Jackson Gibbs

Jackson B. Gibbs

  • Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine
  Email Jackson B. Gibbs
  202-994-3539
Department: Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Biological Sciences, Bucknell University, 1977
Ph.D. Pharmacology Degree, University of Virginia School of Medicine, 1982
Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Georgetown University, 1982
Biography

Employment

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND HEALTH SCIENCES

  • Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine: 2015 - Present

Synergy Partners R&D Solutions Network Partner/Consultant to the Bio-Pharmaceutical Industry: 2014-Present

  • Driving drug discovery and development by synergistic collaboration.  Engage with academic collaborators.  Direct drug discovery via CRO’s.

JBG Pharma Consulting
Independent Pharmaceuticals Professional: 2012-Present

  • Specializing in Oncology and Pharmacology R&D ("Drug Hunting") including:General pharmacology
  • Scientific evaluations
  • Licensing evaluations/Due Diligence
  • Preclinical drug development
  • Translational Science
  • Project and Portfolio management (Tactical and Strategic)
  • Alliance management
  • Academic/Industry relations
  • Clients: Biotech Companies, Academic Institutions, Nonprofit Organizations (Foundations), Venture Capital and Law Firms

ASTRAZENECA PHARMACEUTICALS, Waltham, MA: 2006-2012

  • Director, Licensing and Scientific Affairs, Cancer Research
  • Developing and implementing external scientific strategy, Licensing prioritization and evaluations, Leading/Managing external Alliances, Portfolio management

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

  • Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology: 2004 – 2007
  • Adjunct Associate Professor of Pharmacology: 1992 – 2003

MERCK RESEARCH LABORATORIES, West Point, PA & Boston, MA: 1982 – 2005

  • Senior Director, Cancer Research: 1995-2005
  • Director, Cancer Research: 1993-1995
  • Associate Director, Cancer Research: 1990-1993
  • Research Fellow: 1988-1990
  • Senior Research Biochemist: 1985-1988
  • Postdoctoral Scientist: 1982-1985
  • Basic cancer research, Cancer drug discovery - 3 programs went into clinical trials (was co-Chair of Project Development team for one program), Licensing evaluations, External scientific liaison

Professional Development

  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Merck Research Laboratories, Advisor: Edward Scolnick (ras)

Dr. Gibbs also has been actively involved with the external scientific community.  He has made over 100 presentations at universities and meetings. He has been asked to Chair or be a Keynote speaker at several such events, including serving as the foreign organizer and Keynote speaker of the 2004 Princess Takamatsu Cancer Fund Symposium.

PROFESSIONAL HONORS/ADVISORY BOARDS 

  • Research Advisory Board, Children’s Tumor Foundation (formerly the National Neurofibromatosis Foundation), 1993-2015
  • Scientific Review Panel, New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research, 1995-2001
  • NCI Working Group - Preclinical models of cancer, 1996
  • U.S. Army Grant Review Panel, Neurofibromatosis, 1997
  • Corporate Relations Committee, Cancer Institute of New Jersey, 1998-2003
  • Scientific organizing committee and Chair of Opening session, 2003 AACR-NCI-EORTC international conference, Boston
  • Scientific organizing committee and Keynote Speaker, 2004 Princess Takamatsu Cancer Fund Symposium
  • Integration Panel, U.S. Army Medical Research Programs (Neurofibromatosis and Tuberous Sclerosis), 2001-2006
  • Chair-Elect/Chair/Chair Emeritus, Integration Panel, U.S. Army Medical Research Programs (Neurofibromatosis), 2003-2006
  • Advisor to the Drug Discovery Initiative, Children’s Tumor Foundation, 2006-present
  • External Advisory Board of the NF Consortium, Chair of the Preclinical group, 2007-2013
  • AACR Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship Committee, 2008
  • Medical Affairs Committee reporting to the Board of Directors, Children’s Tumor Foundation, 2009-2012
  • AACR standing committee: Science Policy and Legislative Affairs, 2009-2012
  • Scientific organizing committee, AACR-NCI-EORTC meeting, Berlin, 2010
  • AACR Task Force on Regulatory Science and Policy, 2011-2012
  • Strategic Vision setting committees for the Children’s Tumor Foundation (2006, 2011), Lustgarten Foundation (Banbury Conference, 2008), and the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (2011, 2012)
  • External Advisory Board, Fox Chase Cancer Center, 2012-2014
  • Member, Scientific Review Committee of American MedChem, 2012-present

Editorial Boards

  • Exp. Opin. Invest. Drugs, 1994-2001
  • Exp. Rev. Anticancer Therapy, 2001-2005
  • IDrugs, 1998-2010
  • Int. J. Oncology, 1995-2002
  • J. Biol. Chem., 1995-2000
  • Molec. Cell. Biol., 1995-2000
     

Research

AREAS OF INTEREST AND EXPERTISE

General

  • Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Pharmaceutical R&D, Extensive experience in evaluating/planning/managing research and drug discovery efforts
  • Portfolio management
  • Evaluation of licensing opportunities
  • External project liaison/consult; Served/Chaired on scientific advisory committees (academic, government, and nonprofit organizations)
  • Extensive journal editorial experience


Basic

  • Cancer biology and genetics, Neurofibromatosis (NF1 and NF2), Immuno-oncology, Inflammatory diseases, Fibrosis, Signal transduction, Epigenetics, Cell cycle regulation, Angiogenesis, G-proteins, Protein kinases


Applied

  • Target identification and validation
  • Assay development
  • Small molecule drug discovery (5 med-chem. supported projects; invited review articles on this topic in for example Ann. Rev. Pharm., Cell, J. Clin. Invest.,  Science)
  • Preclinical/Clinical development issues (co-Chaired a Product Development Team through phase I), prepare IND filings (FTI and VEGFRi); JRC for the AZD6244 + MK-2206 phase I
  • Plan and implement external scientific strategy (Alliances and Licensing) to fit global portfolio needs
  • Manage/guide Alliances and evaluate/advise in Due Diligence Teams for licensing opportunities

Teaching

  • Short lecture series within a course:
  • Nursing Pharmacology - Univeristy of Virginia
  • Undergraduate Biochemistry - Georgetown University
  • Graduate Pharmacology - University of Pennsylvania
  • Special lectures - Harvard Medical School
Publications

Dr. Gibbs is co-inventor on five U.S. issued patents and an author of 128 research articles, book chapters, and review articles.  Some of the invited review articles (published in Cell and Science) focused on the interface between basic research and drug discovery in oncology.  Selected publications:

  1. Gibbs, J.B., Sigal, I.S., Poe, M. and Scolnick, E.M. (1984).  Intrinsic GTPase activity distinguishes normal and oncogenic ras p21 molecules.  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81:5704-5708. 
  2. Temeles, G.L., Gibbs, J.B., D’Alonzo, J.S., Sigal, I.S. and Scolnick, E.M. (1985).  Yeast and mammalian ras proteins have conserved biochemical properties.  Nature 313:700-703.
  3. Gibbs, J.B., Sigal, I.S. and Scolnick, E.M. (1985).  Biochemical properties of normal and oncogenic ras p21.  Trends Biochem. Sci. 10:350-353.
  4. Gibbs, J.B., Schaber, M.D., Allard, W.J., Sigal, I.S. and Scolnick, E.M., (1988).  Purification of ras GTPase activating protein from bovine brain.  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 85:5026-5030. 
  5. Sigal, I.S., Marshall, M.S., Schaber, M.D., Vogel, U.S., Scolnick, E.M. and Gibbs, J.B. (1988).  Structure/Function Studies of the ras Protein.  Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology, 53:863-869.
  6. Vogel, U.S., Dixon, R.A.F., Schaber, M.D., Diehl, R.E., Marshall, M.S., Scolnick, E.M., Sigal, I.S. and Gibbs, J.B. (1988).  Cloning of bovine GAP and its interaction with oncogenic ras p21.  Nature 335:90-93.
  7. Schaber, M.D., O’Hara, M.B., Garsky, V.M., Mosser, S.D., Bergstrom, J.D., Moores, S.L., Marshall, M.S., Friedman, P.A., Dixon, R.A.F. and Gibbs, J.B. (1990).  Polyisoprenylation of Ras in vitro by a farnesyl-protein transferase.  J. Biol. Chem., 265:14701-14704.
  8. Gibbs, J.B., Marshall, M.S., Scolnick, E.M., Dixon, R.A.F. and Vogel, U.S. (1990).  Modulation of guanine nucleotides bound to Ras in NIH3T3 cells by oncogenes, growth factors, and the GTPase activating protein (GAP).  J. Biol. Chem. 265:20437-20442.
  9. Gibbs, J.B. (1991).  Ras C-terminal processing enzymes - new drug targets?  Cell 65:1-4.
  10. Gibbs, J. B., Pompliano, D. L., Mosser, S. D., Rands, E., Lingham, R B., Singh, S. B., Scolnick, E. M., Kohl, N. E., and Oliff, A. (1993).  Selective inhibition of farnesyl-protein transferase blocks Ras processing in vivo.  J. Biol. Chem. 268:7617-7620.
  11. Omer, C.A., Kral, A.M., Diehl, R.E., Prendergast, G.C., Powers, S., Allen, C.M., Gibbs, J.B., and Kohl, N.E. (1993).  Characterization of recombinant human farnesyl-protein transferase: Cloning, expression, farnesyl diphosphate binding and functional homology with yeast prenyl-protein transferases.  Biochemistry 32:5167-5176.
  12. Kohl, N.E., Mosser, S.D., deSolms, S.J., Giuliani, E.A., Pompliano, D.L., Graham, S.L., Smith, R.L., Scolnick, E.M., Oliff, A., and Gibbs, J.B. (1993).  Selective inhibition of ras-dependent transformation by a farnesyltransferase inhibitor.  Science 260:1934-1937.
  13. Gibbs, J.B., Oliff, A., and Kohl, N.E. (1994). Farnesyltransferase inhibitors: Ras research yields a potential cancer therapeutic.  Cell 77: 175-178.
  14. Gibbs, J.B. and Oliff, A. (1994). Pharmaceutical research in molecular oncology.  Cell 79: 193-198.
  15. Tang, Y., Chen, Z., Ambrose, D., Liu, J., Gibbs, J. B., Chernoff, J., and Field, J. (1997). Kinase-deficient Pak1 mutants inhibit Ras transformation of Rat-1 fibroblasts.  Molec. Cell. Biol. 17: 4454-4464.
  16. Gibbs, J. B. (2000) Mechanism-based target identification and drug discovery in cancer research.  Science 287: 1969-1973.
  17. Sepp-Lorenzino, L., Rands, E., Mao, M. , Connolly, B., Shipman, J., Antanavage, J., Hill, S., Davis, L., Beck, S., Rickert, K. , Coll, K., Ciecko, P., Fraley, M., Hoffman, W., Hartman, G., Heimbrook, D., Gibbs, J., Kohl, N., and Thomas, K. (2004) A Novel Orally Bioavailable Inhibitor of Kinase Insert Domain-Containing Receptor Induces Antiangiogenic Effects and Prevents Tumor Growth in Vivo. Cancer Res. 64: 751-756
  18. Lutterbach, B., Zeng, Q., Davis, L. J., Hatch, H., Hang, G., Kohl, N. E., Gibbs, J. B., Pan, B.-S. (2007) Lung cancer cell lines harboring MET gene amplification are dependent on Met for growth and survival.  Cancer Res. 67: 2081-2088
  19.  Pan, B-S., Chan, G., Chenard, M., Davis, L.J., Deshmukh, S., Gibbs, J.B., Gil, S., Hang, G., Hatch, H., Jewel, J., Kariv, I., Katz, J., Kunii, K., Lu, W., Lutterbach, B., Paweletz, C., Qu, X., Reilly, J.F., Szewczak, A., Zeng, Q., Kohl, N.E., Dinsmore, C. J. (2010) MK-2461, a novel multi-targeted kinase inhibitor which preferentially inhibits the activated c-Met.  Cancer Res., 70: 1524-1533

Industry Relationships and Collaborations

This faculty member (or a member of their immediate family) has reported a financial interest with the health care related companies listed below. These relations have been reported to the University and, when appropriate, management plans are in place to address potential conflicts.

None