Redox Biology in Plasma Medicine Oxidative Stress and Disease Series

Plasma medicine uses non-equilibrium plasmas generated under atmospheric-pressure conditions. Therapeutical plasmas can stimulate tissue regeneration or inactivate cancer cells. This book reviews the interrelation between plasma chemistry and biochemistry complemented by discussion of the ways plasmas inactivate various pathogens. Focus is on the plasma effects on mammalian cells, subsequent consequences for cell-biological processes, and plasma applicability specific medical therapies. Contributions illustrate the ways cold atmospheric-pressure plasma can be used as a controllable source of redox-active species and as a useful tool for research in redox biology.

Key Features

• Summarizes plasma chemistry, biochemistry, and microbiology
• Documents the ways plasmas interact with lipids, membranes, and cells
• Reviews therapeutic uses of plasmas in medicine
• Focuses on uses of plasmas as cancer treatment

Chapter 1: Introduction to redox biology in plasma medicine. Part I: Plasma chemistry, biochemistry, and microbiology. Chapter 2: Physical plasma as source of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. Chapter 3: Plasma Chemistry in Aqueous Solutions. Chapter 4: Plasma Effects on Lipids and Proteins: Insights from Non-reactive Molecular Dynamics Simulations. Chapter 5: Amino acid, peptide, and protein modifications by plasma driven processes. Chapter 6: Hydrogels in plasma medicine. Chapter 7: Cold atmospheric pressure plasma: a novel approach for virus treatment through reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. Part II: Plasma cell biology and medical therapy. Chapter 8: The role of electric fields in plasma treatment of cells. Chapter 9: Reactive species and redox processes in medical gas plasma-promoted wound healing. Chapter 10: Plasma-induced immunogenic cancer cell death. Chapter 11: Anticancer vaccination approaches using plasma. Chapter 12: Plasma cancer treatment in combination with other physical modalities. Chapter 13: Oncological application of medically relevant plasma-treated liquids. Chapter 14: Model systems in plasma biomedicine. Chapter 15: Genotoxicity risk assessment of plasma exposure.

Sander Bekeschus was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1985. After obtaining a US- and German High-School-Degree, he studied Human Biology at Greifswald University (Germany) with a major in Immunology. He received a Ph.D. from the Institute of Immunology at the same University in 2015 after two international fellowships at the Centre of Free Radical Research (Christchurch, New Zealand) and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston, USA). From 2016 to 2021, Sander Bekeschus established an independent third-party-funded junior research group at ZIK plasmatis (Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP), Greifswald, Germany), which was consolidated under his leadership from 2021-2023. Since 2023 and 2024, Sander Bekeschus holds a Professorship for Translational Plasma Research at the Clinic and Policlinic for Dermatology and Venerology (Rostock University Medical Center, Germany) and is the Research Program Manager Plasma Medicine at INP, respectively.

Having started his career in plasma sciences as early as 2010, his research interests are exploring the underlying mechanisms of action of plasma and plasma-derived reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) in biology and medicine, the directed targeting of plasma parameters towards specific biomedical applications, the elucidation of the inflammatory and immunological consequences of plasma exposure, and establishing and investigating translational research models in Plasma Medicine to facilitate and support clinical applications of medical gas plasma technologies.

In addition, he is an executive board member of the International Society of Plasma Medicine (ISPM), the International Workshop on Plasma Cancer Treatment (IWPCT), and the German National Center for Plasma Medicine (NZPM), besides long-standing memberships at the German Society of Immunology (DGfI) and the Society for Free Radical Research Europe (SFRR-E). Sander Bekeschus received Junior Awards Distinctions from the ISP