The central goal of the Siegwart Research Group is to use materials chemistry to solve challenges in disease therapy and diagnosis. In particular, they are focused on the development of new materials that can deliver ribonucleic acids (RNAs) to improve cancer outcomes. An array of coding and non-coding RNAs can now be used as cancer therapeutics (siRNA, miRNA, mRNA, CRISPR RNAs) because they are able to manipulate and edit expression of the essential genes that drive cancer development and progression. For example, gene silencing via the RNA Interference (RNAi) mechanism is a promising strategy to treat cancer. However, the success of short interfering RNA (siRNA) or microRNA (miRNA)-based therapies has been limited by the difficulty of delivering these highly anionic biomacromolecular drugs into cells. Moreover, the potential of CRISPR/Cas, a revolutionary gene editing technology, is currently hindered by the lack of safe and effective synthetic delivery systems. The Siegwart lab has developed targeted delivery strategies to mediate genomic editing in specific tissues for correction of genetic diseases.

The Siegwart Lab aims to discover and define the critical physical and chemical properties of synthetic carriers required for therapeutic delivery of small (e.g. ~22 base pair miRNA) to large (e.g. ~5,000 nucleotide mRNA) RNAs. They aim to globally understand how the physical and chemical properties of materials affect interactions with biological systems in vitro and in vivo in the context of improving cancer and genetic disease therapies. Their research is grounded in chemical design and takes advantage of the unique opportunities for collaborative research at UTSW Medical Center. They ultimately aspire to utilize chemistry and engineering to make a beneficial impact on human health.