Kevin Hollevoet

Recombinant antibody products are one of today’s most successful therapeutic classes in inflammatory diseases and oncology. A wider accessibility and implementation, however, is hampered by the high protein production costs and prolonged need for frequent administration. The often limited efficacy as a single agent has also led to a surge in (antibody) combination therapies, which adds to the cost and risk of toxicity. To address these issues, antibody gene transfer seeks to administer to patients the antibody-encoding DNA, rather than the antibody protein. This allows the body to produce its own medicine in a cost- and labor-effective manner. This Special Session invites the different actors in the field of DNA-mediated antibody gene electrotransfer to share their work, discuss progress and challenges, and together pave the way towards clinical translation.

Fan Yuan

Electrotransfection has been widely used for RNA and DNA delivery into cells both in vitro and in vivo. However, the  technology is currently limited by two obstacles. One is low efficiency in many applications; and the other is cell death caused by the transfection. To address these issues, the session will include reports on new mechanisms and strategies for improving the electrotransfection. Presentations of exceptionally innovative research are highly encouraged.

Julie Gehl and Stine Krog Frandsen

Calcium electroporation is a new aspect of electroporation based therapies, where supraphysiological doses of calcium are internalized by permeabilization of cell membranes. Calcium electroporation holds advantages as it does not require a chemotherapeutic agent. Several preclinical studies have indicated the efficacy of calcium electroporation, and the first clinical studies are successfully completed. This sessions welcomes preclinical as well as clinical studies on the use of calcium electroporation and the mechanisms of action involved.

Andrei Pakhomov

Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) grants support research by teams of investigators that intersect more than one traditional science and engineering discipline. Our MURI project encompasses the fundamental research, engineering, and modeling towards targeted bio-stimulation with nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF). We will present and discuss latest research on molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying nsPEF stimulation and bipolar cancellation. Topics include electropermeabilization and membrane repair; pore opening, life cycle, and conductive properties; response of ion channels; activation of signaling cascades and diverse cell functions. This 3rd Workshop builds up on the success of two previous sessions, first at the 2nd WC on Electroporation in Norfolk, VA in 2017, and the next one at BioEM2018 in Portoroz, Slovenia. The Workshop welcomes all World Congress participants. No registration is needed. A detailed agenda will be posted.

Govindarajan Srimathveeravalli and Rafael Davalos

The application of microsecond long electric pulses for induction of cell death (irreversible electroporation, IRE) has seen increasing adoption for soft tissue ablation, mainly in cancer but also for cardiac and tissue regenerative applications. Recent work has made it evident that variations in the pulse waveform can dramatically alter mechanism of cell death, with implications for how IRE is used in the clinic. Through this session we will educate attendees on the different approaches to using the principles of IRE for tissue ablation, with potential clinical applications.

Caterina Merla and Lluis M. Mir

This session is devoted to the description of new approaches to characterize cells/tissues after their exposure to microsecond and nanosecond electric pulses. The use of impedance spectroscopy, or dielectric and interferometric measurements, in bulk or under lab-on-chip configurations will be presented and discussed. Reliable electric characterization of cells and tissues is necessary to validate numerical simulations. This session will provide new clues to the global modeling approaches applied to the electropulsation phenomenon.

Xiaoyun Ding and Clair Hur

Microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip technologies have been extensively explored in the past two decades. In the recent years, electrofluidics, the combination of electrical field and microfluidics, benefits the biomedical field in many ways for both fundamental research and clinical applications. This session will include speakers who use emerging micro/nano fluidic devices and electrical field for cell related biomedical research. Topics related to cell analysis and detection, cell manipulation and separation, cell electroporation and drug delivery, cell lysis and process, among others, are all welcome.

Emanuela Signori, Maja Čemažar and Richard Heller

The recent Nobel Prize awarded to cancer immunotherapy scientists, once again has underlined the importance of interaction between tumor and immune system. Immunotherapy can now be considered one of the pillars of cancer treatments together with surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and target therapy. Studies in the field of oncoimmunology are revealing an attractive set of novel, different therapeutic approaches to treat cancer. Among these, electroporation has become a widely accepted platform technology for Gene electrotransfer (GET), Electrochemotherapy (ECT) and Irreversible Electroporation (IRE). These therapeutic strategies and their applications will be discussed in two sessions, dedicated to explore their influence on the immune system response against cancer. Since cancer is a complex health problem that requires a multidisciplinary approach, we invite physicists, engineers, mathematicians, veterinarians, physicians, biologists, to attend the session for giving their contribution to the progress in the field.

Matej Kranjc and Tomas Garcia-Sanchez

In the scope of this session, we will focus on studies that explore the phenomenon of cell membrane permeabilization using contactless and/or targeted approaches through in vitro and in vivo experimentation combined with theoretical and numerical analysis. This session will discuss contactless approaches, such as pulsed electromagnetic fields, which employs electromagnetic coils to non-invasively induce electric field in treated tissue by exposing it to a time-varying magnetic field, and approaches using antennas for delivering sub-nanosecond pulses to targeted cells. The other focus will be on enhancement of cell membrane permeabilization using nanoparticles of different geometries that can either be naked or functionalized.

Nataša Tozon, Gregor Serša and Maja Čemažar

Electroporation based therapies have many biomedical application, including veterinary medicine. Authors using this technology in treatment of animals, either client owned, or other, are invited to report on new technological advancements, new therapeutic approaches, or reporting clinical data on electrochemotherapy, irreversible electroporation, vaccination etc. We expect broad coverage of the areas, which will stimulate vivid discussion, and stimulate cooperation between different centers around the world.

Samuel Asirvatham, Antoni Ivora, Elad Maor, Damijan Miklavčič and Alan Sugrue

In the scope of this session, we will focus and explore the cardiac application of irreversible electroporation which has garnished significant interested in the last 5 years. Given the immense and broad range of cardiac applications we plan to divide this session into the different cardiovascular targets. We will focus on preclinical and clinical studies whilst also having a section which looks at what the future holds for cardiac electroporation. The attendee at the end of this session will have been provided a critical update and overview on the most recent clinical and prelcinical cardiac outcomes, explore critical research challenges and idenfity ongoing work to advance the field.

Rafael Davalos and Rod O’Connor

The application of electric pulses in the brain to create controlled lesions has many neurological and neurooncological applications. Complications related to the inherent electrical excitability of nervous tissue can potentially be mitigated by varying pulse waveform and repetition frequency, achieving cell death by irreversible electroporation (IRE) without some of the more deleterious consequences of radiofrequency ablation. The importance of the extracellular ionic environment in the electroporation of nervous tissue is an important factor that can be also be manipulated to enhance neuroocological electroporation effects. In the nervous system, pulsed electric fields are also commonly used therapeutically for brain stimulation and the application of repeated electrical pulses can lead to pathological coherent electrical behavior, known as kindling. Electroporation will thus be discussed in the context of neurostimulation and aberrant electrical behavior leading to the potential use of IRE for focal lesions for epilepsy. The session will present some examples of brain related applications of electroporation, ranging from transient disruption of the blood-brain barrier, preclinical studies using electroporation in mouse models of intractable epilepsy and glioma, and results and perspectives from clinical applications of IRE and Ca electroporation.

Javier Raso and Wolfgang Frey

Microorganisms like microalgae, fungi, yeast and bacteria represent a highly promising resource for obtaining high-value products for food, feed, cosmetics and pharmaceutical applications. Extraction of the high-value compounds from microbial cells permits the subsequent concentration and the increment of the bio-availability of those compounds with specific bioactivities. Electrotechnologies such as pulsed electric fields and high voltage electrical discharges have been proposed as an alternative to other traditional techniques that aims to facilitate the extraction of value compounds located within the cells. This special sessions will presents the last advances conducted on application of electrotechnolgies for obtaining a more efficient and sustainable extraction of valuable compounds from yeast and microalgae biomass.

Javier Raso and Damijan Miklavčič

Schools/workshops that are organized regularly around the world on electroporation in different disciplines.

James Lyng

Description not available at present.

Farid Chemat and Giancarlo Cravotto

The goal of the symposium “Bio & Food Electrotechnologies (BFE2019)” is to bring together the scientific and industrial community interested in the recent advances and innovative ideas in the field of Bio and Food Electrotechnologies by using alternative and emerging technologies (pulsed electric fields, plasma, pulse light, arc-discharge, microwaves, ohmic heating, ultrasound, other electrotechnologies, and combined treatments). These techniques allow inactivation the microorganisms, enhancing extraction of valuable bio-compounds and dehydration of biosolids. These techniques can help to preserve nutritional, functional, structural and sensory properties of liquid and solid foods better than conventional technologies.

Muriel Golzio

Genetic vaccination is a rapidly evolving technology. Some veterinary vaccines have recently emerged, and several human candidate DNA vaccines are now in clinical trials. Low immunogenicity is a major obstacle for DNA vaccination. This weakness may be due to poor delivery methods and/or to low DNA expression. Electrotransfection has been proposed to enhance genetic immunization and continues to be attractive due to the potential power and flexibility of this approach. The session will includes reports on the mechanisms and strategies to improve electro-mediated DNA immunization Presentations of innovative research in animal models or in human clinics are highly encouraged.