Science and Engineering Council of Santa Barbara
January Luncheon
at
The Elephant Bar Restaurant
Thrusday, January 11, 2007 12:00-1:30 PM

Better Living Through Biosensors

Overview: Biology is good at building molecules that recognize (bind to) other molecules with great affinity and specificity. A sensing technology based on such biological recognition should thus, in theory, prove equally specific, sensitive, and general. Our speaker will discuss the trials and tribulations of realizing this goal. His focus is on binding-induced protein folding. He and his research team have developed a novel class of electronic, DNA - folding based biosensors.

------PRESENTER------

Dr. Kevin W. Plaxco,
Associate Professor of Biochemistry at UCSB

Dr. Plaxco is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry and a member of the Interdisciplinary Program in Biomolecular Science and Engineering at UCSB. He received his B.S. in Biochemistry from UC Riverside and his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Caltech. He conducted postdoctoral studies in molecular biophysics at Oxford and the University of Washington before joining UCSB in 1998.

Dr. Plaxco has co-authored more than 70 publications on protein folding and other topics. He has published four patents in the biosensing arena and has co-founded a company, Genemark, Inc., to pursue the commercial applications of his electronic DNA sensing strategy. Finally, his popular science book "Astrobiology: a Brief Introduction" has recently been published by Johns Hopkins University.

------OTHER INFO------

$14 for SEC members; $19 for non-members.
Information: Barbara Keaney (E-mail: scieng@silcom.com or call 805-684-4927).
Reservations NOT required.
Elephant Bar Restaurant: 521 Firestone Road, off Hollister near airport administration in Goleta
Visit our web site at http://www.scieng.org

From the Co-Presidents: Happy New Year! And thanks to all who have made generous contributions to the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara through the SEC. If you have not yet made a contribution to this valuable community program, please consider a donation. Also, if you have not yet renewed your SEC membership, please take a moment to do so soon. Please join us in January and watch for other exciting programs through 2007, and bring a friend!

Tim Murphy and Gary Kravetz