Biological Engineering Commons^™

Effect Of Electrolytes On Co-Water Mass Transfer, Haiyang Zhu, Brent H. Shanks, Theodore J. Heindel

Theodore J. Heindel

The influence of various electrolytes such as sulfate, nitrate, and chloride on CO-water mass transfer was investigated in this study. The results indicate that the enhancement in the CO-water volumetric masstransfer coefficient ranged from 1.5 to 4.7 times that of a baseline system without electrolytes, depending on electrolyte type and concentration. For those electrolytes with the same anions, copper-containing electrolytes provided stronger enhancement, whereas for those electrolytes with the same cations, sulfate-containing electrolytes showed stronger enhancement. By measuring both the CO-water volumetric mass-transfer coefficient (kLa) and the mass-transfer coefficient (kL), it was found that the electrolytes inhibit gas ...

Enhancing Co-Water Mass Transfer By Functionalized Mcm41 Nanoparticles, Haiyang Zhu, Brent H. Shanks, Theodore J. Heindel

Theodore J. Heindel

Organic groups are grafted to ∼250-nm-diameter MCM41 nanoparticles with a spherical morphology to enhance the CO-water volumetric mass-transfer coefficient (kLa) for synthesis gas fermentation. The results indicate that (i) ∼250-nm MCM41 nanoparticles show a higher kLa value than large silica particles (1.4 and 7 μm), (ii) surface hydroxyl groups on MCM41 nanoparticles play an important role in mass-transfer enhancement, (iii) organic groups grafted to MCM41 modify the mass-transfer enhancement, and (iv) mercaptan groups grafted to MCM41 show the most mass-transfer enhancement of ∼1.9 times that of no nanoparticle addition. The CO-water mass-transfer enhancement depends on the interaction between ...

Tin Dioxide-Carbon Heterostructures Applied To Gas Sensing: Structure-Dependent Properties And General Sensing Mechanism, Catherine Marichy, Patricia A. Russo, Mariangela Latino, Jean-Philippe Tessonnier, Marc-Georg Wilinger, Nicola Donato, Giovanni Neri, Nicola Pinna

Jean-Philippe Tessonnier

Carbon materials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene, and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) exhibit unique electrical properties, which are also influenced by the surrounding atmosphere. They are therefore promising sensing materials. Despite the existence of studies reporting the gas-sensing properties of metal oxide (MOx) coated nanostructured carbon, an incomplete understanding of their sensing mechanism remains. Here we report a systematic study on the preparation, characterization, and sensing properties of CNT and RGO composites with SnO2 coating. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) was applied to the conformal coating of the inner and outer walls of CNTs with thin films of SnO2 of ...

Epitaxially Grown Collagen Fibrils Reveal Diversity In Contact Guidance Behavior Among Cancer Cells, Juan Wang, Joseph W. Petefish, Andrew C. Hillier, Ian C. Schneider

Andrew C. Hillier

Invasion of cancer cells into the surrounding tissue is an important step during cancer progression and is driven by cell migration. Cell migration can be random, but often it is directed by various cues such as aligned fibers composed of extracellular matrix (ECM), a process called contact guidance. During contact guidance, aligned fibers bias migration along the long axis of the fibers. These aligned fibers of ECM are commonly composed of type I collagen, an abundant structural protein around tumors. In this paper, we epitaxially grew several different patterns of organized type I collagen on mica and compared the morphology ...

Mri Applications In Tissue Engineering, Shadi Othman

Science Seminar Series

Shadi Othman of the School of Engineering and Computer Science Bioengineering Program, will speak on his research on MRI applications in tissue engineering.

Characterization Of Murine Breast Cancer Cell Lines For Anti-Cancer Vaccine, Haven N. Frazier

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women and the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States (1). While treatments involving radiation and chemotherapy currently exist, disease must be detected early in order for the treatments to be somewhat effective, and there is no effective treatment after metastasis occurs (2). Additionally, current therapies do not mitigate tumor immunosuppression. Decreasing the tumor-associated immunosuppressive conditions while activating antitumor immunity could prevent recurrence and metastasis, possibly leading to an effective treatment for cancer (3). Tumor cell vaccines could possibly address this issue and have become a ...

Effect Of Storage Temperature And Time On Lyophilized Water Bark Extract's Biological Activity, Jillian Schneider

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Sweetgum bark extract has been known to show biological activities such as antimicrobial and antioxidant capabilities. The storage capacity of the extract, however, was unknown and previously thought to diminish over time. However, upon experimentation, the freeze-dried sweetgum bark extract showed no signs that storage time or storage temperature had any significant effect on the biological activities. There was no significant difference across storage temperature over time in the experiment (ANOVA RM, P0.05). Therefore, the antioxidant capabilities of the sweetgum extract were not affected by the storage time or temperature treatments studied in this work. For the antimicrobial experiment ...

Chemical And Physical Priming Of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells To Alter Nonviral Gene Delivery Outcomes, Tyler Kozisek, Andrew Hamann, Amy Mantz, Mathias Schubert, Eva Schubert, Angela K. Pannier

Biological Systems Engineering--Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are a multipotent cell, meaning they are able to differentiate into a more mature cell type, such as osteocytes, chondrocytes, and adipocytes, that are found in numerous tissues in the human body, such as bone marrow, fat, and muscle. Since hMSCs can be derived from adult human tissues, they do not have the same ethical concern associated with them as other stem cells, such as embryonic stem cells. Due to hMSCs multipotency and ease of obtaining, they have become one of the most widely researched stem cell types in areas such ...

A Novel Biochamberfor Modeling Of Atherosclerotic Arteries: In-Vitro Capabilities And Applications, Iman Salafian, Angelos Karagiannis, Benjamin S. Terry, Yiannis S. Chatzizisis

Mechanical (and Materials) Engineering -- Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Atherosclerosis is a chronic disease that involves the lipid accumulation and inflammation of the arterial wall [1,2]. Despite great efforts,its pathophysiology has not been fully elucidated. Existent drugs can reduce its progression but there are no available drugs to prevent its complications [3,4]. Atherosclerosis remains the leading global cause of death[5].

The purpose of this work is to design and build a customized biochamber which can be used for the following studies:

•Study the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis in vitro & ex vivo

•Investigate the mechanisms of atherosclerotic plaque disruption

•Examine the direct effect of different anti-atherosclerotic drugs ...

Anaerobic Digestion Of Wastewater: Effects Of Inoculants And Nutrient Management On Biomethane Production And Treatment, Jason Peterson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to population expiation and the increased awareness of the impact on the environment by wastewater treatment, improved wastewater treatment systems are needed to treat municipal and agricultural wastewater. Treating wastewater with oxygen decreases carbon compounds at the expense of energy to move carbon and oxygen to be in contact with each other. Anaerobic digestion of wastewater can reduce the cost by utilizing microbes to treat high amounts of carbon in wastewater without the need for extensive oxygen requirement. With a proper balance of nutrients, microbes also produce methane, a renewable energy source.

It has been suggested that microalgae be ...

Development Of Spectroscopic Methods For Dynamic Cellular Level Study Of Biochemical Kinetics And Disease Progression, Anna M. Sitarski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One of the current fundamental objectives in biomedical research is understanding molecular and cellular mechanisms of disease progression. Recent work in genetics support the stochastic nature of disease progression on the single cell level. For example, recent work has demonstrated that cancer as a disease state is reached after the accumulation of damages that result in genetic errors. Other diseases like Huntingtons, Parkinsons, Alzheimers, cardiovascular disease are developed over time and their cellular mechanisms of disease transition are largely unknown. Modern techniques of disease characterization are perturbative, invasive and fully destructive to biological samples. Many methods need a probe or ...

Flow Cytometry Is A Promising And Rapid Method For Differentiating Between Freely Suspended Escherichia Coli And E. Coli Attached To Clay Particles, Xiao Liang, Michelle L. Soupir, Shawn M. Rigby, Laura R. Jarboe, Wei Zhang

Michelle L. Soupir

Aim: A standard procedure does not exist to distinguish between attached and unattached micro-organisms. In this study, we compared two methods to quantify between Escherichia coli attached to clay particles and E. coli freely suspended in solution: flow cytometry (attachment assay and viability assay) and settling (or centrifugation followed by settling). Methods and Results: Methods were tested using three environmental strains collected from swine facilities (A, B and C) and one purchased modified pathogenic strain (ATCC 43888); four clay particles: Hectorite, Kaolinite, Ca-Montmorillonite, Montmorillonite K-10; and a range of surface area ratios (particle surface area to E. coli surface area ...

Differentiation And Containment Of Derived Pancreatic Beta Cells, Caden Duffy, Alonzo Cook Ph.D.

Biomedical Engineering Western Regional Conference

Currently, the only permanent cure for Type 1 Diabetes is a pancreatic or islet transplant. With the shortage of donors, we are progressing research towards alternative therapies by differentiating induced pluripotent stem cells into derived pancreatic β-cells that can be transplanted and used as treatment for Type 1 Diabetes. We are investigating methods to increase the yield of fully derived, insulin producing pancreatic β-cells and are additionally researching the use of hydrophilized expanded polytetrafluoroethylene for use in cell containment devices. These devices could offer a future alternative for islet transplantation in human patients.

Molecular Modeling Of Antibody-Antigen Binding Near Solid Surfaces, Derek Bush, Thomas Knotts

Biomedical Engineering Western Regional Conference

Antibody microarrays are biosensors that have the potential to revolutionize molecular detection in medicine, scientific research, and national defense. However, current microarrays are not widely used due to problems including poor reproducibility and signal quality, unbalanced antibody performance, and cross-reactivity. Prior work in the area focused mainly on the stability of the antibody alone and not its affinity for its antigen. This presentation shows results of using molecular simulation to determine how different types of surfaces affect antigen binding to surface-tethered antibodies. The results offer an unprecedented, molecular-level view into these protein-protein-surface interactions and how to drive binding to occur.

A Systems Biology Approach Toward Understanding Seed Composition In Soybean, Ling Li, Manhoi Hur, Joon-Yong Lee, Wenxu Zhou, Zhihong Song, Nick Ransom, Cumhur Yusuf Demirkale, Daniel S. Nettleton, Mark E. Westgate, Zebulun Wayne Arendsee, Vidya Vaancheeswaran Iyer, Jacqueline V. Shanks, Basil Nikolau, Eve Wurtele

Eve Wurtele

Background

The molecular, biochemical, and genetic mechanisms that regulate the complex metabolic network of soybean seed development determine the ultimate balance of protein, lipid, and carbohydrate stored in the mature seed. Many of the genes and metabolites that participate in seed metabolism are unknown or poorly defined; even more remains to be understood about the regulation of their metabolic networks. A global omics analysis can provide insights into the regulation of seed metabolism, even without a priori assumptions about the structure of these networks.

Results

With the future goal of predictive biology in mind, we have combined metabolomics, transcriptomics, and ...

High Rate Detection Of Volatile Products Using Differential Electrochemical Mass Spectrometry: Combining An Electrode-Coated Membrane With Hydrodynamic Flow In A Wall-Tube Configuration, Subramanian Venkatachalam, Robert J. Angelici, L. Keith Woo, Andrew C. Hillier

L. Keith Woo

We present an experimental system that combines differential electrochemical mass spectrometry with hydrodynamic flow consisting of an impinging jet in a wall-tube configuration. This assembly allows simultaneous detection of electrochemical signals along with monitoring of dissolved gas species using differential electrochemical mass spectrometry under well-defined hydrodynamic conditions and over a wide range of mass transfer rates. The working electrode is deposited directly onto a thin, hydrophobic membrane, which also serves as the inlet to the mass spectrometer. This inlet provides extremely rapid mass detection as well as a high flux of products from the electrode surface into the mass spectrometer ...

Effect Of L-Ascorbic Acid And All-Trans Retinoic Acid On Smooth Muscle Cells Cultured On Pcl Scaffolds, Brandon Chaffay

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The aim of vascular tissue engineering (VTE) is to fabricate tissues that are both mechanically and biologically competent similar to the native vessel they are intended to replace. To this end, the incorporation of sufficient extracellular matrix elastin and collagen is important. The objective of this thesis work was to evaluate the effect of two biochemical factors, l-ascorbic acid (AA) and all-trans retinoic acid (atRA), on elastin synthesis when coronary artery smooth muscle cells were cultured on 3D polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds. First, porous PCL scaffolds were fabricated using a solvent casting and particulate leaching approach. The effect of different ...

Biomanufacturing Through Igem-An International Student Competition, Asif Rahman, Ryan J. Putman, Neal Hengge, Charles D. Miller

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

The foundations of synthetic biology are built on molecular biology and genetic engineering. One of the purposes of synthetic biology is to make biology easier to engineer by the creation of standardized biological parts and devices. There are a wide range of potential applications for synthetic biology and a variety of approaches to constructing parts and systems. Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students from around the world apply synthetic biology principles at the annual International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition to demonstrate functioning biological systems created from standardized parts. The iGEM competition will continue to add to the ...

Alternative Treatment Technologies For Low-Cost Industrial And Municipal Wastewater Management, Alan J. Hodges

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Roughly the same volume of water that rushes over the Niagara Falls is produced as wastewater in North America. This wastewater is treated through a variety of means to ensure that it can be safely returned to the natural ecosystem. This thesis examines two novel means for this treatment, one biological and one physical-chemical in nature, namely, Rotating Algae Biofilm Reactor treatment and expanded shale augmented coagulation-flocculation.

Rotating algae biofilm reactors (RABRs) support biofilm algae growth, and in turn, the algae take up harmful contaminants from the wastewater. This system was tested in wastewater from petroleum refining operations. The efficacy ...

Algae-Based Biofilm Productivity And Treatment Of Dairy Wastewater: Effects Of Temperature And Organic Carbon Concentration, Zachary T. Fica

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Production of dairy and associated products is a source of millions of gallons of wastewater every year. Water used in cleaning feeding stalls as well as the liquid component of the animal waste are two of the major volumetric components of this wastewater. This water is nutrient rich, often limiting the viability as a land applied fertilizer. However, these same nutrients could be used as an inexpensive feedstock for the cultivation of algae, which can then be used to produce downstream products including animal feed and aquaculture.

As part of this study, algal biomass was cultivated on dairy wastewater from ...