  Proteins can be regarded as thermal nanosensors in an intra-body network.
Upon being stimulated by Terahertz (THz) frequencies that match their
vibrational modes, protein molecules experience resonant absorption and
dissipate their energy as heat, undergoing a thermal process. This paper aims
to analyze the effect of THz signaling on the protein heat dissipation
mechanism. We therefore deploy a mathematical framework based on the heat
diffusion model to characterize how proteins absorb THz-electromagnetic (EM)
energy from the stimulating EM fields and subsequently release this energy as
heat to their immediate surroundings. We also conduct a parametric study to
explain the impact of the signal power, pulse duration, and interparticle
distance on the protein thermal analysis. In addition, we demonstrate the
relationship between the change in temperature and the opening probability of
thermally-gated ion channels. Our results indicate that a controlled
temperature change can be achieved in an intra-body environment by exciting
protein particles at their resonant frequencies. We further verify our results
numerically using COMSOL Multiphysics and introduce an experimental framework
that assesses the effects of THz radiation on protein particles. We conclude
that under controlled heating, protein molecules can serve as hotspots that
impact thermally-gated ion channels. Through the presented work, we infer that
the heating process can be engineered on different time and length scales by
controlling the THz-EM signal input.
