Programme
Programme
The contents of the School comprise a diverse and all-encompassing programme, a mixture of lectures and laboratory practical work.
Looking for the schedule?
Download the preliminary schedule using the button below or visit the Schedule page to view embedded in site.
Schedule last updated: 22 April, 2026
Highlights of 2026
RNA therapies for cardiac repair and regeneration, Mauro Giacca
Fundamental principles of designing safe, effective, and usable systems for cardiac ablation via pulsed electric fields, Brendan Koop
How PFA will change cardiac arrhythmia treatment, Helmut Pürerfellner
It Begins At The End – How Clinical Goals and Constraints Affect Electroporation Device Development, Mike Sano
MRI characterization of PFA lesions, Graham Wright
Preliminary programme
Electrical properties of cells and tissues in electric field
- Resting and induced transmembrane voltage
- Dielectric properties of biological tissues
- Temperature and conductivity changes in tissues
Physical chemistry of membrane electroporation
- Electrochemical membrane thermodynamics
- Molecular dynamics simulations
Electroporation in vitro and in vivo – protocols
- Electroporation of cells in vitro
- Electroporation of cells in vivo
Development of devices and electrodes
- Devices for in vitro and in vivo experimental work
- Electrodes for in vitro and in vivo
- Electroporation of cells in tissue – models of electroporation in vivo and their experimental validations
Electrochemotherapy of tumors
- Basic mechanisms of electrochemotherapy
- Preclinical studies
- Clinical use of electrochemotherapy
- Current developments and future perspectives
Application of electroporation in gene transfection
- Gene transfection in vitro
- Gene transfection in vivo
- Electroporation for gene therapy
- Electroporation for DNA vaccine
Laboratory and practical work
More details on the Practical work page
- L1 – Gene electrotransfer using locally enhanced electric field
- L2 – Monitoring cell membrane electroporation with ratiometric fluorescent dye Fura-2AM
- L3 – Visualization of local ablation zone distribution between two needle electrodes
- L4 – Comparison of flow cytometry and spectrofluorometric measurements in cell permeabilization experiments
- L5 – Triggering action potential and electroporation in excitable cells exposed to electric pulses
- L6 – E. coli inactivation by pulsed electric fields in a continuous mode
- L7 – Influence of the orientation of the electric field on the formation of the DNA membrane complex
- L8 – Measurements of the induced transmembrane voltage with fluorescent dye di-8-ANEPPS
- L9 – Influence of the orientation of the electric field on gene electrotransfer efficiency and cell viability
- L10 – Monitoring of electric field distribution in biological tissue by means of magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography
- L11 – Techniques of detecting and characterizing electroporation in plant tissues
- L12 – Modelling, visualizing, and tracking pH front formation in tissue phantoms
- L13 – Simultaneous measurement of sarcomere shortening and calcium transients in primary rat cardiomyocytes exposed to electrical pulses
- L14 – Visualizing gas bubble formation during pulsed field deliver
- L15 – Visualization of cytoskeletal filaments with super-resolution structured illumination microscopy (SIM)
- L16 – Electroporation for treatment of cardiac arrhythmias
- C1 – Treatment planning for electrochemotherapy and irreversible electroporation: optimization of voltage and electrode position
- C2 – Numerical modeling of thermal effects during irreversible electroporation treatments
- C3 – Molecular dynamics simulations of membrane electroporation
- H1 – Measurement of electroporation pulses with an oscilloscope, voltage, and current probes
- H2 – Development of pulsed power generators for electroporation