Title:Bioflexoelectricity: Active Interface of the Cell with the Environment
Abstract: Phenomenon of bioflexoelectricity has been postulated, discovered and investigated by us in the last 40 years. In this lecture the theory and experiments of biomembrane flexoelectricity are reviewed. Flexoelectricity is a reciprocal relation between electricity and mechanics in soft lyotropic systems, i.e., in case of membranes, between curvature and polarization. Experimental evidence of model and biomembrane flexoelectricity (including the direct and the converse flexoelectric effects) is reported. The biological implications of flexoelectricity are underlined. Flexoelectricity enables membrane structures to function
like soft micro- and nanomachines, sensors and actuators, thus providing important input to nanoionics applications. Nanobio manifestations include membrane transport, membrane contact, mechanosensitivity, electromotility, hearing, nerve conduction, etc.