Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Non-Directional Conjugation Of Fluorescent Antibodies To Gold Nanoparticles For Stem Cell Therapy, Kunal B. Shah

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The objective of this study was to design citrate-coated gold nanoparticles conjugated with FITC-IgG, a fluorescent antibody, and to qualitatively and quantitatively measure the resulting fluorescent emission. Optical properties of the gold nanoparticles were measured at various stages to provide evidence of successful conjugation. The absorbance spectrum of the citrate gold nanoparticles was compared to that of the reaction mixture containing the gold nanoparticles and the FITC-IgG. A noticeable broadening of the absorption peak was observed at 519 nm indicating a surface modification of the gold nanoparticles. Fluorescence data was obtained with a fluorospectrometer and revealed a significant amount of …

Design Of Exercise Equipment For Wheelchair Users: A Case Study In Accessibility Standards, Kate Craddock Rescsanszky

Honors Scholar Theses

Engineers must consider a number of aspects of every project they work on. Accessibility is one aspect that presents a unique challenge. Rather than being based on absolute material parameters, accessibility is based on how people interact with technology and their built environment. Since 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act has been the predominant standard in accessibility because of its wide reach and legal mandate. In addition to the ADA, the ASTM and the Institute for Universal Design offer helpful guidelines for designing for accessibility. However, in addition to standards, guidelines, and recommendations, it is important to consult the intended …

Interaction Of Fibrinogen With Fibronectin: Purification And Characterization Of A Room Temperature-Stable Fibrinogen-Fibronectin Complex From Normal Human Plasma, Ayman E. Ismail

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Theses and Student Research

A fibrinogen-fibronectin complex (γγ’pdFI-pdFN) was purified from normal human plasma using a sequence of cryoprecipitation, ammonium sulfate fractionation, and DEAE Sepharose chromatography. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) under reducing condition showed both a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio of fibrinogen (FI) to fibronectin (FN) as well as a stoichiometric ratio of 1:1 of γg to gγ’. The γγ’pdFI-pdFN complex was non-covalent in nature as it was disrupted by affinity adsorption to Gelatin Sepharose where pdFN bound strongly and the disrupted γγ’pdFI fell through the chromatographic column. Surprisingly, the purified γγ’pdFI-pdFN complex was more broadly thermally stable than plasma FI (pdFI) …

Diffusion Modeling And Device Development For Peritoneal Membrane Oxygenation, Liana Hatoum

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a pulmonary disease that causes hypoxemia and respiratory failure. The mortality rate for ARDS ranges between 27% and 45%. Current treatments including mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) are often associated with high risk complications including barotrauma, infection, thrombosis, and hemorrhage. Alternative pulmonary support techniques are needed to improve the survival rate of patients suffering from ARDS. Previous studies introducing pure O₂ gas, perfluorocarbons and red blood cells into the intraperitoneal (IP) cavity have reported no effect or only a mild increase in oxygenation. Here we report peritoneal membrane oxygenation (PMO) using …

Efficacy Of Subcutaneous Electrocardiogram Leads For Synchronous Timing And Aortic Root Cannulation For Chronic Counterpulsation Therapy., Stephen R. Carnahan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Counterpulsation devices (CPD) require electrocardiogram (ECG) lead implantation for timing device filling and ejection with the native heart. Non- implantable leads limit the scope of CPD treatment to short-term therapy. Standard transvenous/epicardial ECG leads increase the invasiveness of therapy.

Methods: To overcome these limitations, subcutaneous ECG leads were tested in chronic (n=6) and acute (n=5) bovine models. ECG waveforms from clinical- grade epicardial (control) leads and subcutaneous (test) leads were simultaneously recorded resulting in 830 data epochs (30-s each) for a total of 44,614 heart beats. Device triggering using R-wave detection was calculated for each lead type and compared. …

Development Of A Novel Device For Ventricular Assist Device Outflow Graft Anastomosis., Young Choi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy can be live-saving for advanced heart failure patients. Conventional anastomosis (surgical connection) of LVAD outflow grafts to the aorta requires aortic clamping and hand-suturing. Aortic clamping increases the risk for neurological complications. Hand-suturing may be time-consuming and requires significant surgical dexterity. There is currently no commercially available device for sutureless anastomosis of large vascular grafts (diameter > 5mm). To overcome these limitations, a prototype LVAD outflow graft anastomosis device (GrAD) that facilitates sutureless anastomosis was developed and tested to demonstrate proof-of-concept and feasibility for (1) secured attachment withstanding physiological pressures, and (2) comparable attachment …

Chitosan As An Antiviral, Tayler Pauls

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

There is no broad-based antiviral medication available today; there are specific antivirals, for example, the antiretroviral for HIV. However, these specific antivirals are not available in each country and can be problematic for specific patients. Chitosan is proposed as a possible broad-based antiviral, which has already demonstrated antibacterial properties, antiviral properties in plants, is used for wound healing and as a hydrogel among other medical applications. The methods used are transfection of NIH-3T3 cells with GFP-adenovirus with 0.1%, 0.5%, and 1% chitosan added to virus prior to transfection. Fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry data has validated that the use of …

Experimental Assessment Of Mouse Sociability Using An Automated Image Processing Approach, Frency Varghese, Jessica A. Burket, Andrew D. Benson, Stephen I. Deutsch, Christian W. Zemlin

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Mouse is the preferred model organism for testing drugs designed to increase sociability. We present a method to quantify mouse sociability in which the test mouse is placed in a standardized apparatus and relevant behaviors are assessed in three different sessions (called session I, II, and III). The apparatus has three compartments (see Figure 1), the left and right compartments contain an inverted cup which can house a mouse (called “stimulus mouse”). In session I, the test mouse is placed in the cage and its mobility is characterized by the number of transitions made between compartments. In session II, a …

Automated Analysis Of Cancerous Histological Samples., Thomas Allen Tennill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of immunohistochemistry has become commonplace in the field of cancer diagnosis. A major limitation to the ability to use this tool effectively is the time consuming tasks required for the analysis of data due to the fact that it is largely done by hand. Additionally, because of this, there is an inherent level of subjectivity in the results obtained from this process that may depend on who it is conducting the analysis. Therefore, there exists a need for a method that is able to quantify results from immunohistochemical techniques in a way that it is both time-effective and …

Magnetism Of Magnetite Nanoparticles As Determined By Mössbauer Spectroscopy, Hien-Yoong Hah

Masters Theses

Fe₃O₄ [Magnetite] nanoparticles have magnetism that differs greatly from their bulk counterparts. Whereas bulk Fe₃O₄ is a ferrimagnet, single-domain Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles have been found to be superparamagnetic. This allows for increased magnetization of the nanoparticles compared to the bulk when in a magnetic field. For most paramagnets, magnetization requires applied fields of a few Tesla at low temperatures. This is achievable through the application of superconducting magnets. In superparamagnets, the high susceptibility of the particles allows magnetization through a Nd-Fe-B permanent magnet at room temperature. This is caused by an increased …

Lesion Identification And The Effect Of Lesion On Motor Mapping After Stroke, Ruixi Zhou

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Stroke is the most common cause of long-term severe disability and the motor system that is most commonly affected in stroke. One of the mechanisms that underlies recovery of motor deficits is reorganization or remapping of functional representations around the motor cortex. This mechanism has been shown in monkeys, but results in human subjects have been variable. In this thesis, I used a database that includes longitudinal behavioral and multimodal imaging data in both stroke patients and healthy controls for two research projects. Firstly, I improved an automatic lesion segmentation method to aid in the identification of the location and …

Portable High Throughput Digital Microfluidics And On-Chip Bacteria Cultures, Yiyan Li

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An intelligent, portable, and high throughput digital microfluidic (DMF) system is developed. Chapter 1 introduces microfluidics and DMF systems. In Chapter 2, a low-cost and high resolution capacitive-to-digital converter integrated circuit is used for droplet position detection. A field-programmable gate array FPGA is used as the integrated logic hub of the system for highly reliable and efficient control of the circuit. In this chapter a fast-fabricating PCB (printed circuit board) substrate microfluidic system is proposed. Smaller actuation threshold voltages than those previously reported are obtained. Droplets (3 µL) are actuated using 200 V, 500 Hz DC pulses. Droplet positions can …

Fabrication And Characterization Of An Extracellular Matrix Hydrogel For Aortic Valve Applications, Brady Culbreth

All Theses

With an estimated 5 million people suffering from valve disease in the United, valve disease is currently the leading cause of cardiovascular disease. Each year, between 80,000 and 85,000 aortic valve replacements are performed in order to treat the stenotic heart valves. Despite this being a worldwide epidemic, the current valve replacement options that are on the market have distinct limitations. Furthermore, a viable alternative does not exist for the patients that are not candidates for the current treatment methods. Our proposed solution to this epidemic is to create a highly viable injectable scaffold that would allow for the minimally …

Wheelchair Fatigue Reducer, Aaron Miller, Dennis Andre Norfleet

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Lost And Found: Use Of Gps Technology To Improve Storage Of Patient Belongings In Hospital Setting, Shelby A. Sievers, Griffin M. Heise, Min G. Kang, Michael Totty

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Pulmonary Primary Blast Injuries, Moe Uddin

Honors Scholar Theses

Primary underwater explosions are particularly dangerous because of the water properties relative to air, and the resulting pathologies presents difficulty in determining their etiologies. The whole body is affected by the blast wave and the survivor is considered a trauma patient. The exact mechanism of injury is not well understood. In the literature, there are inconsistencies between the explosive and the resulting outcome of the experimental animals. Primary lung blast injuries is the leading cause of mortality in underwater explosions and this explores the different pathologies, symptoms, and treatments that are currently available.

In-Situ Ultrasound Calibration, Azharhosein Faraz

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In minimally invasive navigated mitral valve repair surgery, the spatial calibration of the trans-esophageal echocardiography (TEE) ultrasound probe to the magnetic tracking system is an essential requisite. The standard calibration approach requires scanning a specialized phantom prior to the surgery, which is associated with the scaling mismatch issue. Preoperative estimation of the speed-of-sound at the target site of surgery is impractical as it varies among individual patients, leading to significant calibration errors during surgery.

In order to resolve this issue, we propose an un-precedented method of `in-situ' ultrasound calibration, utilizing the tracked surgical tool, which is scanned by the bi-plane …

Mechanical Properties Of Poly (Vinyl Alcohol) Based Blends And Composites, Nazanin Afghan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

One of the most important product specifications in design of materials for different applications is to closely match desired mechanical properties of the target. The soft tissue could be very elastic such as blood vessels and skin, whereas others are soft and non-elastic such as fat tissue. Soft human tissue has a diverse structural component that give them the different feel, texture, shape, and mechanical properties.

Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as hydrophobic polymer has outstanding features such as very good physico-mechanical properties, nontoxicity and biocompatibility, and high swelling properties which makes them favorable for biomaterial and biomedical applications. By physically …

Development Of Cubelab For Plant Microgravity Research, Sara N. Phillips

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the College of Science and Technology Morehead State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science by Sara N. Phillips on April 27, 2016.

Be Makes High Impact On 2016 Annual Ibe Conference | Biological Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

The BE Department made a high positive impact at the 2016 International Annual Conference of theInstitute of Biological Engineering, which was held in Greenville, South Carolina, from April 7 through 9. BE was represented by ten students and six faculty members. PhD student Anna Doloman received an award (3rd place) for her research poster “Microbial Dynamics During Anaerobic Digestion of Algae Biomass and Sodium Acetate in an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor.”