It is our pleasure to announce the special issue featured in the Current Gene Therapy journal.

This issue follows the 1st World Congress on Electroporation and Pulsed Electric Fields in Biology, Medicine and Food & Environmental Technologies that took place in Portorož, Slovenia, September 6 – 10, 2015; one of five.

The issue captures the latest research on gene transfer by electric pulses. It includes a review and three articles highlighting recent efforts to address some of the current knowledge and development underlying the mechanisms of DNA transfer in cells and tissues.

The review “Gene electrotransfer: a mechanistic perspective” presents a comprehensive article of our current understanding on gene electrotransfer accumulated over the last three decades, and in vivo testing and methodology for gene electrotransfer. The research article on “Gene Electrotransfer in 3D Reconstructed Human Dermal Tissue” describes a tissue-engineering approach to study gene electrotransfer mechanisms in a human tissue context. The next one “Visualization of Non-Specific Antitumor Effectiveness and Vascular Effects of Gene Electro-Transfer to Tumors” reports the use of a noninvasive bioluminescence technology to explore the phenomena associated with gene electrotransfer to tumors by a real time monitoring of the transfection efficiency as well as cell death. The third article “Thermal Assisted In Vivo Gene Electrotransfer” aims to minimize potential tissue damage and/or discomfort. The approach has explored the combination of electrotransfer with heat. While further optimization can be performed to enhance expression and optimize delivery, this approach provides the basis for a novel method and instrument that may greatly enhance the impact of the potential translation of gene electrotransfer.

This special issue should be of benefit not only to the researchers and physicians already using the so-called electroporation technique, but also to others working in the field of gene therapy.

Dr. Marie-Pierre Rols and Prof. Damijan Miklavčič served as guest editors and the issue is available at: http://benthamscience.com/journals/current-gene-therapy/volume/16/issue/2/.

You can find the Editorial attached to this news.

List of articles:

  • Editorial (Thematic Issue: Gene Transfer by Electric Fields), 16(2): 73 – 74
    Marie Pierre Rols and Damijan Miklavcic.
    DOI: 10.2174/156652321602160415163023
  • Gene Electrotransfer in 3D Reconstructed Human Dermal Tissue, 16(2): 75 – 82
    Moinecha Madi, Marie-Pierre Rols and Laure Gibot.
    DOI: 10.2174/1566523216666160331125052
  • Thermal Assisted In Vivo Gene Electrotransfer, 16(2): 83 – 89
    Amy Donate, Anna Bulysheva, Chelsea Edelblute, Derrick Jung, Mohammad A.
    Malik, Siqi Guo, Niculina Burcus, Karl Schoenbach and Richard Heller.
    DOI: 10.2174/1566523216666160331125810
  • Visualization of Nonspecific Antitumor Effectiveness and Vascular Effects of Gene Electro-Transfer to Tumors, 16(2): 90 – 97
    Urska Kamensek, Marie-Pierre Rols, Maja Cemazar and Muriel Golzio. 
    DOI: 10.2174/1566523216666160331125611
  • Gene Electrotransfer: A Mechanistic Perspective, 16(2): 98 – 129
    Christelle Rosazza, Sasa Haberl Meglic, Andreas Zumbusch, Marie-Pierre Rols and Damijan Miklavcic.
    DOI: 10.2174/1566523216666160331130040