Program in Genetic Drug Engineering
At UT Southwestern Medical Center, the Siegwart Laboratory uses materials chemistry and molecular engineering approaches to develop targeted nanoparticle delivery systems for genomic medicines, including mRNA, siRNA, and in vivo gene editing therapeutics.
Research Overview
Our efforts led to an understanding of the essential physical and chemical properties of synthetic carriers required for therapeutic delivery of siRNA, miRNA, tRNA, mRNA, sgRNA, pDNA, proteins, and gene editors. Our lab has been at the forefront in the design of synthetic carriers for gene editing and has applied these technologies for correction of genetic diseases and treatment of cancer. We reported the first non-viral system for in vivo CRISPR/Cas gene editing. Recently, we developed Selective ORgan Targeting (SORT) lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), which was the first strategy for predictable tissue specific mRNA delivery and gene editing.
Lab Members
Our collaborative team is united by scientific curiosity, passion, and friendship. We work with motivated postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and physicians passionate about drug delivery, nanomedicine, and genetic therapies.
Publications
Our scientific discoveries have been published in Science, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Materials, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Chemical Engineering, Nature Communications, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie, Advanced Materials, Nature Protocols, and other leading journals of biomedical science.
