Daniel J. Siegwart, Ph.D., a Professor with appointments in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Biochemistry and the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been selected as a National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine Scholar.

“It’s an honor to be included in this group,” Dr. Siegwart said. “The National Academy is an amazing organization of scholarship and advocacy.”

Dr. Siegwart, nominated for the honor, is one of only 10 scientists and physicians from across the United States named to the Class of 2024. Each of the scholars appointed to three-year terms will be “addressing topics that are currently shaping the future of health and medicine,” according to the letter Dr. Siegwart received from NAM President Victor J. Dzau, M.D.

At UT Southwestern, Dr. Siegwart leads a team that studies and implements ways to use materials chemistry to target nanoparticle transport of genomic medicines.

“Lipid nanoparticles hold great promise to deliver genetic therapies,” he said, “but once they enter the bloodstream, they accumulate in the liver. If someone has a liver disease, that’s a good thing. But if that person has a disease of, say, the lungs or the pancreas, there hasn’t been any path forward. These medicines need help to know where to go.”

Dr. Siegwart and his team help direct these nanoparticles through an approach named Selective Organ Targeting, or SORT, which uses specific components in lipid nanoparticles that encapsulate gene-editing molecules to target certain organs. This method of delivering genetic medicines to body tissues is one of the team’s biggest discoveries, he said. They recently showed in the journal Science that this approach can reach lung stem cells for durable therapy of genetic lung diseases.

Other groundbreaking research from his team has included developing nanoparticles that go deep into tumors to transport drugs and activate an immune response, effectively stopping the growth and spread of liver and ovarian tumors in mice. 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 of mice, thus 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’s desire to explore and find answers to important questions began as a child. The oldest of five siblings, he grew up in a blue-collar neighborhood in Pittsburgh. His mother remembers prodding him to put down whatever he was reading – “anything I could get my hands on,” he said – and go outside to play.

His dad, who became an engineer after a spinal cord accident ended his construction career, taught Dr. Siegwart the importance of taking steps to achieve a goal: cutting wood accurately before framing a house, for instance, and feeling accomplished after having worked hard to build something meaningful that can last.

In high school, his newfound love for chemistry honed his childhood passion for details – whether mixing chemicals in the lab or fine-tuning any kind of project.

“I had a lot of curiosity and creativity,” Dr. Siegwart said. “I was always asking questions, mixing things, dreaming, exploring. I was a budding scientist from an early age.”

Throughout the years, his enthusiasm for science has only increased. And, as a NAM scholar, it’s one he hopes will inspire other would-be scientists – those who, like him, can’t stop reading, posing questions, and learning.