Title: Molecular vital signs: Recent advances in in-vivo biosensors
Bio:
Kevin Plaxco, a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, holds appointments in the Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry and of BioEngineering. Prior to joining UCSB in 1998 Dr. Plaxco received his Ph.D. from Caltech and performed postdoctoral studies at Oxford and the University of Washington. Dr. Plaxco’s research focus is 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 250 papers and two dozen patents on protein folding, protein dynamics, and folding-based sensors. 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.
Abstract:
The availability of technologies capable of tracking the levels of drugs, metabolites, and biomarkers in real time in the living body would revolutionize our understanding of health and our ability to detect and treat disease. To this end, recent years have seen the development of Electrochemical Aptamer-based (EAB) sensors, an in vivo molecular sensing strategy supporting seconds- to sub-second resolution, real-time drug and biomarker measurements. Comprised of an electrode-bound, redox-reporter-modified aptamer that generates a signal via a binding-induced conformational change, EAB sensors do not rely on the chemical transformation of their targets. Thus, unlike, for example, the continuous glucose monitor, EAB sensors are adaptable to any of a wide range of targets, with more than a dozen drugs and metabolites having been successfully measured in animal models to date. In this talk, I highlight both recent technological advances associated with the EAB platform and a number of advances in pharmacology and physiology enabled by this uniquely high-time-resolution, real-time window into the body’s molecular status.
Keywords: biosensors, electrochemistry, physiology, neuroscience, pharmacology
Host: Prof. Jeff Martell