ABSTRACT
The Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics got off to an unexpected start in the mid-1990s. One of the fundamental concepts of a center was present from the very beginning – merging diverse disciplines into common collaborations as a nucleus for interdisciplinary ventures. While pulsed power seems like a single entity, there are many ways to build nanosecond pulse devices. The fundamental theory that was hypothesized for biological cell responses with nanosecond pulses comes from the charging time constant of the plasma membrane. Application of both long electroporation pulses and short nanosecond pulses superimposes an induced transmembrane potential on a resting membrane potential that causes dielectric breakdown of the plasma membrane to cause permeabilization. The major strategy was to avoid the possible hazards of viral gene delivery. Gene delivery by electroporation has a number of advantages over viral gene transfer.
