A new Landmark Review published in the American Journal of Physiology–Cell Physiology highlights Թϱ’s commitment to improving human health through discovery and technology. Written by James Weifu Lee, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the College of Sciences, the review presents a new framework called Transmembrane-Electrostatically Localized Protons/Cations (TELCs) that offers fresh insight into one of biology’s most enduring questions: how living cells store, move and use energy.
Cells are tiny powerhouses. Every heartbeat, muscle contraction and neural impulse depends on the movement of protons and charged ions across cell membranes. For decades, Peter Mitchell’s chemiosmotic theory, which earned the 1978 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, has explained how proton gradients drive cellular energy production. Likewise, the Hodgkin–Huxley cable theory, recognized with the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine, revealed how electrical impulses travel along neurons. Lee’s TELCs theory complements both, proposing that cells also behave like miniature capacitors that store energy in localized electrostatic fields, which can be rapidly released when needed.
In simple terms, Lee likens a living cell to a rechargeable battery: as protons are pumped across a membrane, positive and negative charges build up on opposite sides, much like the terminals of a battery. This tiny separation of charge forms an energy-storing “protonic capacitor” that can later power essential reactions, such as producing adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, the molecule that fuels nearly every process in the body.
“This framework helps us see the cell not just as a bag of chemical reactions, but as an elegant energy-storage and information-processing system,” Lee said. “It builds on what we know about ion channels and transmembrane potential but brings in a physics-based perspective that may help explain behaviors we couldn’t fully describe before.”
While the TELCs framework is theoretical, it has potential implications for neuroscience, cardiac physiology and biomedical engineering. A refined understanding of cellular energetics could help improve deep-brain and spinal-cord stimulation therapies used to treat movement disorders and chronic pain. It might also advance bioelectronic medicine, which uses small electrical impulses to regulate organ function, and inspire more energy-efficient prosthetics that communicate seamlessly with the nervous system.
“I believe that fundamental science is never abstract,” Lee said. “Understanding the physics of life can ultimately inspire new treatments, technologies and possibilities for patient care.”
An American Physiological Society Landmark Review is a distinction reserved for invited works that synthesize knowledge in ways likely to shape future research directions. Upon acceptance, the journal’s editors commended Lee’s article as “an outstanding contribution to the field.” Lee previously received the Society’s History of Physiology Lectureship Award in 2023 for advancing the understanding of action potentials and neural stimulation.