Lukas Farbiak, Ph.D.

Lukas Farbiak is currently an Assistant Professor in the Program for Genetic Drug Engineering at UT Southwestern Medical Center in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He received a B.S. in neuroscience with honors from Baylor University in 2013 and subsequently completed a M.S. in medical science from UNT Health Science Center in 2014. Following this, he joined the lab of Dr. Daniel Siegwart at UT Southwestern Medical Center in 2016 and obtained a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering (2021). During his doctoral training, he developed and optimized non-viral carriers for CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing machinery, specifically focusing on the utilization of homology-directed repair to induce correction of DNA mutations in vivo. Shortly thereafter, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship (2023) in the Siegwart lab. His areas of expertise encompass the development of non-viral carriers for a variety of therapeutic genetic medicines, including mRNA, siRNA, and pDNA, and gene editing technologies such as CRISPR/Cas systems and base editors. Currently, his research is concentrated on the design and generation of novel genetic constructs and non-viral delivery vehicles for a broad range of therapeutic indications.

Graduate School

(2021), Biomedical Engineering

Featured Publications

In situ production and secretion of proteins endow therapeutic benefit against psoriasiform dermatitis and melanoma.

Cheng Q, Farbiak L, Vaidya A, Guerrero E, Lee EE, Rose EK, Wang X, Robinson J, Lee SM, Wei T, Miller WE, Alvarez Benedicto E, Lian X, Wang RC, Siegwart DJ, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023 Dec 120 52 e2313009120

All-In-One Dendrimer-Based Lipid Nanoparticles Enable Precise HDR-Mediated Gene Editing In Vivo.

Farbiak L, Cheng Q, Wei T, Álvarez-Benedicto E, Johnson LT, Lee S, Siegwart DJ, Adv Mater 2021 Jun e2006619

Selective organ targeting (SORT) nanoparticles for tissue-specific mRNA delivery and CRISPR-Cas gene editing.

Cheng Q, Wei T, Farbiak L, Johnson LT, Dilliard SA, Siegwart DJ, Nat Nanotechnol 2020 04 15 4 313-320

The interplay of quaternary ammonium lipid structure and protein corona on lung-specific mRNA delivery by selective organ targeting (SORT) nanoparticles.

Dilliard SA, Sun Y, Brown MO, Sung YC, Chatterjee S, Farbiak L, Vaidya A, Lian X, Wang X, Lemoff A, Siegwart DJ, J Control Release 2023 Sep 361 361-372

Lipid Nanoparticle (LNP) Chemistry Can Endow Unique In Vivo RNA Delivery Fates within the Liver That Alter Therapeutic Outcomes in a Cancer Model.

Johnson LT, Zhang D, Zhou K, Lee SM, Liu S, Dilliard SA, Farbiak L, Chatterjee S, Lin YH, Siegwart DJ, Mol Pharm 2022 Sep

Enhancing CRISPR/Cas gene editing through modulating cellular mechanical properties for cancer therapy.

Zhang D, Wang G, Yu X, Wei T, Farbiak L, Johnson LT, Taylor AM, Xu J, Hong Y, Zhu H, Siegwart DJ, Nat Nanotechnol 2022 May

Optimization of phospholipid chemistry for improved lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery of messenger RNA (mRNA).

Álvarez-Benedicto E, Farbiak L, Márquez Ramírez M, Wang X, Johnson LT, Mian O, Guerrero ED, Siegwart DJ, Biomater Sci 2021 Dec

Lipid nanoparticle chemistry determines how nucleoside base modifications alter mRNA delivery.

Melamed JR, Hajj KA, Chaudhary N, Strelkova D, Arral ML, Pardi N, Alameh MG, Miller JB, Farbiak L, Siegwart DJ, Weissman D, Whitehead KA, J Control Release 2021 Nov 341 206-214

Hydrophobic Optimization of Functional Poly(TPAE-co-suberoyl chloride) for Extrahepatic mRNA Delivery following Intravenous Administration.

Yu X, Liu S, Cheng Q, Lee SM, Wei T, Zhang D, Farbiak L, Johnson LT, Wang X, Siegwart DJ, Pharmaceutics 2021 Nov 13 11

Membrane-destabilizing ionizable phospholipids for organ-selective mRNA delivery and CRISPR-Cas gene editing.

Liu S, Cheng Q, Wei T, Yu X, Johnson LT, Farbiak L, Siegwart DJ, Nat Mater 2021 May 20 5 701-710