BioEM 2025

Session

Workshop 3

WS3

26 Jun 2025, 16:30

La Nef (Couvent des Jacobins)

Conveners

Workshop 3: Molecular mechanisms of EM effects

• Lea Rems
• Michal Cifra

360. Revealing preferential electroporation sites in cell plasma membranes using molecular dynamics simulations

Lea Rems

26/06/2025, 16:30

Electroporation is widely used in medicine to increase cell membrane permeability, enabling delivery of therapeutic molecules and nonthermal tissue ablation. While molecular dynamics simulations (MD) have revealed that electroporation can be associated with formation of pores in both lipid domains and voltage-gated ion channels (VGICs), the relative likelihood of these events in actual cell...

361. Why do electric fields open pores in biomembranes?

Carlos Marques

26/06/2025, 16:45

Electric fields are routinely used to facilitate therapeutical crossing of the cell membranes by drugs, DNA and other biomolecules. As a multibillion-dollar business, electroporation rests surprisingly on thin fundamental knowledge. Current modelling of why the electric field can puncture holes in the membrane has been accepted for half-a-century without having been put to stringent...

362. EMF interactions with cells: different mechanisms leading to different applications.

Leslie Vallet

26/06/2025, 17:00

Biological systems have evolved in the presence of geological electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and to generate and use physiological EMFs to meet their most vital needs. It follows that EMFs can be used to modulate biological functions and are therefore worth investigating for therapeutic purposes. Therapeutic EMFs may aim to reproduce specific cues of physiological EMFs whose properties and...

363. Effects of Intense Electric Fields on TRPV4 Ion Channels: investigating the role of water with a molecular dynamic approach

Francesca Apollonio

26/06/2025, 17:15

Electroporation is a well-established technique that induces transient pores in the cell membrane by applying intense electric fields. However, biological membranes are not solely composed of lipids but also include embedded proteins, whose role in pore formation is still under investigation. This study explores the impact of high-intensity electric fields on the TRPV4 ion channel using...

364. Under the influence: electric fields at play from within and without – adventures in field-manipulation of proteins, water and biological systems

Niall English

26/06/2025, 17:30

Electric fields are ubiquitous in nature and their magnitudes in condensed-matter systems are of the typical order of 1 to 3 V/A. The interplay of these intrinsic electric fields in matter with externally-applied ones is a topic of much industrial and academic interest, especially at the nanoscale and in the broad arena of biological systems. In the current contribution, we explore, using...

365. Effects of Pulsed Electric Fields on Proteins: Insights from Modeling and Experimental Studies

Michal Cifra

26/06/2025, 17:45

Pulsed electric fields (PEFs) are increasingly recognized for their ability to modulate protein structure and function, offering applications in biomedicine, food technology, and nanotechnology. Proteins, as electrically charged biomolecules, are highly responsive to PEFs, which can induce structural changes such as rotation, unfolding, and modifications to secondary structures. Molecular...