Dr. Jackson earned her M.D. from Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) and subsequently completed a residency in Pediatrics at Orlando Health. After completing a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, she finished her training at Johns Hopkins for a joint fellowship in pediatric neuro-oncology and clinical pharmacology.
Dr. Sadhana Jackson is a board-certified pediatrician and pediatric hematologist/oncologist with clinical expertise and research efforts related to the blood-brain barrier and malignant glioma. Her clinical practice focuses on drug delivery of systemic agents for pediatric malignant brain tumor patients. As a tenure-track Investigator in NINDS and NCI, Dr. Jackson ties her clinical practice to her research efforts focused on understanding the heterogeneous permeability of the blood-brain barrier amongst malignant gliomas. With her laboratory and clinical studies, her team aims to modulate the tumor microenvironment to enhance effective treatments to the CNS for malignant gliomas. She has extensive experience with use of intracerebral microdialysis to evaluate optimal drug entry to malignant tumors. Using exquisite tools to measure drug concentrations and agents to transiently disrupt the BBB, her research aims to maximize therapies for prolonged survival in aggressive pediatric brain tumors. Dr. Jackson leads the Developmental Therapeutics and Pharmacology Unit.
Research Interests:
The Developmental Therapeutics and Pharmacology Unit is part of the Surgical Neurology Branch of the NINDS. We are a translational research lab focused on understanding the connection between the poor drug entry of chemotherapy to aggressive malignant glioma progression. One of the major obstacles to effectively treating central nervous system (CNS) tumors is the integrity of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The BBB prevents systemic drug delivery from reaching the brain and brain tumor tissue. While previous studies have mainly focused on circumventing the BBB, very few agents or mechanisms have been explored that modulate the tumor microenvironment to enhance effective therapies for malignant brain tumors. Our studies focus on understanding the heterogeneity of BBB permeability amongst malignant tumor cells and the role of the supportive BBB in tumor growth. Our collaborative laboratory and clinical investigations center around BBB biology, cancer biology, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics related to optimal CNS drug delivery.
With our laboratory and clinical studies, our team aims to modulate the tumor microenvironment to enhance effective treatments to the CNS for malignant gliomas. Our laboratory studies include use of BBB models and preclinical explorations with aggressive pediatric/young adult glioma cells. Using intracerebral microdialysis within tumor tissue and surrounding regions, we are able to evaluate optimal drug entry to malignant tumors. These exquisite tools help to measure drug concentrations, along with agents to transiently disrupt the BBB, to maximize therapies for prolonged survival in pediatric brain tumors with poor prognoses.
Lab Members
Current Lab Members
- Dominique Ferguson, Ph.D., Postdoc Fellow
- Minhye Kwak, M.S., Animal Biologist
- Sanghee Lim, M.S., Animal Biologist
- Jatia Mills, Ph.D., Postdoc Fellow
- Mahalia Dalmage, B.S., Special Volunteer
Lab Alumni
- Melissa Cesaire, BS, Post-bac fellow
- Christina Conrad, PhD, Post-doc fellow
- Brandon Foster, BA, Post-bac fellow
- Matthew McCord, MD, MRSP fellow
- Taylor McDonald, BA, Post-bac fellow
- Caitlyn Meek, MS, Graduate fellow
- Kayen Tang, BS, Post-bac fellow
- Amelie Vezina, MS, PhD, Post-doc fellow
Selected Publications
2022
- Dalmage MR, Nwankwo A, Sur H, Nduom E, Jackson S (2022) A scoping review of pediatric microdialysis: a missed opportunity for microdialysis in the pediatric neuro-oncology setting. Neurooncol Adv, Pubmed ID: 36438644
- Piotrowski AF, Jackson S (2022)
Identifying risk factors for recurrence/relapse in NF1 optic pathway gliomas: Moving forward by looking back.
Neuro Oncol, PubMed ID: 35325245 Lowden MR, Matthews M, Rivers RC, Hubbard LLN, Boone E, Muhammad T, Billingslea EN, Rohan JP, Simmons J, Jackson S (2022)
Grassroots efforts to end structural racism throughout the US National Institutes of Health.
Nat Med, 28:223-224. PubMed ID: 35132268
2021
- Argersinger DP, Rivas SR, Shah AH, Jackson S, Heiss JD (2021)
New Developments in the Pathogenesis, Therapeutic Targeting, and Treatment of H3K27M-Mutant Diffuse Midline Glioma.
Cancers (Basel), 13 PubMed ID: 34771443 - Vezina A, Manglani M, Morris D, Foster B, McCord M, Song H, Zhang M, Davis D, Zhang W, Bills J, Nagashima K, Shankarappa P, Kindrick J, Walbridge S, Peer CJ, Figg WD, Gilbert MR, McGavern DB, Muldoon LL, Jackson S (2021) Adenosine A2A receptor activation enhances blood-tumor barrier permeability in a rodent glioma model. Mol Cancer Res, 19(12): 2081-2095. Pubmed ID: 34521765
- Chukwueke UN, Vera E, Acquaye A, Hervey-Jumper SL, Odia Y, Klesse LJ, Dunbar E, Sharma A, Fonkem E, Thomas AA, Werbowetski-Ogilvie TE, Camelo-Piragua S, Gatson NTN, de la Fuente MI, Armstrong TS, Porter AB, Jackson S (2021)
SNO 2020 diversity survey: defining demographics, racial biases, career success metrics and a path forward for the field of neuro-oncology.
Neuro Oncol, 23:1845-1858. PubMed ID: 34302487 - Martin AM, Jackson S (2021)
High-risk Medulloblastoma-Balancing the High Stakes of Molecular Profiling to Enhance Treatment Responsivity.
JAMA Oncol, 7:1322-1323. PubMed ID: 34292302 - Collins FS, Adams AB, Aklin C, Archer TK, Bernard MA, Boone E, Burklow J, Evans MK, Jackson S, Johnson AC, Lorsch J, Lowden MR, Nápoles AM, Ordóñez AE, Rivers R, Rucker V, Schwetz T, Segre JA, Tabak LA, Hooper MW, Wolinetz C, (2021)
Affirming NIH's commitment to addressing structural racism in the biomedical research enterprise.
Cell, 184:3075-3079. PubMed ID: 34115967 Otani Y, Sur HP, Rachaiah G, Namagiri S, Chowdhury A, Lewis CT, Shimizu T, Gangaplara A, Wang X, Vézina A, Maric D, Jackson S, Yan Y, Zhengping Z, Ray-Chaudhury A, Kumar S, Ballester LY, Chittiboina P, Yoo JY, Heiss J, Kaur B, Banasavadi-Siddegowda YK (2021)
Inhibiting protein phosphatase 2A increases the antitumor effect of protein arginine methyltransferase 5 inhibition in models of glioblastoma.
Neuro Oncol, 23:1481-1493. PubMed ID: 33556161
2020
Jackson S, Baker EH, Gross AM, Whitcomb P, Baldwin A, Derdak J, Tibery C, Desanto J, Carbonell A, Yohay K, O'Sullivan G, Chen AP, Widemann BC, Dombi E (2020)
The MEK inhibitor selumetinib reduces spinal neurofibroma burden in patients with NF1 and plexiform neurofibromas.
Neurooncol Adv, 2:vdaa095. PubMed ID: 32939452
2019
- Jackson S, Meeks C, Vézina A, Robey RW, Tanner K, Gottesman MM (2019)
Model systems for studying the blood-brain barrier: Applications and challenges.
Biomaterials, 214:119217. PubMed ID: 31146177 Lynes J, Jackson S, Sanchez V, Dominah G, Wang X, Kuek A, Hayes CP, Benzo S, Scott GC, Chittiboina P, Zaghloul KA, Park DM, Wu J, Hourigan CS, Giles AJ, Wu T, Maric D, Chen J, Quezado M, Heiss JD, Gilbert MR, Nduom EK (2019) Cytokine microdialysis for real-time immune monitoring in glioblastoma patients undergoing checkpoint blockade. Neurosurgery, 84(4): 945-953 PubMed ID: 30189044
2018
Jackson S, Weingart J, Nduom EK, Harfi TT, George RT, McAreavey D, Ye X, Anders NM, Peer C, Figg WD, Gilbert M, Rudek MA, Grossman SA (2018)
The effect of an adenosine A2A agonist on intra-tumoral concentrations of temozolomide in patients with recurrent glioblastoma.
Fluids Barriers CNS, 15:2. PubMed ID: 29332604
2017
- McCord M, Mukouyama YS, Gilbert MR, Jackson S (2017)
Targeting WNT Signaling for Multifaceted Glioblastoma Therapy.
Front Cell Neurosci, 11:318. PubMed ID: 29081735 Jackson S, George RT, Lodge MA, Piotrowski A, Wahl RL, Gujar SK, Grossman SA (2017)
The effect of regadenoson on the integrity of the human blood-brain barrier, a pilot study.
J Neurooncol, 132:513-519. PubMed ID: 28315063
2016