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Center for Nonlinear Studies |
With the rise of bacterial resistance to antibiotics and the seeming plateau in the efficacy of chemotherapy, alternative methods of disinfection and of cancer treatment are receiving increased attention. Plasma medicine, which leverages the chemical and physics effects of the fourth state of matter on biological tissue, has proven effective at destroying bacteria and selectively killing cancer. While the plasma medicine community considers electrostatic disruption to be responsible for bacterial decontamination, little attention has been paid to the mechanical effects of plasmas on human cells. Additionally, estimates found in the literature justifying the electrostatic disruption of bacteria use theory which neglects plasma effects such as shielding that are important in the parameter regime accessed by cold atmospheric plasma treatment. A careful consideration of plasma charging reveals the critical electrostatic potential required for mechanical disruption of cells may be an order of lower than simple estimates. I will discuss the feasibility of selective mechanical destruction of cancer cells via electrostatic pressure during plasma treatment.
Host: Chris Neale