Nutromics hires Kevin Plaxco as CSO

Nutromics said on September 7 that it had appointed Professor Kevin W. Plaxco as chief scientific officer as the Melbourne-based company moves toward the 2027 launch of its first product built on its DNA-based sensing platform. The company said the role will center on extending the wearable platform to additional targets beyond the initial product. Plaxco is a distinguished professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara and has been tied to the company since its founders licensed his technology. (prnewswire.com) ### Who is Kevin Plaxco, and why is his name central to the company? Kevin W. Plaxco is a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UC Santa Barbara with joint appointments in bioengineering and biomolecular science and engineering, according to the university. (prnewswire.com) UCSB says his work focuses on biosensors, electrochemistry, molecular biophysics and biomaterials, and that he has co-authored more than 180 papers and more than a dozen patents. Nutromics said Plaxco invented the DNA-based sensing technology on which the company is built. The company said he first began collaborating with co-founders Peter Vranes and Hitesh Mehta when they licensed the technology and later led its biosensor advisory board. A 2023 Nutromics release described that board as being led by Plaxco and identified him as the inventor of the company’s DNA-based sensor technology. (prnewswire.com) ### What exactly is the technology Nutromics is trying to commercialize? The Plaxco laboratory says one of its major innovations is an electrochemical aptamer-based sensor platform designed for real-time, high-frequency molecular sensing in the living body. (chem.ucsb.edu) The lab says the approach is selective enough to work in situ and is not dependent on the chemical reactivity of its targets, which it describes as making the platform generalizable. Nutromics has described its own version of that approach as a wearable patch using microneedles coated in synthetic DNA-based sensors, or aptamers. In an October 2025 release, the company said it had presented in-vivo multiplexing data showing dual detection of vancomycin and tobramycin, which it said supported its plan to build a broader platform for drugs and biomarkers. (prnewswire.com) ### Why make this appointment now, before the first product launch? Nutromics said the timing is tied directly to commercialization. The September 7 statement said the company is preparing for the launch of its first product in 2027 while also working to expand the platform to other targets, and said that expansion will be Plaxco’s strategic focus. (plaxco.chem.ucsb.edu) The company has made similar leadership additions at earlier development stages. In 2022, Nutromics said it hired an Abbott senior medical director as its inaugural chief medical officer ahead of first-in-human clinical studies for its biosensors. In the same year, the company said it had raised $14 million in an acceleration round and more than $20 million in total funding since its 2017 founding. (prnewswire.com) ### What does this say about where Nutromics is in its timeline? The clearest marker is 2027. Nutromics said in this week’s announcement that its first product launch is planned for that year, and the earlier 2025 release showed the company still presenting platform data around multiplexed in-vivo sensing rather than announcing a commercial rollout. (prnewswire.com) Melbourne-based Nutromics has not, in the materials reviewed, disclosed a launch date more specific than 2027 or named the exact first commercial product. The next visible milestone from the company’s own statement is platform expansion work under Plaxco as it moves toward that launch window. (prnewswire.com 1) (prnewswire.com 2)