Kiick designs polymer nanostructures for targeted therapies and hydrogel matrices for regenerative medicine. She makes use of biomimetic self-assembly, bioconjugation and biosynthesis. In particular, Kiick has worked on polymer-peptide macromolecular structures that can engage cellular targets. These include the use of polyethylene glycol (PEG) in click chemistry to form hydrogels that degrade selectively in response to molecules present in tissues and extracellular matrix. Kiick has shown it is possible to selectively release small molecule cargo with a tuned release for applications in targeted drug-delivery and vascular grafts. She has developed resilin-like polypeptides (RLP), elastomeric materials that can be cross-linked using small molecules, as well as hydrogels that contain nanoparticles for targeting tumors and inflammatory conditions. Resilin is a primary elastomeric protein that is found in insects, and helps them to jump long distances and produce sound.
She joined the faculty at the University of Delaware in 2001, and earned the rank of associate professor in 2007. In 2011 Kiick was promoted to the rank of professor of materials science and engineering and also named deputy dean of the University of Delaware’s college of engineering. In 2019-2020 she was awarded a Leverhulme Visiting Professorship from the Leverhulme Trust and a Fulbright Scholarship from the Fulbright Program to the University of Nottingham, to develop protocols for fabricating bioelastomeric materials.