Plasma Medicine

Alexander Fridman, Ph.D., Dr.Sci., is a Nyheim Chair Professor and director of the A.J. Drexel Plasma Institute, working on new plasma approaches to material treatment, fuel conversion, environmental control and bio-medical applications. He is one the pioneers of Plasma Medicine, President of the International Society on plasma Medicine. Dr. Fridman is author of six books and over 450 publications in scientific journals. He has received numerous awards, including Stanley Kaplan Distinguished Professorship of University of Illinois and George Soros Distinguished Professorship in Physics, the DuPont research award, Chernobyl award, University of Illinois and Drexel University Outstanding Research awards, Kurchatov Gold Medal for Achievements in Science and Technology.

Gary Friedman, PhD, is a Professor of Electrical Engineering as well as Professor of Surgery in Drexel University. He is Associate Director of the Drexel Plasma Institute, leading the direction of plasma medicine. He is a world renowned specialist in novel engineering methods in medicine, especially in plasma medicine. He is an author of pioneering works related to bio-physics and bio-chemistry of plasma interactions with living tissue. He made significant contribution in plasma applications for wound treatment. Dr. Gary Friedman also has extensive experience in modeling and design of magnetic devices.

1. Introduction to Fundamental and Applied Aspects of Plasma Medicine

1.1. Plasma Medicine as a Novel Branch of Medicine and Health Sciences

1.2. Plasma, the Fourth State of Matter, and Reasons Why It Can Be a Helpful Tool for Medicine

1.3. Natural and Man-Made Plasmas, Completely and Weakly Ionized Plasmas

1.4. Plasma as Non-Equilibrium Multi-Temperature System: Thermal and Non-Thermal Plasmas, and Their Specifics for Biological and Medical Applications

1.5. Gas Discharges as Plasma Sources in General, and as Plasma Sources for Biology and Medicine

1.6. Plasma Chemistry as the Fundamental Basis of Plasma Medicine: Major Components of Chemically Active Plasma, Mechanisms of Plasma-Chemical Processes

1.7. About Mechanisms of Non-Thermal Plasma Interaction with Cells and Living Tissues

1.8. Applied Plasma Medicine 

2. Fundamentals of Plasma Physics and Plasma Chemistry Relevant to Biological and Medical Applications

2.1. Elementary Plasma Generation Processes: Ionization, Recombination, Electron Attachment and Detachment

2.2. Excited Species in Plasma Medicine: Excitation, Relaxation and Dissociation of Neutral Particles in Plasma

2.3. Elementary Plasma-Chemical Reactions of Excited Neutrals and Ions

2.4. Plasma Statistics, Thermodynamics, and Transfer Processes

2.5. Plasma Kinetics: Energy Distribution Functions of Electrons and Excited Atoms and Molecules

2.6. Plasma Electrodynamics 

3. Selected Concepts in Biology and Medicine for Physical Scientists

3.1. Molecular Basis of Life: Organic Molecules Primer

3.2. Function and Classification of Living Forms

3.3. Cells: Organization and Functions

3.4. Overview of Anatomy and Physiology 

4. Major Plasma Disharges and their Applicability for Plasma Medicine

4.1. Electric Breakdown and Steady-State Regimes of Non-Equilibrium Plasma Discharges

4.2. Glow Discharge as a Most General Example of Cold Plasma Sources, and Specifics of Its Application to Biology and Medicine

4.3. Arc Discharge as a Most General Example of Thermal Plasma Sources, and Specifics of Its Medical Applications

4.4. Radio-Frequency and Microwave Discharges in Plasma Medicine

4.5. Coronas, Dielectric Barrier Discharges (DBD), Plasma Jets/Bullits, Sparks, and Other Non-Thermal Atmospheric Pressure Streamer Discharges Widely Applied in Plasma Medicine

4.6. Discharges in Liquids 

5. Mechanisms of Plasma Interactions with Cells

5.1. Overview of Main Interaction Stages and Key Players

5.2. Role of Plasma Electrons and Ions

5.3. Role of UV, Hydrogen Peroxide, Ozone and Water

5.4. Biological Mechanisms of Interaction with Plasma for Mammalian Cells 

6. Plasma Sterilization of Different Surfaces and Living Tissues

6.1. Non-Thermal Plasma Surface Sterilization at Low Pressures

6.2. Inactivation of Microorganisms on Surfaces by Non-Equilibrium High Pressure Plasma

6.3. Plasma Species and Factors Active for Sterilization

6.4. Physical and Biochemical Effects of Atmospheric Pressure Air Plasma on Micro-Organisms: Direct vs. Indirect Treatment, Surface vs. in-Depth Treatment, Apoptosis vs. Necrosis

6.5. Animal and Human Living Tissue Sterilization

6.6. Transport in-Depth of Plasma: Generated Active Species, and Plasma Sterilization in-Depth of Living Tissues

6.7. Different Levels of Deactivation/Destruction of Micro-Organisms Due to Plasma Sterilization: Are They Dead or Just Scared to Death?

7. Plasma Decontamination of Water and Air Streams

7.1. Non-Thermal Plasma Sterilization of Air Streams

7.2. Direct and Indirect Effects in Non-Thermal Plasma Deactivation of Airborn Bacteria

7.3. Non-Thermal Plasma in Air-Decontamination: Air Cleaning from SO2 and NOx

7.4. Non-Thermal Plasma Decontamination of Air from Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Emissions

7.5. Plasma Disinfection and Sterilization of Water

8. Plasma Treatment of Blood: Non-Thermal Plasma-Assisted Blood Coagulation and Plasma Control of Blood Properties

8.1. Plasma-Assisted Blood Coagulation

8.2. Effect of Non-Thermal Plasma on Improvement of Rheological Properties of Blood

9. Plasma Assisted Healing and Treatment of Diseases

9.1. Wound Healing and Plasma Treatment of Wounds

9.2. Treatment of Inflammatory Dysfunctions

9.3. Plasma Treatment of Cancer

9.4. Plasma Applications in Dentistry

10. Plasma Pharmacology

10.1. Non-Thermal Plasma Treatment of Water

10.2. Summary

11. Fundamentals of Plasma-Assisted Tissue Engineering and Plasma Processing of Polymers

11.1. Plasma-Assisted Regulation of Biological Properties of Medical Polymer Materials

11.2. Plasma-Assisted Cell Attachment and Proliferation on Polymer Scaffolds

11.3. Plasma-Assisted Tissue Engineering in Controlling of Stem Cells and Tissue Regeneration

11.4. Fundamentals of Plasma-Chemical Polymerization of Hydrocarbons, Formation of Thin Polymer Films

11.5. Interaction of Non-Thermal Plasma with Polymer Surfaces, Fundamentals of Plasma Modification of Polymers