Graduation Year

2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Electrical Engineering

Major Professor

Andrew Hoff, Ph.D.

Co-Major Professor

Mark Jaroszeski, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Richard Heller, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Stephen Saddow, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Ashwin Parthasarathy, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Timothy Fawcett, Ph.D.

Keywords

Electroporation, Gene Therapy, Impedance Feedback, Personalized Medicine, Tissue Heating

Abstract

Cancer impacts millions of Americans every year, with an estimated 1.9 million new cases and 600,000 deaths predicted to occur in 2023 [1]. Medical professionals and scientists have developed several techniques and procedures to combat this disease including gene therapies, surgeries, and chemotherapies. Several of these techniques incorporate the use of pulsed electric fields to deliver molecular material to treat, or directly destroy, the cells of the tumor. These pulsed electric field techniques are known as gene electrotransfer, electrochemotherapy, and irreversible electroporation. All three techniques utilize different electrical parameters to achieve their target tumor reduction or expression goals. Efforts to improve these techniques resulted in the inclusion of heat to aid in the reduction of necessary pulses or field strength, and the measurement of tissue impedance to indicate when successful electrical treatment has been applied.To date, no commercial or research machine exists which incorporates both improvements. In this work, the successful design and characterization of such an all-in-one device is presented. In addition to in-vitro characterization data, this work shows successful treatment of Guinea pig and murine models for gene electrotransfer and irreversible electroporation applications.

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