DALLAS – Dec. 10, 2024 – Daniel Siegwart, Ph.D., Professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Biochemistry and in the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UT Southwestern Medical Center, has been selected as a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) in recognition of his efforts in materials chemistry to enable targeted nanoparticle delivery of genomic medicines.
Since its inception in 2012, the NAI Fellows program has grown to include 2,068 exceptional researchers and innovators, who hold over 68,000 U.S. patents and 20,000 licensed technologies. This year’s class includes 170 inventors from 135 research universities and governmental and nonprofit research institutions worldwide.
“I am deeply honored to be elected to the National Academy of Inventors, which recognizes innovation and collaboration,” said Dr. Siegwart, the fifth NAI fellow on the UT Southwestern faculty. “Simply put, I love ideas. It’s just really fun and exciting to dream up new ideas, work on them with my colleagues, and use our creativity to pursue solutions that can address medical problems.”
Dr. Siegwart is an inventor on more than 300 patents and pending patent applications worldwide in several fields including chemical compound compositions, drug and gene delivery systems, methods of targeting nanoparticles to organs and cells, and engineered nucleic acid sequences. He has co-founded multiple biotechnology companies.
His studies focus on developing nanoparticles for targeted delivery of genetic drugs to various tissues. One of Dr. Siegwart’s most significant inventions is a technology called Selective Organ Targeting (SORT), which uses modifications on lipid nanoparticle carriers to direct delivery of genetic medicines to locations in the body including the liver, lungs, spleen, bone marrow, muscle, lymph nodes, and tumors.
This discovery, named in Nature as one of “Seven Technologies to Watch in 2022” and cited more than 1,300 times, formed the basis of the UTSW spinoff ReCode Therapeutics. Therapies using SORT are being tested in clinical trials to treat primary ciliary dyskinesia and cystic fibrosis, diseases that primarily affect the lungs.
Other groundbreaking research from Dr. Siegwart’s team includes development of nanoparticles that go deep into tumors to deliver drugs and activate an immune response, effectively stopping the growth and spread of liver and ovarian cancer in the lab.
Another study led by Dr. Siegwart, published in PNAS, demonstrated how genetic material tagged with a “cellular ZIP code” could prompt cells to secrete protein drugs into the bloodstreams in preclinical models, successfully treating psoriasis and various forms of cancer. Using the body as the biofactory and pharmacy could someday allow patients to receive such treatments at home instead of a hospital. His lab also works with messenger RNA and has provided advice to companies that make the vaccines for COVID-19.
“Dr. Siegwart exemplifies the ideal academic entrepreneur, seamlessly merging groundbreaking scholarly research with transformative innovations that have achieved clinical and commercial success,” said Samuel Achilefu, Ph.D., Chair and Professor of Biomedical Engineering, in the Simmons Cancer Center, and of Radiology. “This well-deserved recognition by the international community affirms what we have long known about his extraordinary contributions to science, engineering, and medicine.”
Dr. Siegwart earned his undergraduate degree in biochemistry at Lehigh University and his doctoral degree in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University. He joined the UTSW faculty in 2012 after completing postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in chemical engineering.
Other NAI Fellows at UT Southwestern, and the years they were elected, are: Dr. Achilefu (2017); Michael Brown, M.D., Professor of Molecular Genetics, and Joseph Goldstein, M.D., Chair and Professor of Molecular Genetics, winners of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2019); and Jinming Gao, Ph.D., Professor in the Simmons Cancer Center and the Departments of Biomedical Engineering,Cell Biology, Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, and Pharmacology (2023). In addition, two UTSW faculty members are Senior Members of NAI: Martin Pomper, M.D., Ph.D., Chair and Professor of Radiology (2021), and Abd El Kareem Azab, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering (2023).
Drs. Achilefu and Pomper are members of the Simmons Cancer Center.
Dr. Siegwart holds the W. Ray Wallace Distinguished Chair in Molecular Oncology Research. Dr. Achilefu holds the Lyda Hill Distinguished University Chair in Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Brown, a Regental Professor, holds The W. A. (Monty) Moncrief Distinguished Chair in Cholesterol and Arteriosclerosis Research, and the Paul J. Thomas Chair in Medicine. Dr. Gao holds the Elaine Dewey Sammons Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research, in Honor of Eugene P. Frenkel, M.D. Dr. Goldstein, a Regental Professor, holds the Julie and Louis A. Beecherl, Jr. Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Research, and the Paul J. Thomas Chair in Medicine. Dr. Pomper holds the Effie and Wofford Cain Distinguished Chair in Diagnostic Imaging.
About UT Southwestern Medical Center
UT Southwestern, one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty members have received six Nobel Prizes and include 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 24 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 3,200 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in more than 80 specialties to more than 120,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 5 million outpatient visits a year.