Projects / Programmes
Nanosecond electric pulses for selective electroporation of intracellular organelles
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 2.06.00 |
Engineering sciences and technologies |
Systems and cybernetics |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| T115 |
Technological sciences |
Medical technology |
nanosecond electric pulses, electroporation, gene therapy, intracellular organelles
Researchers (2)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
19722 |
PhD Tina Batista Napotnik |
Systems and cybernetics |
Researcher |
2005 - 2009 |
60 |
| 2. |
10268 |
PhD Damijan Miklavčič |
Systems and cybernetics |
Head |
2007 - 2009 |
1,505 |
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The exposure of cells to an electric field increases permeability of the plasma membrane. This phenomenon is usually referred to as electroporation because of the occurence of aquaeous pores in cell membrane. Electroporation is widely used in biological research of cell mechanisms as well as in clinical aplications in electrochemotherapy and electro-gene therapy. The development of new technology resulted in generation of ultrashort, nanosecond electric pulses. As these pulses are shorter than the charging time of the membranes, they can cause an increase in membrane permeability of cellular organelles while plasma membrane remains intact. The first goal of this project is to establish the system for generating the nanosecond electric pulses in our laboratory. It will enable us to investigate how nanosecond electric pulses with different parameters (duration, intensity and the number of pulses) affect cells in a culture. Viability and changes in structure and function of cells will be monitored. We will also investigate the selectivity of pulses to specific subcellular structures and with the use of appropriate nanosecond pulses we will try to porate specific organelles. We hypothesize that a selective poration of organelles is possible with the use of nanosecond electric pulses. The manipulation of target organelles could have a wide range of possible use in investigating various cell mechanisms and functions of organelles. These results will lead to other possible applications of the nanosecond pulse technique in research, clinics and industry (biotechnology). At the end the technique of nanosecond pulses will be linked with a well established method of electroporation. Electroporation is used for optimization of non-viral gene transfection in gene therapy. We hypotesize that the application of nanosecond pulses after electroporation will increase the expression of an inserted gene. This will contribute to improvement of gene therapy and gene engineering.
Significance for science
A new system for nsEP generation that was designed in our research group can enable us to perform a pioneering work with this new technology that is new both in Slovenia and in Europe. The results provide a clearer insight into the method itself and discover new opportunities for applications in biotechnology and biomedicine. They also contribute to clarifying the mechanisms of electroporation of biological membranes.
Significance for the country
nsEP method can be used for applications in biotechnology and biomedicine, including the clinic, as we know today that it has great potential for new approaches to treatment (eg treating cancer, tissue remodelling and wound healing). Developing the nsEP system can lead to a new partnership with the Institute of Oncology in Ljubljana, with which our research group has cooperated succesfully for many years. A method of endocytotic vesicle poration as a potential method for introducing various substances into the cells can be of interest to many research groups in the field of biomedicine, biochemistry and biotechnology, that we are curently colaborating with or are we going to do so in the future (Institute of Oncology, Institute Jožef Stefan, Biotechnical Faculty). Infrastructural Center Cellular Electrical Engineering, which operates in the Laboratory of Biocybernetics, at Faculty for Electrical Engineering, and is a part of The Network of Infrastructural Centers at the University of Ljubljana (MRIC UL), can thus be placed alongside the few centers in the world that have a technology and knowledge to observe effects of nsEP on cells and organelles.
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