Manya Bhandary
BME MS Thesis Defense Presentation
Date: 2026-03-17
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM EST
Location / Meeting Link: EBB Room 3029 / https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/28269530959476?p=jRtEV6lgKlriOyz1NK

Committee Members:
Rafael V. Davalos, PhD (Advisor); Karen Julie Gehl, MD; Aniruddh Sarkar, PhD


Title: Calcium-Mediated Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA) for Non-Thermal Treatment of Breast and Pancreatic Malignancies

Abstract:
Non-thermal ablation modalities have emerged as promising alternatives to conventional cancer therapies by enabling targeted cell death while preserving surrounding tissue architecture. Pulsed field ablation (PFA) permeabilizes cell membranes using short electrical pulses, but often requires high voltages to achieve effective ablation volumes. Calcium electroporation (CaEP) induces cell death through intracellular calcium overload and may provide a complementary mechanism to improve treatment response. This study investigates calcium-mediated PFA (Ca-PFA) as a strategy to improve ablation efficacy. Treatment response was evaluated in breast and pancreatic cancer models. Murine 4T1 breast cancer cells were studied in collagen hydrogels, multicellular tumor spheroids, and an orthotopic mouse model, while Pan02 pancreatic cells were examined in hydrogels. Varying calcium doses (10.5 mM-168 mM) and pulse durations (1, 2, 5 μs) were tested alongside a conductivity-matched NaCl control and physiological DMEM control to isolate calcium-specific effects. Across in vitro models, increasing calcium concentration and pulse duration produced larger and more continuous ablation regions compared with pulsing alone. Live/Dead imaging confirmed enhanced loss of viability in spheroids, while finite element modeling further showed a decrease in electroporation threshold required for ablation with increased calcium concentration. In vivo, Ca-PFA resulted in reduced tumor progression relative to PFA alone.