Multiscale models of bioelectric regulation

Cellular bioelectricity, through the regulation of transmembrane potential (TMP), enables unique, powerful information-processing capacities that facilitate the assembly of cells into complex structures that can be modelled as bioelectric networks. Our goal is to improve our fundamental understanding of such networks to assess:

• their role in tissue structure and function
• the consequence of their dysregulation, in particular in cancer development
• their potential in treatment, with a specific focus on pulsed electric field-based therapies

To do so, we aim at developing an interdisciplinary framework to explore these three axes, with at its core a physical multiscale model derived using porous media science methods and informed by dedicated experiments (e.g. fluorescence voltage imaging), describing cellular bioelectric networks (e.g. the spatio-temporal distribution of TMP in a tissue) and their interplay with cellular biochemistry (e.g. cell metabolism) and mechanobiology (e.g. blood flow) from the cellular scale to the organ scale. Our current focus is to be build a proof-of-concept dedicated to liver tissue and cancer since 1) liver tissue exhibits a regular structure highlighting a rich bioelectric activity, which also facilitate multiscale analysis, 2) liver primary cancer (hepatocarcinoma, HCC) is associated with survival rates post-treatment falling below 50% and 3) HCC is a target for electric field-based treatment therapies that could then be optimized using our framework.