Yashashree Kulkarni, the Bill D. Cook Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Houston, has been leading the charge in cell research. Along with her graduate student Anand Mathew, she has led groundbreaking efforts to understand how cells sense electric fields. Their study was just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This is a radical departure from traditional belief on how cells react to sub-threshold, weak electrical stimuli. This research provides important new insights into a fascinating and highly active role for active matter at biological membranes.
In fact, for many decades, scientists thought that cells were incapable of sensing such weak electric fields. They explained this restriction by thermal noise, which movement is a result of heat random. Kulkarni and Mathew’s work uncovers an equally cool truth—biological membranes are more than a simple fence. Rather, these are fundamentally driven by external agents, including by matter that can drive cellular systems far from equilibrium. This experience led us to discover just how radically sensitive biological membranes are to electric fields. This finding is a monumental breakthrough in cellular biology.
Understanding Active Matter and Its Role
An experiment by biophysicists Anand D. Kulkarni and V. Suresh Mathew at RRI explores the idea of active matter in membrane-bound cells. In doing so, the researchers flip long-held assumptions on their head. They claim that these membranes play a dynamic role in shaping how cells engage with their environment. Active matter includes novel components—structures, machines, robots, and modules—built in or on the membrane that produce motion. These movements play a dramatic role in determining how the entire cell behaves.
We see the researchers investigate the ways in which active matter promotes a state of non-equilibrium. Their results uncover the molecular basis for a previously unknown mechanism that enhances sensitivity to electric fields. This contradicts the long-held belief that cells only react to large electrical currents. Their discoveries show that, surprisingly, even low strength electric fields can trigger cellular responses. This indicates a highly dynamic interaction between cellular architecture and environmental cues.
The value of this research just can’t be overstated. It’s fundamental to know how cells sense electric fields. It is indispensable in developing medical therapies and fuels biotechnological advances. Kulkarni and Mathew’s work lays a solid foundation for numerous new research questions to be explored in the emergent field of cellular engineering.
Implications for Cellular Biology
The ramifications of this study reach further than just academic knowledge. With approximately 37 trillion cells in the human body performing essential life functions, understanding their ability to detect electric fields can lead to breakthroughs in medical science. Potential applications of this knowledge might include better targeted drug delivery systems or sharper precision for advanced procedures in regenerative medicine.
Kulkarni and Mathew’s experiments upend the prevailing wisdom about thermal noise. This audacious strategy challenges scientists to reconceptualize long-held models of cellular behavior. It prompts further investigation into how biological membranes interact with their environments under various conditions and how these interactions influence cellular processes.
The study’s DOI is 10.1073/pnas.2427255122, and was accessed on phys.org on June 4th, 2025. This study greatly advances the cause of basic science. Beyond that, it lays the groundwork for practical applications that have the potential to transform healthcare and biotechnology.
Looking Ahead
As the scientific community starts to process these results, additional research will undoubtedly expand on Kulkarni and Mathew’s observations. Their research paves the way for a major rethinking of the way that scientists understand cellular responses and interactions with electric fields. By foregrounding the generative and active qualities of biological membranes, they promote an imagination that knits together complexity in the name of cellular function.