University of California-Santa Barbara · ChemistryPlaxco Lab
Kevin W Plaxco · Santa Barbara, California
Research Focus
Dr. Kevin Plaxco's research lab at UC Santa Barbara focuses on creating advanced sensors that can measure important molecules and ions in the body in real time. These sensors can provide vital information for monitoring health, particularly for drugs with narrow safety margins and electrolyte levels. This innovative work aims to improve patient care by enabling constant health monitoring through wearable technology.
EAB sensorsaptamer technologyreal-time monitoringdrug detectionhealth technology
Research Aims
5AIM 01Develop high-precision EAB sensors for real-time health monitoring.
AIM 02Enhance aptamer sensitivity to better detect low concentrations of drugs.
AIM 03Implement novel selection schemes to improve binding performance of sensors.
AIM 04Introduce allosteric cooperativity to amplify sensor responsiveness.
AIM 05Create wearable devices for convenient monitoring of health indicators.
Skills the Lab Values
Electrochemical sensor designaptamer selectionbinding affinity optimizationallosteric modulationsignal processing
Output against the department
Publications397top 26% of dept.57th of 216
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations30ktop 16% of dept.34th of 216
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.