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Kevin Plaxco

Kevin Plaxco

Professor
Mechanical Engineering, Biological Engineering
 

Affiliation: 
Bioengineering, Mechanical Engineering

Contact

(805) 893-5558
BioEngineering 3002

University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93016

Research

Bioengineering

Plaxco's research group aims to harness the speed and specificity of biopolymer folding as a signal transduction mechanism in a novel and highly general class of real-time, real-world optical and electronic biosensors. He is also exploring the potential to exploit the extraordinary cooperativity of folding to create adaptive, responsive surfaces, and materials. His basic research is in the development and testing of a quantitative, first principles theory of the mechanism by which proteins fold. His related theoretical and experimental work includes intensive studies of the structures and dynamics of the unfolded state and the colective dynamics of the native state. 

Education

PhD  Molecular Biology, California Institute of Technology
BS    Chemistry and Biochemistry, UC Riverside