journal article·2026-05Open access

Bioelectrical Interfaces Beyond Excitable Cells: Cancer, Aging, and Gene Expression Modulation

Paolo Cadinu, Matthew K. Burgess, Catarina Franco Jones, Marzia Iarossi, Manuel Schröter, Nako Nakatsuka, Mustafa B. A. Djamgoz, Gil Gonçalves, Sidahmed Abayzeed, Paola Sanjuán‐Alberte, Paula M. Mendes, Frankie J. Rawson, Malavika Nair, Michael Levin, Rosalia Moreddu

Advanced Materials Interfaces· Volume 13· Issue 10

Abstract

ABSTRACT The investigation of biological conductivity has evolved from its classical foundation based on ionic fluxes underpinning cardiac and neuronal excitability to a multifaceted regulator of cellular physiology. Traditional approaches for probing electrical events in living matter focused largely on action potentials recording. However, bioelectricity in non‐excitable cells governs key phenomena, including developmental patterning, tissue homeostasis, and disease progression. Pioneering studies implicated endogenous bioelectrics in many aspects of morphogenesis, wound healing, regeneration, and cancer. Early findings laid the groundwork for viewing bioelectricity as a means to influence cell fate, cell cycle progression, differentiation, and senescence. More recently, spatial variations in membrane potential within tumor microenvironments were found to correlate with metastatic potential. In parallel, substantial breakthroughs have been achieved in designing advanced bioelectrical interfaces for the study of neuronal networks and cardiac function. This perspective bridges the engineering and biological domains by examining how such technologies might enable new insights into non‐excitable cell electrical events at different scales of operation to ultimately manipulate cellular pathways in cancer reprogramming, anti‐aging interventions, and gene expression modulation.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Planarian Biology and Electrostimulation · Neuroscience and Neural Engineering · Microfluidic and Bio-sensing Technologies

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine Boston Children's Hospital Boston Massachusetts USA

Department of Microbiology Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School Boston Massachusetts USA

Institute of Biomedical Engineering Department of Engineering Science University of Oxford Oxford UK

School of Electronics and Computer Science University of Southampton Southampton UK

Institute for Life Sciences University of Southampton Southampton UK

Department of Biomedical Engineering Technion Israel Institute of Technology Haifa Israel

Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering ETH Zurich Basel Switzerland

Laboratory of Chemical Nanotechnology Neuro‐X Institute EPFL Genève Switzerland

Department of Life Sciences Imperial College London London UK

Centre for Mechanical Technology and Automation (TEMA) Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Aveiro Aveiro Portugal

Intelligent Systems Associate Laboratory (LASI) Guimarães Portugal

Faculty of Engineering University of Nottingham Nottingham UK

Department of Bioengineering and Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences Instituto Superior Técnico University of Lisbon Lisbon Portugal

Associate Laboratory i4HB Institute for Health and Bioeconomy Instituto Superior Técnico Universidade de Lisboa Lisbon Portugal

School of Chemical Engineering University of Birmingham Birmingham UK

Bioelectronics Laboratory Division of Regenerative Medicine and Cellular Therapies School of Pharmacy Biodiscovery Institute University of Nottingham Nottingham UK

Allen Discovery Centre at Tufts University Tufts University Medford Massachusetts USA

Wyss Institute for Bioinspired Engineering at Harvard University Boston Massachusetts USA

Funding

Foundation for Science and Technology · Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

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