IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications最新文献

{"title":"Charge Transport in a Protein-Ligand Complex: A Preliminary Quantum Statistical Model","authors":"Roisin Braddell;Jone Uria-Albizuri;Jean Bernard Bru;Serafim Rodrigues","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3650536","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3650536","url":null,"abstract":"Experiments show that protein-ligand binding activates long-range charge transport with a nanosiemens conductance over nanometer scales in the linear response regime (cf. Ohm’s law superimposed with telegraph noise observed in 2019). Inspired by these observations, we investigate charge transport of a 1D-semiconductor at nanoscales, from first principles of quantum mechanics only. The charge carriers are fermionic (like electrons) and do not interact with each other, but can move (quasi-)freely in two interconnected 1D (nanometric) lattices, only one of which is conductive. Electric currents and their quantum fluctuations under the influence of numerous parameters such as voltage, temperature, length, etc. are computed and discussed, having in mind bioelectronics, in particular emergent laws in protein complexes.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"12 ","pages":"253-264"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11322786","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146223681","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Information Transmission Through Noisy Chemical Reactions","authors":"Jingxiang Yu;Hui Li","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3683972","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3683972","url":null,"abstract":"Chemical reactions serve as fundamental mechanisms for information transmission in biological systems. However, the intrinsic stochasticity of chemical reactions limits the precision with which cells can sense external signals. To quantify this limitation, we develop a probabilistic model for reversible second-order chemical reactions that captures the temporal evolution of reactant and product concentrations. The model is derived from the Chemical Langevin Equation (CLE), and a Gaussian approximation is introduced to enable analytical tractability while preserving accuracy. Building on this framework, we define a chemical reaction channel, derive expressions for mutual information, and analyze its channel capacity. Furthermore, we propose an optimized modulation strategy for this channel, which significantly reduces the symbol error rate compared with conventional equally spaced constellations.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"12 ","pages":"493-503"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147796028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Cylindrical Nanowire Array-Based Flexure-FET Receiver for Molecular Communication","authors":"Dilara Aktas;Ozgur B. Akan","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3671270","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3671270","url":null,"abstract":"Molecular communication (MC) enables biocompatible and energy-efficient information transfer through chemical signaling, forming a foundational paradigm for emerging applications in the Internet of Nano Things (IoNT) and intrabody healthcare systems. The realization of this vision critically depends on developing advanced receiver architectures that merge nanoscale communication and networking techniques with bio-cyber interfaces, ensuring energy-efficient, reliable, and low-complexity modulation and detection while maintaining biocompatibility. To address these challenges, the Flexure-FET (flexure sensitive field-effect transistor) MC receiver was introduced as a mechanically transducing design capable of detecting both charged and neutral molecular species. In this study, we present a cylindrical nanowire array–based Flexure-FET MC receiver that enhances design versatility and scalability through distributed electromechanical coupling in a suspended-gate configuration. The proposed array architecture offers additional geometric degrees of freedom, including nanowire radius, length, spacing, and array size, providing a flexible framework that can be tailored to advanced MC scenarios. An analytical end-to-end model is developed to characterize the system’s electromechanical response, noise behavior, and information-theoretic performance, including signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and channel capacity. The results reveal the strong interdependence between geometry, electromechanical dynamics, and molecular binding processes, enabling tunable control over sensitivity, noise characteristics, and communication capacity. The enhanced structural tunability and array configuration of the proposed design provide a flexible foundation for future mixture-based and spatially modulated MC systems, paving the way toward scalable and multifunctional receiver architectures within the IoNT framework.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"12 ","pages":"412-421"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147557753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Molecular Communication for Gastroretentive Drug Delivery","authors":"Sebastian Lotter;Marco Seiter;Maryam Pirmoradi;Lukas Brand;Dagmar Fischer;Robert Schober","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3671196","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3671196","url":null,"abstract":"Recently, bacterial nanocellulose (BNC), a biological material produced by non-pathogenic bacteria that possesses excellent material properties for various medical applications, has received increased interest as a carrier system for drug delivery. However, the vast majority of existing studies on drug release from BNC are feasibility studies with modeling and design aspects remaining largely unexplored. To narrow this research gap, this letter proposes a novel model for the drug release from BNC. Specifically, the drug delivery system considered in this letter consists of a BNC fleece coated with a polymer. The polymer coating is used as an additional diffusion barrier, enabling the controlled release of an active pharmaceutical ingredient. The proposed physics-based model reflects the geometry of the BNC and incorporates the impact of the polymer coating on the drug release. Hence, it can be useful for designing BNC-based drug delivery systems in the future. The accuracy of the model is validated with experimental data obtained in wet lab experiments.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"12 ","pages":"407-411"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147557476","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Information Transmission in Quorum Sensing for Gut Microbiome","authors":"O. Tansel Baydas;Efe Yatgin;Ozgur B. Akan","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3677248","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3677248","url":null,"abstract":"Microorganisms employ sophisticated mechanisms for intercellular communication and environmental sensing, with quorum sensing serving as a fundamental regulatory process. Dysregulation of quorum sensing has been implicated in various diseases. While most theoretical studies focus on mathematical modeling of quorum sensing dynamics, the communication-theoretic aspects remain less explored. In this study, we investigate the information processing capabilities of quorum sensing systems using a stochastic differential equation framework that links intracellular gene regulation to extracellular autoinducer dynamics. We quantify mutual information as a measure of signaling efficiency and information fidelity in two major bacterial phyla of the gut microbiota: Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"12 ","pages":"446-450"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147665302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Physics of SPION–Surface Interactions in Fluidic Channels: Implications for Molecular Communication Systems","authors":"Keyu Xiao;Angelika S. Thalmayer;Jens Kirchner;Georg Fischer","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3686303","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3686303","url":null,"abstract":"It is promising to study magnetic drug targeting through molecular communication (MC) frameworks, which model superparamagnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) as nanoscale information carriers. However, a key factor influencing MC performance, the physics governing SPIONs adhesion to channel surfaces, remains poorly characterized. This study establishes a computational model of SPION dynamics to elucidate the adhesion mechanisms. Our results reveal that the relative balance between van der Waals forces and electrostatic forces is the primary factor determining SPION adhesion behavior. Moreover, we determined the relationship between this balance and the ion concentration of the medium. Based on these insights, we propose strategies to reduce adhesion and thus improve the performance of MC systems.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"12 ","pages":"504-509"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11489021","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147796240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Methodological Advances in Uncertainty-Aware Spectral Modeling for Raman Spectroscopy in Biological Systems","authors":"Matias Heikkinen;Pasi Luukka","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3679276","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3679276","url":null,"abstract":"Reliable in-field plant health monitoring using Raman spectroscopy remains challenging due to substantial measurement uncertainty, intensity fluctuations, and uncontrolled environmental conditions. Traditional chemometric approaches typically rely on mean comparisons between predefined treatment groups, making them unsuitable for practical diagnostics where only healthy reference data and unknown samples are available. To overcome this limitation, we introduce a heuristic, uncertainty-aware, semi-supervised anomaly-detection framework for Raman spectral analysis that focuses on relative spectral shape rather than absolute intensities, thereby minimizing the need for preprocessing steps such as spectral normalization. The proposed model infers spectral deviations by comparing the empirical distribution of pairwise similarities between an unknown sample and control spectra to the natural variability within the control group. This approach enables plant health detection directly from spectral similarity without requiring parametric statistical assumptions or fixed class definitions. Experimental results on basil plants exposed to different metal sulfate treatments demonstrate that the proposed method effectively separates pollutant-induced spectral deviations while correctly identifying the majority of healthy unknown samples.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"12 ","pages":"467-481"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11457920","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147665219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Adaptive Molecular Communication Receivers With Tunable Ligand–Receptor Interactions","authors":"Murat Kuscu","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3681866","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3681866","url":null,"abstract":"Molecular Communications (MC) underlies signaling in biological systems by transferring information via biochemical molecules. Engineering this natural communication paradigm has motivated Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNT) applications, driven by cooperative networks of natural and engineered biological devices, as well as artificial micro/nanomachines. A key attribute of natural MC systems is their adaptability, ensuring accurate information transmission in dynamic, time-varying biochemical environments. Therefore, incorporating biological adaptation strategies into artificial MC networks, which may operate in diverse biochemical settings (e.g., inside the human body), is vital for robust and biocompatible IoBNT applications. This work introduces and investigates novel, bio-inspired adaptive MC receiver architectures that physically adjust their response functions to maintain optimal detection under time-varying channel conditions. The proposed architectures leverage tunable ligand-receptor interactions, achieving adaptivity by adjusting the sigmoidal ligand-receptor response curve, either by tuning receptor affinity or by expressing heterogeneous receptors, to accommodate fluctuations in received signal statistics. We develop a rigorous analysis framework based on the exact binomial statistics of receptor binding. We evaluate the receivers under a variety of MC conditions involving stochastic background interference, inter-symbol interference (ISI), and degrading enzymes, all of which yield time-varying scaling or shifts in the received signals. Numerical results show that these adaptive architectures markedly improve detection performance compared to non-adaptive designs in dynamic MC scenarios.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"12 ","pages":"482-492"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147796265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Understanding Entanglement Through the Lens of Quantifiable Algebraic Structures: Application to Bird Navigation","authors":"Sahil Imtiyaz;Serafim Rodrigues","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3650156","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3650156","url":null,"abstract":"We propose a unified mathematical meta-framework for long-distance navigation in birds, based on a bundle-theoretic representation of multisensory integration within evolving combinatorial structures. Various information streams—such as magnetic, celestial, olfactory, and landmark cues—are modeled as typed fibers over a time-varying simplicial base, which is reconstructed from behavioral trajectories and neural co-activity. In this framework, integration is framed as a global consistency problem: coherent system-level representations occur when there are globally compatible assignments across overlapping local contexts. This is equivalent to finding global sections of an evolving bundle. The tension between local and global perspectives is formalized in quantum theory through the concept of contextuality, which expresses the impossibility of a single, non-contextual global assignment that is consistent with all local marginals. In Bell-type scenarios, this aligns with operational non-locality and device-independent signatures of entanglement. We demonstrate that the same constraint semantics provide a precise mathematical connection between canonical contextuality models and biological cue integration, treating contextuality as a calculus for diagnosing and localizing incompatibilities in distributed representations. Our theory introduces two computable topological observables: critical simplices and interface loops. Critical simplices identify discrete remapping pivots where the structural scaffold must be reconfigured to restore consistency, while interface loops detect transient conflict cycles at the boundaries between different information streams. Together, these observables form a diagnostic “compass” that integrates cues onto a common scaffold, localizes incompatible overlaps, and predicts when spatial representations need to be remapped. We validate our framework using standard quantum contextuality scenarios, including Bell’s theorem and Klyachko–Can–Binicioǧlu–Shumovsky scenario (KCBS), successfully recovering established contextuality classifications through bundle obstructions and loop signatures. We then apply this framework to an anatomy-aware model of avian navigation, in which entanglement-capable cryptochrome/radical-pair dynamics serve as a microscopic source of non-classical correlations, without assuming that macroscopic entanglement occurs across neural circuits. In this model, microscopic non-classicality influences adaptive functions by leaving persistent, computable contextual footprints within the evolving biological scaffold, providing testable signatures at the level of remapping events and context-dependent cue integration.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"12 ","pages":"279-297"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146082133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Software-Defined Perspective on Molecular Networking in the Internet of BioNanoThings","authors":"Annalisa Ciuchi;Francesco Chiti;Stefano Caputo;Giacomo Borghini;Maurizio Magarini;Lorenzo Mucchi","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3678212","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2026.3678212","url":null,"abstract":"The Internet of BioNanoThings (IoBNT) envisions networks of nanoscale biological entities, called bionanomachines, capable of sensing, processing, and communicating within living systems. These entities rely on molecular communication (MC), a biologically compatible method that uses biochemical signals instead of electromagnetic waves. While promising for intra-body applications such as diagnostics and targeted therapy, MC faces inherent limitations, including noise, limited range, and lack of programmability. This work proposes a novel integration of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) principles into MC systems to address these challenges. By mapping SDN components, such as flow tables, match fields, and control logic, to biological counterparts, we introduce the concept of Bio-SDN: a programmable, layered architecture for orchestrating bionanomachines. DNA-based messaging and bacterial carriers enable addressable control channels, while synthetic biology tools such as logic gates and promoter tuning support decision-making and prioritization. Applications include real-time health monitoring, adaptive drug delivery, and environmental biosensing. The paper also discusses fault management strategies and outlines key challenges in reliability, mutation control, bio-cyber interfacing, and security. Bio-SDN offers a scalable framework for managing biological networks, paving the way for intelligent, responsive systems embedded within living organisms.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"12 ","pages":"451-466"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147665341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}