taking 1 hour 17 minutes and 8 seconds to complete their 6 laps.
20/09/07: "Rad9 BRCT domain interaction with phosphorylated H2AX regulates the G1 checkpoint in budding yeast">>> read the article here
14/08/07: Steve, and a postdoc in his lab, Pablo Huertas, have been awarded a 3 year BBSRC project grant "Cell cycle Control of Homologous Recombination by the Sae2 protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae". More information on the BBSRC can be found here.
16/07/07: Steve returned to his home town to receive an honorary degree from Nottingham University. For further information on Steve's award and to view the ceremony live on the web follow this link
15/05/07: Spreading of mammalian DNA-damage response factors studied by ChIP-chip at damaged telomeres.>>>read more