International Bioelectrics Consortium

The research field of Bioelectrics has emerged from the application of intense, pulsed electric fields on biological cells and tissues. An important focus is the 'electroporation' of the membrane of cells with electric fields in excess of microsecond applied repetitively. With the possibilities of Pulsed Power technologies to generate intense and ultrashort electrical high voltage pulses an opportunity was presented to reach into the cell interior and manipulate cells in addition in different ways and for example induce apoptosis in cancer cells. Researchers and institutes engaged in this field have joined in 2002 in the International Bioelectrics Consortium to promote the field and exchange knowledge and progress on respective findings and applications. The founding members of the consortium were Kumamoto University (Graduate School of Science and Technology, 21st Century COE Programs on Pulsed Power Science and on Cell Fate Regulation Research and Education Unit) in Japan, Old Dominion University (Center for Bioelectrics) in Norfolk, Virginia, USA and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Institute for Pulsed Power and Microwave Technology) in Germany. Soon more researchers and institutes were joining and with their individual interest expanding the scope of activities into related areas of electrical stimuli for the manipulation of living cells, such as the application of non-thermal plasmas or exposures to terahertz radiation.

By 2016 altogether 11 institutions were members of the Consortium:

Kumamoto University (Graduate School of Science and Technology, 21st Century COE Programs on Pulsed Power Science and on Cell Fate Regulation Research and Education Unit), Japan
Old Dominion University (Center for Bioelectrics), Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Institute for Pulsed Power and Microwave Technology), Germany
University of Missouri, Columbia (College of Engineering), USA
Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP Greifswald), Germany
University of South Florida (Center for Molecular Delivery), USA
Institute Gustave-Roussy together with University of Paris XI, Villejuif, France
University Paul Sabatier (Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology), Toulouse, France
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (Institute of Plasma Physics), Prague, Czech Republic
Institute of Oncology Ljubljana (Department of Experimental Oncology), Ljubljana, Slovenia
Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Ecologic Development (Radiation Sources Laboratory), Frascati, Italy

Since 2005 the Consortium is organizing the annual Bioelectrics Symposium which has emerged from Workshops and dedicated Session at other conferences. Therefore in 2016 the 13th International Bioelectrics Symposium will be organized by the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology in Rostock, Germany. Previous meetings were held

September 6-10, 2015: Portoroz, Slovenia, as part of the 1st World Congress on Electroporation
October 13-16, 2014: Columbia, Missouri, USA
September 16-19, 2013: Karlsruhe, Germany
September 5-8, 2012: Kumamoto, Japan
May 4-6, 2011, Toulouse, France
June 24-26, 2010: Norfolk, Virginia, USA
June 25-26, 2009: Columbia, Missouri, USA