Safinya’s research revolves around elucidation of structures and interactions in assemblies of biological molecules and soft matter systems, including, liquid crystalline biological matter. Current research is centered on (i) elucidation of interactions/forces between proteins derived from neurons with the goal of relating assembled architectures/structures to function, (ii) development of synthetic carriers of nucleic acids (DNA, RNA) for gene delivery and silencing applications, and (iii) development of lipid-based hydrophobic drug carriers for cancer therapeutics. His group uses modern high-resolution synchrotron x-ray scattering and electron microscopy techniques (cryogenic TEM, plastic embedding) to solve structures in biological matter systems. Safinya is the author or co-author of more than 200 publications (see Cyrus Safinya Google Scholar), which include 10 in Science, 5 in Nature Journals (1 in Nature, 2 in Nature Materials, 2 in Nature Communications), 5 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 5 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and 27 in Physical Review Letters. For a more detailed description please see Safinya Group Website.