Jackson graduated from Caltech with a PhD in chemistry. Prior to coming to Caltech, Jackson conducted research on AFM methods for biomaterials at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and received his BA in biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular biology from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. After receiving his BA, he worked for Whitman for one year as a crystallography research assistant. At Caltech, he split his time between the labs of Frances Arnold and Steve Mayo, developing rational and computational shortcuts for directed evolution. In particular, his work focused on engineering the nicotinamide cofactor binding and specificity of oxidoreductase enzymes. This work has the potential to greatly streamline biochemical pathways for biofuels production and green chemistry.
Jackson recieved a 2016 Herbert Newby McCoy Award for outstanding chemistry graduate students for his thesis research, "Engineering, Predicting, and Understanding Nicotinamide Cofactor Specificity".
Jackson is currently a senior scientist at Merck.
RSI Research: A General Solution to the Cofactor Imbalance Problem
