Electromagnetic Biostimulation of Living Cultures for Biotechnology, Biofuel and Bioenergy Applications

The surge of interest in bioenergy has been marked with increasing efforts in research and development to identify new sources of biomass and to incorporate cutting-edge biotechnology to improve efficiency and increase yields. It is evident that various microorganisms will play an integral role in the development of this newly emerging industry, such as yeast for ethanol and Escherichia coli for fine chemical fermentation. However, it appears that microalgae have become the most promising prospect for biomass production due to their ability to grow fast, produce large quantities of lipids, carbohydrates and proteins, thrive in poor quality waters, sequester and recycle carbon dioxide from industrial flue gases and remove pollutants from industrial, agricultural and municipal wastewaters. In an attempt to better understand and manipulate microorganisms for optimum production capacity, many researchers have investigated alternative methods for stimulating their growth and metabolic behavior. One such novel approach is the use of electromagnetic fields for the stimulation of growth and metabolic cascades and controlling biochemical pathways. An effort has been made in this review to consolidate the information on the current status of biostimulation research to enhance microbial growth and metabolism using electromagnetic fields. It summarizes information on the biostimulatory effects on growth and other biological processes to obtain insight regarding factors and dosages that lead to the stimulation and also what kind of processes have been reportedly affected. Diverse mechanistic theories and explanations for biological effects of electromagnetic fields on intra and extracellular environment have been discussed. The foundations of biophysical interactions such as bioelectromagnetic and biophotonic communication and organization within living systems are expounded with special consideration for spatiotemporal aspects of electromagnetic topology, leading to the potential of multipolar electromagnetic systems. The future direction for the use of biostimulation using bioelectromagnetic, biophotonic and electrochemical methods have been proposed for biotechnology industries in general with emphasis on an holistic biofuel system encompassing production of algal biomass, its processing and conversion to biofuel

Analýza procesů elektromagnetické emise v živých buňkách pomocí grafů signálových toků

Living cells contain polar macromolecules and higher aggregates such as microtubules. These perform mechanic vibrations and emit electromagnetic radiation. Fröhlich proposed kinetic equations for occupancy numbers of vibration modes. Signal flow graphs are employed to represent causal relationships in the model. Analytical apparatus associated with the diagrams affords quantitative characterization of the system’s behaviour. Results of numerical simulations are interpreted with regard to cell physiology

Fröhlichův systém s modulovaným přístupem ke zdroji energie

Fröhlich model describes coherent vibration modes of polar intracellular entities (e.g. protein molecules or microtubules) that are pumped by ATP hydrolysis and exchange energy with the surroundings. Kinetic equations expressing time change of the quantum oscillator occupancy contain the pumping rate, and the rates of change due to linear and nonlinear interactions with the phonons of the reservoir. These are analyzed supposing that the modal pumping rate is a decreasing function of the mode occupancy

Dispersive optical bistability in unidirectional ring cavity

The models of dispersive optical bistability in unidirectional ring cavity yield transmitted intensity as a function of input intensity with additional parameters /mirror reflectivity and phase shift/. There is a feedback element in the description: the dependence of the phase shift on the transmitted power. The region of physically unstable states is marked by the condition specifying that the transmission function of the feedback loop present in the representative causal diagram is greater than 1

Fröhlich Systems in Cellular Physiology

Electromagnetic fields are usually absent in the picture of processes taking place in living cells which is dominated by biochemistry, molecular genetics and microscopic morphology. Yet experimental and theoretical studies suggest that this omission is not justified. At the end of 1960’s H. Fröhlich elaborated a semi-phenomenological model of polar oscillating units that are metabolically driven, exchange energy with the cell’s internal heat reservoir, and store part of the energy in excited vibrational modes in such way, that mode with the lowest frequency becomes highly excited, while the higher-order modes remain near thermal equilibrium. This affords energy-hungry chemical reactions to take place while the rest of the cell is not exposed to heat stress. At present, part of the cytoskeleton – microtubules – are deemed to fulfil the role of oscillating units. The paper provides an introduction to the Fröhlich ideas for readers with background in medicine and biology in that it avoids mathematical formulas and relies on figures to convey information about the basic properties of the model. The essential features of the Fröhlich model – most notably the energy condensation – are demonstrated on ensemble encompassing three coupled vibration modes that can be exactly described using original diagrammatic method