Matthew P. Jackson, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Immunology and Microbiology. He joined the faculty at Wayne State University School of Medicine in 1989. Dr. Jackson received a Ph.D. from Kansas State University in 1985 and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland from 1985 to 1989.

Dr. Jackson's research interest is the molecular analysis of the Shiga toxin family of bacterial cytotoxins.Shiga toxin, which is produced by Shigella dysenteriae, is the prototype for a family of related Shiga-like cytotoxins. The Shiga-like toxins are produced by strains of Escherichia coli that cause food-related outbreaks of diarrhea. These toxins are responsible for the potentially fatal complications that may follow the diarrheal stage of the food-borne disease. The Shiga toxin family of cytotoxins target specific organ systems in the body that leads to kidney failure and occasionally central nervous system damage.

Dr. Jackson's laboratory uses mutational analysis to define domains of the Shiga toxin molecule that are required for cell entry and ribosome inactivation. This information may be used to establish an effective therapeutic protocol that prevents cell death and the kidney damage caused by intoxication. Dr. Jackson is investigating chemical inhibitors that block the cell-killing activity of Shiga toxin. Another area of research interest is the use of Shiga toxin for the development of recombinant proteins with the capacity to kill virus-infected or tumor cells. For example, a hybrid toxin developed in Dr. Jackson's lab comprising the enzymatic domain of Shiga toxin fused to the T-lymphocyte surface marker CD4 was able to enter and kill cells infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.