Kevin Plaxco

Biography

Kevin Plaxco is a Professor in Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mechanical Engineering, and the Biomolecular Science and Engineering Graduate Program and serves as Associate Director of campus’s Center for Bioengineering and Biological Engineering PhD Program. Prior to joining UCSB in 1998 Dr. Plaxco received his Ph.D. from Caltech followed by postdocs at Oxford and the University of Washington. Dr. Plaxco’s research focuses on the physics of biomolecular folding and its engineering applications. A major aim of the group’s applied research is to harness the speed and specificity of folding in the development of sensors, adaptable surfaces, and smart materials. Dr. Plaxco has co-authored more than 200 papers and a dozen patents and is recognized by Thomson Reuters at one of the most highly cited chemists of the prior decade. He serves on the scientific boards of a half dozen biotechnology firms (several of which are commercializing technologies developed by his group), and has also written a popular science book on Astrobiology.

Research

The Plaxco Group is a highly interdisciplinary research group (involving electrochemists, mechanical engineers, materials scientists and molecular biophysicsts) in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara, headed by Prof. Kevin W. Plaxco. In short, we build bioanalytical sensors and investigate protein biophysics, among other basic and applied research thrusts.

Selected Publications

Arroyo-Curras, N., Dauphin-Ducharme, P., Ortega, G., Ploense, K., Kippin, T., and Plaxco, K.W. (2018) “Sub-second-resolved molecular measurements in the body using chronoamperometrically interrogated aptamer-based sensors.” ACS Sensors, 3, 360-366.

Simon, A.J., Walls-Smith, L.T. and Plaxco, K.W. (2018) “Exploiting the conformational-selection mechanism to control the response kinetics of a ‘smart’ DNA hydrogel.” Analyst, 143, 2531-2538.

Kang, D., Parolo, C., Sun, S., Ogden, N., Dahlquist, F.W. and Plaxco, K.W. (2018) “Expanding the scope of protein-detecting electrochemical DNA ‘scaffold’ sensors.” ACS Sensors, 3, 1271-1275.

Kurnik, M., Ortega, G., Dauphin-Ducharme, P., Li, H., Caceres, A. and Plaxco, K.W. (2018) “Quantitative measurements of protein-surface interaction thermodynamics.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 115, 8352-8357.

Li, H., Somerson, J., Xia, F. and Plaxco, K.W. (2018) “Electrochemical DNA-based sensors for molecular quality control: continuous, real-time melamine detection in flowing whole milk.” Anal. Chem., 90, 10641-10645.

Dauphin-Ducharme, P., Arroyo-Curras, N., Adhikari, R., Somerson, J., Ortega, G., Makarov, D. E. and Plaxco, K.W. (2018) “Chain dynamics limit electron transfer from electrode-bound, single-stranded oligonucleotides.” J. Phys. Chem. C, 122, 21441–21448.

Watkins, H.M., Ricci, F. and Plaxco, K.W. (2018) “Experimental measurement of surface charge effects on the stability of a surface-bound biopolymer.” Langmuir, 34, 14993–14999.

Arroyo-Currás, N., Ortega, G., Copp, D.A., Ploense, K.L., Plaxco, Z.A., Kippin, T.E., Hespanha, J.P. and Plaxco, K.W. (2018) “High-precision control of plasma drug levels using feedback-controlled dosing.” ACS Pharm. Trans. Sci., 1, 110–118.

Ortega, G., Kurnik, M., Dauphin-Ducharme, P., Li, H., Arroyo-Curras, N., Caceres, A. and Plaxco, K.W. (2018) “Surface attachment enhances the thermodynamic stability of protein L.” Angewandte, 58, 1714-1718.

Dauphin-Ducharme, P., Arroyo-Curras, N. and Plaxco, K.W. (2018) “High-precision chronoamperometric measurements of the guanine-, mismatch- and length-dependence of DNA-associated electron transfer are consistent with a contact-mediated mechanism.” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 141, 1304–1311.