Dottorato in TECNOLOGIE DELL'INFORMAZIONE E DELLE COMUNICAZIONI (ICT)

Titolo della tesi: Microscopic mechanisms of the EM field interaction with biological targets

Over the past decade, electromagnetic fields (EMFs) have gained growing attention across communication, biomedical, and bioprocessing technologies, expanding both their technological impact and translational potential. Within this interdisciplinary context, the field of Bioelectromagnetics has evolved into a mature scientific discipline devoted to elucidating how EM exposure interacts with biological matter, from fundamental mechanisms of field–cell coupling to safety assessment and biomedical innovation. At the international and national levels, coordinated efforts led by the scientific organizations foster continuous exchange on EM biointeractions and exposure standards strongly supporting the development of research activities on electromagnetic interactions with biosystems and contributing to bridging fundamental understanding with regulatory and biomedical applications. Within this framework, understanding biological responses beyond thermal mechanisms, and exploring how EM fields can be harnessed as selective and minimally invasive tools for therapeutic modulation, has become a central scientific challenge. The present dissertation contributes to these research lines by combining multiscale numerical modelling and controlled in-vitro experimentation to investigate EM-mediated mechanisms and applications. The work addresses two main objectives. First, it examines non-thermal interactions at the cellular and molecular level, employing atomistic simulations and electromagnetic exposure systems to study how radiofrequency fields, including 5G-relevant bands, may influence membrane environments and ion-channel behavior under carefully controlled dosimetric conditions. Second, it explores electric and magnetic field-based strategies for applications like for controlled therapeutic and related biomedical applications. In particular nanosecond pulsed electric fields are used to modulate membrane permeability and enable targeted release from lipid carriers and bio based matrices, while static magnetic fields are applied to magnetically responsive hydrogels to regulate diffusive transport in a reversible and selective manner. Beyond these two main objectives, extensive use of molecular-level approaches such as molecular dynamics simulations provides a solid foundation for understanding the mechanisms of interaction, offering atomistic insight into how both radiofrequency and pulsed electromagnetic fields affect membrane receptors and their surrounding environments. By integrating in-silico and in-vitro approaches, this PhD thesis establishes a coherent framework to study EM bio-interactions across scales, from molecular structure and membrane physics to engineered delivery and exposure systems. The results improve our understanding of non-thermal EM effects and demonstrate the feasibility of field-triggered delivery concepts, contributing to the development of next-generation bioelectromagnetic technologies.