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Shape Memory Polymers As 2d Substrates And 3d Scaffolds For The Study Of Cell Mechanobiology And Tissue Engineering, Richard Mcclary Baker

Dissertations - ALL

Tissue engineering is a promising, fast-growing field that combines cells, signals, and scaffolds to regenerate damaged tissues. To develop new, functional, engineered tissues, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how cell-material interactions affect the cell mechanobiological response. As a result, recent efforts have focused on developing complex synthetic materials that can mimic the dynamic in vivo cell environment. In this work, shape memory polymers (SMPs) were employed to develop dynamic 2D substrates and 3D scaffolds that undergo programmed changes in shape under cell compatible conditions. These substrates and scaffolds were applied in vitro and in vivo to demonstrate their …

Development Of Nanofiber Scaffolds With Controllable Structure And Mineral Content For Tendon-To-Bone Repair, Justin Herrold Lipner

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Rotator cuff tears are common and lead to significant pain and disability. Effective repair of torn rotator cuff tendons requires healing of tendon to bone. Unfortunately, healing does not reproduce the structural and compositional features of the natural tendon-to-bone bone attachment that are necessary for effective load transfer, and surgical repairs often rupture.

Recent efforts for improving tendon-to-bone healing have focused on tissue engineering approaches. Scaffolds, cells, and/or growth factors are implanted at the repair site to guide the healing process and improve outcomes. To that end, a polymer-mineral tissue engineered scaffold was developed for this thesis which mimics two …

Regulation Of Bone Marrow Stem Cells Through Oscillatory Shear Stresses - A Heart Valve Tissue Engineering Perspective, Sasmita Rath

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Heart valve disease occurs in adults as well as in pediatric population due to age-related changes, rheumatic fever, infection or congenital condition. Current treatment options are limited to mechanical heart valve (MHV) or bio-prosthetic heart valve (BHV) replacements. Lifelong anti-coagulant medication in case of MHV and calcification, durability in case of BHV are major setbacks for both treatments. Lack of somatic growth of these implants require multiple surgical interventions in case of pediatric patients. Advent of stem cell research and regenerative therapy propose an alternative and potential tissue engineered heart valves (TEHV) treatment approach to treat this life threatening condition. …

Gelation Characteristics And Osteogenic Differentiation Of Stromal Cells In Inert Hydrolytically Degradable Micellar Polyethylene Glycol Hydrogels, Seyedsina Moeinzadeh, Danial Barati, Xuezhong He, Esmaiel Jabbari

Esmaiel Jabbari

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Dynamic Fluid Pressure On Chondrocytes Cultured In Biodegradable Poly(Glycolic Acid) Fibrous Scaffolds, Lichun Lu, Xun Zhu, Larry G. Pederson, Esmaiel Jabbari, Bradford Currier, Shawn O'Driscoll, Michael Yaszemski

Esmaiel Jabbari

No abstract provided.

A Three Dimensional Microphysiologic Liver Model For Toxicity Testing, Lindsay Mckinney Miller

All ETDs from UAB

Drug development is an expensive and time consuming process, requiring an average of over $1 billion and up to fifteen years of work for each newly released product. Drug-induced liver toxicity is the leading cause of post-market drug withdrawals despite the fact that extensive animal testing and clinical trials are required prior to approval of a novel drug or therapy. Due to both the specificity and genetic variability of hepatic regulation and metabolism in humans, animal models and single-cell hepatocyte testing cannot fully predict the metabolic response of a novel compound. In vitro organ culture in a three dimensional (3D) …

Polysaccharide-Based Shear Thinning Hydrogels For Three-Dimensional Cell Culture, Vasudha Surampudi

Theses and Dissertations

The recreation of the complicated tissue microenvironment is essential to reduce the gap between in vitro and in vivo research. Polysaccharide-based hydrogels form excellent scaffolds to allow for three-dimensional cell culture owing to the favorable properties such as capability to absorb large amount of water when immersed in biological fluids, ability to form “smart hydrogels” by being shear-thinning and thixotropic, and eliciting minimum immunological response from the host. In this study, the biodegradable shear-thinning polysaccharide, gellan-gum based hydrogel was investigated for the conditions and concentrations in which it can be applied for the adhesion, propagation and assembly of different mammalian …

Bioengineering In Vitro Human Trabecular Meshwork Models For Glaucoma Therapeutic Screening, Karen Yud Torrejon

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Glaucoma refers to a group of slowly progressing eye disorders that lead to damage to the optic nerve, resulting in irreversible vision loss. Recent statistics by the World Health Organization places glaucoma as a leading cause of blindness worldwide, affecting nearly 80 million people. Lowering intraocular pressure (IOP) is currently the only effective target for therapeutic intervention in glaucoma. IOP is mostly controlled by the outflow of the aqueous humor (AH) through the trabecular meshwork (TM). The TM and adjacent endothelium of Schlemm’s canal, known as the conventional outflow-tract, control AH outflow and thus determine IOP.