DIMOVA LAB
Biomembranes and more
Our interest toward understanding the response of membrane to electric fields is
motivated by both applications and mechanistic aspects. External electric fields,
whether weak alternating (AC) fields or strong direct current (DC) pulses, have emerged
as a powerful method for cell manipulation in biomedical and biotechnological applications
such as tissue ablation, wound healing, and cancer treatment. Strong electric fields
can cause electroporation, which can be employed for introducing various molecules
in the cell, to which the membrane is otherwise impermeable. In our group, we have
addressed a number of problems: Strong DC pulses can be used to create microscopic
pores in giant vesicles [read more], deform them into spherocylinders [read more]
or fuse them [read more] to transform them into microreactors [read more]. When applied
to gel-
For a summary, check the following reviews and book chapter:
● Membrane Electroporation in High Electric Fields, R. Dimova, in Advances in Electrochemical
Science and Engineering: Bioelectrochemistry, edited by R. C. Alkire, D. M. Kolb,
J. Lipkowski, Wiley-
● Vesicles in electric fields: Some novel aspects of membrane behavior, R. Dimova,
N. Bezlyepkina, M. D. Jordö, R. L. Knorr, K. A. Riske, M. Staykova, P. M. Vlahovska,
T. Yamamoto, P. Yang, and R. Lipowsky, Soft Matter, 5, 3201-
● Giant vesicles in electric fields, R. Dimova, K. A. Riske, S. Aranda, N. Bezlyepkina,
R. L. Knorr and R. Lipowsky, Soft Matter, 3, 817-
Vesicles in electric fields
DC pulses can porate and deform vesicles into spherocylinders
Gel-
[read more]
Charged vesicles can collapse into tubular structures after poration
[read more]
For theoretical description of vesicle deformation in AC fields: energy and hydrodynamic approach)
Last modified: 13-