Meet Kimberly Jackson, Ph.D.

Biography

Faculty Member Since 2002

Recent News:
Spelman College Announces 2026 Vision Project Initiative Awardees

Kimberly M. Jackson, Ph.D., is a professor of biochemistry in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department. She continues to expand the footprint of the food studies program and promote interdisciplinary efforts between the humanities and sciences. She serves as founder and co-director of the LINCS scholars program, a living and learning community for STEM scholars whose goal is to improve access to STEM careers for women of color through professional and social networks and social justice empowerment. A Fulbright Scholar and a 2020-22 Fulbright Scholar Alumni Ambassador, Dr. Jackson maintains a robust and active research program focused on novel therapeutic agents (plant-based) for castration-resistant prostate cancer and advancing equity in STEM and food spaces for Black women scholars.

Her research programs have garnered numerous publications, presentations, and funding from multiple agencies. She serves on the advisory board for COACh for Women Scientists and Engineers and on the American Chemical Society (ACS) Committee on Project SEED to help implement policies that promote best practices in recruitment, retention, career development, and evaluation of programs to advance minority scientists. She has held a research fellow position at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, and a visiting faculty appointment in the Systems Biology department at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.

In 2021, Dr. Jackson was recognized by Chemical and Engineering News as one of “Twenty-two trailblazing Black scientists and engineers”.In March 2022, she was honored with the national American Chemical Society Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences, sponsored by the Dreyfus Foundation. Dr. Jackson was the first faculty member at Spelman College to be honored with all three Spelman College Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mentoring (2016), Teaching by a Senior Faculty (2012), and Scholarship by a Junior faculty (2007).

Follow on Twitter @kmjacks

Education

• Ph.D., Clark Atlanta University
• B.S., Alabama State University

Courses Taught

• Race and Genetics CHE 405
• Advanced Biochemistry CHE 446
• Biochemistry CHE 311
• Research-based Biochemistry Laboratory CHE 313L
• Food Chemistry CHE 159
• General Chemistry Laboratory CHE 111L
• Remembering Mama's Soul Food: Discourses of Food, Community & Gender IBQC/EDU 100

Research Interests

My laboratory examines the use of various diet-derived as potential chemotherapeutic agents for hormone-refractory or advanced prostate cancer. Currently, there is no curative therapy available once prostate cancer has metastasized or progressed to advanced disease. It is therefore imperative to develop alternative effective therapies, such as chemotherapeutic agents with novel mechanisms of action. Students have the opportunity to participate in a laboratory experience that extends from computational modeling and data analytics to cellular and molecular investigations in experimental cancer therapeutics while interrogating androgen receptor function (signaling), epigenetics and prostate cancer progression.

News and Notes

1. Guy-Sheftall, B. and K. M. Jackson; COVID-19: HBCUs, Challenges and Possibilities, Academe, May 2021

2. Sanders Johnson, S, M. Gaines, M. Van Vleet, K.M. Jackson, C. Barrett, D. Camp, L. Hibbard, M.D. Mancia, A. Rodriguez; Unleashing our chemistry superpowers: Perspectives from a Black women’s college in the time of COVID-19 Journal of Chemical Education, Vol 97: 9, August 2020, 3369-73 DOI

3. Marsiglia, W. M., Qamra, R. Jackson, K.M. and N.J. Traaseth, A CURE Biochemistry Laboratory Module to Study Protein–Protein Interactions by NMR Spectroscopy. Journal of Chemical Education, Vol 97: 2, January 2020, 437-442. DOI:

4. Campbell-Montalvo, R.A, Caporale, N., McDowell, G.S., Idlebird, C., Wiens, K.M. Jackson, K.M., Marcette, J. and M. Moore, Insights from the Inclusive Environments and Metrics in Biology Education and Research Network: Our Experience Organizing Inclusive Biology Education and Research Events, Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, Vol 21:1, April 2020. DOI:

5. Van, Destiny* and K.M. Jackson, Neem Constituent as a Therapeutic Option for Prostate Cancer, Proceedings of The National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) November 2019. 

6. Jackson, K.M., M.C. Frazier, M.D. Mancia, and R.N. Shaw. Recent Advances in the Licorice Root Constituent Dibenzoylmethane as a Potential Therapeutic Option for Cancer, Studies in Natural Products, Vol. 63, October 2019, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-817901-7.00001-0

7. Winfield, L.L, L.B Hibbard, K.M. Jackson, and S. Sanders Johnson, Cultivating Agency Through The Chemistry And Biochemistry Curriculum At Spelman College. Broadening Participation in STEM – Effective Pedagogies and Programs for Women and Minorities, 12 February 2019, 153-181. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-364420190000022007

8. Jackson, K.M., and L.L. Winfield. Hope for a New Paradigm: Black Lives Matter at a Black Women’s College. CATALYST: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience, Lab Meeting, Fall 2017 https://catalystjournal.org/index.php/catalyst/article/view/28793/html_7

9. Adams, M.*, T. Dusabamoro*, C. Fearce*, I. Fennell*, E. Gaillard*, C. Harrison*, D. Sihwa*, and P. Williams* (edited by K. M. Jackson). The Importance of Black Women Role Models in the STEM Fields. CATALYST: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience, Lab Meeting, Fall 2017 https://catalystjournal.org/index.php/catalyst/article/view/28793/html_7

10. Jackson, K.M. and L.L. Winfield. Realigning the Crooked Room: Spelman Claims a Space for African American Women in STEM. Peer Review (an AAC&U journal), 16 (2): 9-12, (2014). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4280840/

11. Mancia, M.D., M.E. Reid*, E. DuBose*, J Campbell, and K.M. Jackson. Characterization of Licorice Root (Glycyrrhiza glabra) Constituents by GC/MS, Natural Product Communications, 9 (1): 91-94 (2014) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24660472

12. Bayse, G.S., L.P. Hammonds-Odie, K.M. Jackson, D.K. Tucker, and W.G. Kirlin. Permeation of Roxarsone and its Metabolites Increases Caco-2 Cell Proliferation. Advances in Biological Chemistry, 3: 389-96 (2013) DOI: https://doi.org/10.4236/abc.2013.34041

13. Odom, R. Y., M.Y. Dansby, A.M. Rollins-Hairston, K.M. Jackson, and W.G. Kirlin. Phytochemical induction of cell cycle arrest by glutathione oxidation and reversal by N-acetylcysteine in human colon carcinoma cells. Nutrition and Cancer, 61(3): 332-9 (2009) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01635580802549982

14. Lee, M.E., D. Martin*, T. King*, L. Brown*, M. De Leon, K.M. Jackson, C.M. Woods.* Gene-Silencing of Reversion-induced LIM Protein Compromises Responses to Interleukin-16 in Jurkat T-cells, Proceedings of the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research and International Cytokine Society, 7:49-54 (2008)

15. Jackson, K.M., M.C. Frazier, and W.B. Harris. Suppression of the Androgen Receptor in LNCaP Prostate Cancer Cells by Dibenzoylmethane. Anticancer Research, 27: 1483-88 (2007) http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/27/3B/1483.long

16. Frazier, M.C., K.M. Jackson, E. J-Stephens, M.G. Anderson, and W.B. Harris. Proteomic Analysis of Proteins Altered by Dibenzoylmethane in Human Prostatic Cancer LNCaP Cells. Proteomics 4: 2714-21 (2004) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/pmic.200400834

17. Harris, W.B., and K.M. Jackson. Suppressors of Androgen Receptor Protein Expression as Chemopreventive, Antineoplastic and Anti-progression Agents in Prostate Cancer. US Patent Publication- US 2004/0116529 Al, (2004) https://patents.google.com/patent/US20040116529A1/en

18. Jackson, K.M., M. DeLeon, C.R. Verret, and W.B. Harris. Dibenzoylmethane Induces Cell Cycle Deregulation in Prostate Cancer Cells. Cancer Letters, 178 (2): 161-5 (2002) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0304-3835(01)00844-8

19. Jackson, K.M., M. DeLeon, L. Sistonen, and C.R. Verret. Heat Shocked A20 Lymphoma Cells Fail to Induce Degranulation of Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes: Possible Mechanism of Resistance. Cellular Immunology 203: 12-18 (2000) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1006/cimm.2000.1669

20. DeLeon, M., K.M. Jackson, J.R. Cavanaugh, D. Mbangkollo, and C.R. Verret. Arrest of the Cell Cycle Reduces Susceptibility of Target Cells to Perforin-Mediated Lysis. Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, 69: 425-435 (1998) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9620169