New horizons for electromagnetism of functional bionanomaterials

Abstract

Electro-mechano-biology (EMB) develops and examines different uses of electric excitation that span the electromagnetic spectrum from dc to microwaves to study and control mechanical deformation of cells, focusing on the discovery and application of new phenomena. In this work, we highlight this approach and its limitations to understand the cross-properties between electrical and mechanical modeling of functional biomaterials. Several illustrations based on multiphysics multiscale finite element simulations are proposed. Collectively, these data have important phenomenological implications for modeling the electromechanical effects of cell and nucleus morphology in a confined geometry. We discuss the current challenges for future developments in the analysis of electromagnetism of functional bionanomaterials.