Cyrus Safinya

Cyrus Safinya is a Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, affiliated with the Department of Materials in the College of Engineering, with joint appointments in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Physics, and the Biomolecular Science and Engineering Program. His research focuses on soft and living matter, particularly cationic lipid-nucleic acid complexes for gene therapy and microchannel-based alignment of cytoskeletal proteins.

• Research Areas:
  • Gene therapy using non-viral vectors
  • RNA interference (siRNA delivery)
  • Lipid-DNA complex structural analysis
  • Microfluidic confinement of proteins
  • X-ray scattering for biological systems
• Publications:
  • Key studies on lipid charge density parameters (1997-2007)
  • Pioneering work on microchannel alignment of actin/microtubules (2003-2004)
  • Discovery of novel liquid crystalline phases in lipid-DNA complexes (2006)
• Labs & Facilities:
  • MRL Microscope facility
  • Custom microfluidic devices (silicon/titanium)
  • Laser confocal microscopy setups