Engineering Commons^™

Development Of Polymeric Cxcr4 Targeting Carriers For Sirna Delivery To Treat Acute Kidney Injury, Weimin Tang

Theses & Dissertations

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a major kidney disease that is characterized by a sudden loss of renal function which manifests by a decrease in urine output and an increase in serum creatinine. AKI is a global healthcare burden associated with high morbidity, mortality, and increasing cost. Currently there are no effective pharmacological treatments available. Apoptosis induced by p53 has been demonstrated as an important pathological mechanism for the development of AKI. Meanwhile, CXCR4/SDF-1 axis has been associated with the inflammation during AKI, and CXCR4 is overexpressed on injured tubules. This dissertation hypothesized that polycations with CXCR4 targeting ability could …

Plasmonically-Enhanced Dna-Rna Hybrid-Based Bioassay For Amplification-Free Quantification Of Sars-Cov-2, Yuxiong Liu

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COIVD-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a highly infectious respiratory illness. Within just a few months, it spread around the whole world and became a global pandemic. Real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) works as a gold standard method diagnosing COVID-19 with high sensitivity and specificity. But due to the programs of RT-PCR, it usually takes more than 24 hours to get the results while specialized devices are also required. False-negative results can happen as well using RT-PCR which increase the risk of spreading coronavirus. To promote quicker detection of COVID-19, …

A Survey Of Stainless Steel In Medical And Surgical Application, Noah Slack, Clint Balch

ME 4133/6133 Mechanical Metallurgy

Stainless steels can be separated into four families based on the microstructure of the material: Austenitic, Ferritic, Martensitic, and Duplex. Each family provides a specific set of advantages and disadvantages, and material selection should be based on the specific application the material will be used for. For this study, the processing, microstructure, and performance of the four families of stainless steels will be compared in the context of medical device applications. The most important factors in medical device materials are biocompatibility, surface properties, mechanical properties and life span/corrosion resistance. This study will focus on medical devices that will be permanently …

Development And Characterization Of A Decellularized Neuroinhibitory Scaffold Containing Matrix Bound Nanovesicles, Logan Piening

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Chronic low back pain (LBP) is a leading cause of disability but treatments for LBP are limited. Degeneration of the intervertebral disc leads to loss of neuroinhibitory sulfated glycosaminoglycans (sGAGs) which allows nerves from dorsal root ganglia (DRG) to grow into the core of the disc, leading to pain. Current treatments for LBP involve drugs that do not target the source of the pain and lack long term efficacy or use invasive surgeries with high complication rates. Treatment with a decellularized tissue scaffold that contains neuroinhibitory components may inhibit nerve growth and prevent disc-associated LBP. Here, a decellularized nucleus pulposus …

Novel Approaches For Enhancing Cell Survival And Function In Vivo, Ou Wang

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Theses and Student Research

FDA has approved several cell-based therapeutics and hundreds of cell therapy clinical trials are ongoing. Cells will be a significant type of medicine after small molecule and protein drugs. However, several obstacles need to be addressed to achieve the widespread use of cellular therapeutics. The first challenge is the low efficacy of cell transplantation due to low retention, survival, integration, and function of cells in vivo. The second challenge is producing a massive number of cells for clinical treatment with cost-effectively and reproducibly technologies.

In this thesis, we proposed and investigated two approaches to address these challenges. To begin …

Development Of Solution Blow Spun Nanofibers As Electrical And Whole Cell Biosensing Interfaces, Craig Levar Miller

All Dissertations

Infectious pathogens place a huge burden on the US economy with more than $120 billion spent annually for direct and indirect costs for the treatment of infectious diseases. Rapid detection schemes continue to evolve in order to meet the demand of early diagnosis. In chronic wound infections, bacterial load is capable of impeding the healing process. Additionally, bacterial virulence production works coherently with bacterial load to produce toxins and molecules that prolongs the healing cycle. This work examines the use of nonwoven polymeric conductive and non-conductive nanofiber mats as synthetic biosensor scaffolds, drug delivery and biosensor interface constructs. A custom-made …

Influencing The Inflammatory Response Through Multi-Scale Geometry, Antibiotic Release, And Fluid Management In A Textile-Based Biomaterial Wound Dressing, Elizabeth Gianino

All Dissertations

The total population of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes mellitus in the United states is expected to rise by 54% between the years of 2015 and 2030 contributing to $200 billion in health care expense. The exponential rise in common diabetic wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers, puts a large population at risk for complications such as infection, amputation, and even death. Peripheral neuropathy leading to late diagnoses, patient non-compliance, and lack of holistic treatment options all contribute to complications with the incidence of new ulcer formation after treatment reaching 50%. This work explores the design, development, and in vitro evaluation …

Time-Lapse Observation Of Sarcomeric Addition In Hypertrophic Models Based On A Tissue Like Cardiomyocyte Culture, Ailin Wei

All Dissertations

Cardiac hypertrophy is the response of the heart to increased mechanical stress exerted on the heart. In a hypertrophic heart, the muscles elongate or/and thicken with cardiomyocytes growing sizes. It is assumed that cardiomyocytes elongate by adding sarcomeres in series; the cardiomyocytes thicken with the addition of sarcomeres in the parallel position.

In this study, a tissue-like culture model was achieved with step-like ICDs. Uniaxial static stretch has been applied to our unique culture model for studying mechanical-load-induced cardiac hypertrophy. Hypertrophic responses of these cardiomyocytes have been confirmed on transcriptional and translational levels in our tissue-like model. The two-photon excitation …

Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Biomaterials For Bone Tissue Engineering And Drug Delivery, Neda Aslankoohi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Bone biomaterials prepared from a combination of biodegradable polymers and bioactive glasses offer several advantages, including favorable cell interactions, selective gene expression, and delivery of biomolecules. Furthermore, the interaction of the organic and inorganic phases at the molecular level results in a single-phase hybrid material possessing synergistic properties.

This research aimed to design bone biomaterials from α-amino acid-based poly(ester amide) (PEA) and tertiary bioactive glasses using a sol-gel process. Since incorporating calcium into the bioactive glass network is challenging at sol-gel reaction temperatures, calcium ethoxide and calcium chloride were studied as precursors, and the optimum reaction conditions were identified. Mesoporous …

Poly(2-Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate) Hydrogels For Contact Lens Applications–A Review, Kushendarsyah Saptaji, Nurlaely Rohmatul Iza, Sinta Widianingrum, Vania Katherine Mulia, Iwan Setiawan

Makara Journal of Science

The emerging technology in biomedical engineering requires biocompatible materials, which are also referred to as biomaterials. For a material to be considered biocompatible, it should not interact with human tissues in a harmful way, and vice versa. Various properties of biocompatible materials, such as mechanical and optical properties, have to be considered for different biomedical applications. One of the most popular applications of biomaterials is for contact lenses. Hydrogels, specifically poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) hydrogels, are among the most popular ones in ophthalmologic applications, especially in soft contact lenses. This paper reviews the use of PHEMA hydrogels as one of the …

Layered Double Hydroxide-Based Nanocomposite Scaffolds In Tissue Engineering Applications, Burcin Izbudak, Berivan Cecen, Ingrid Anaya, Amir K. Miri, Ayca Bal-Ozturk, Erdal Karaoz

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Faculty Scholarship

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs), when incorporated into biomaterials, provide a tunable composition, controllable particle size, anion exchange capacity, pH-sensitive solubility, high-drug loading efficiency, efficient gene and drug delivery, controlled release and effective intracellular uptake, natural biodegradability in an acidic medium, and negligible toxicity. In this review, we study potential applications of LDH-based nanocomposite scaffolds for tissue engineering. We address how LDHs provide new solutions for nanostructure stability and enhance in vivo studies' success.

Tools And Strategies For The Patterning Of Bioactive Molecules And Macromolecules, Daniel J. Valles

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Hypersurface Photolithography (HP) is a printing method for fabricating structures and patterns composed of soft materials bound to solid surfaces and with ~1 micrometer resolution in the x, y, and z dimensions. This platform leverages benign, low intensity light to perform photochemical surface reactions with spatial and temporal control of irradiation, and, as a result, is particularly useful for patterning delicate organic and biological material. In particular, surface- initiated controlled radical polymerizations can be leveraged to create arbitrary polymer and block- copolymer brush patterns. Chapter 1 will review the advances in instrumentation architectures from our group that have made these …

Molecular Dynamics Simulations Of Self-Assemblies In Nature And Nanotechnology, Phu Khanh Tang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Nature usually divides complex systems into smaller building blocks specializing in a few tasks since one entity cannot achieve everything. Therefore, self-assembly is a robust tool exploited by Nature to build hierarchical systems that accomplish unique functions. The cell membrane distinguishes itself as an example of Nature’s self-assembly, defining and protecting the cell. By mimicking Nature’s designs using synthetically designed self-assemblies, researchers with advanced nanotechnological comprehension can manipulate these synthetic self-assemblies to improve many aspects of modern medicine and materials science. Understanding the competing underlying molecular interactions in self-assembly is always of interest to the academic scientific community and industry. …

Characterization Of Application-Driven Sol-Gel Coated Meshes And Composites, Armaghan Naderi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Surface engineering is a multi-disciplinary research area that encompasses disciplines such as materials science, chemistry, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering. Coating is a surface modification technique in surface engineering, applied on the surface of a substrate (i.e., bulk material), to cover/protect it from environmental degradation or to modify/improve surface properties for specific applications. This PhD research presents an in-depth investigation of sol-gel ceramic coatings to modify surface characteristics of bulk materials for two specific applications: 1) antistatic/antidust applications, and 2) biomaterial implant applications.

First, zirconia antistatic thin films on glass substrates, and their application to polymer-based composites, was studied. Zirconia …

Biomaterial For Cervical Intervertebral Disc Prosthesis, Helium Mak

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Recent long-term follow-up studies have shown that the cervical disc arthroplasty treatment have potentials in developing surrounding heterotopic ossification (HO). While its cause requires further investigation, this thesis has hypothesized that it may be the result of the continual remodeling of the injured vertebrae caused by the prostheses with smaller footprints introducing abnormal stresses. The research objective of this thesis is to develop a new prosthesis material that can be molded into any form conforming to the size and shape of the end-plates of the affected patient vertebrae. For prototype development, a composite material consisting of 10wt% polyvinyl alcohol cryogel …

A Single Cell Pair Mechanical Interrogation Platform To Study Cell-Cell Adhesion Mechanics, Amir Monemianesfahani

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

Cell-cell adhesion complexes are macromolecular adhesive organelles that integrate cells into tissues. Perturbations of the cell-cell adhesion structure or relatedmechanotransduction pathways lead to pathological conditions such as skin and heart diseases, arthritis, and cancer. Mechanical stretching has been used to stimulate the mechanotransduction process originating from the cell-cell adhesion and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) complexes. The current techniques, however, have limitations on their ability to measure the cell-cell adhesion force directly and quantitatively. These methods use a monolayer of cells, which makes it impossible to quantify the forces within a single cell-cell adhesion complex. Other methods using single cells or cell …

Efficient Polyhydroxyalkanoate Production By Rhodopseudomonas Palustris From Lignocellulosic Biomass, Brandi Brown

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biopolymers produced by bacteria with the potential to replace conventional plastics. However, the relatively high production costs of PHAs are keeping them from market acceptance, with approximately half of the production costs derived from the feedstock. Thus, engineering a microbe for PHA production from cheaper and renewable carbon sources is necessary to promote the valorization of PHAs. Lignocellulosic biomass is considered to be one of the most economic carbon sources in the world, and is thus an attractive candidate for cheaper production of bioplastics. Rhodopseudomonas palustris CGA009 is a metabolically robust bacterium capable of catabolizing lignin breakdown …

Development Of Multifunctional Drug Delivery Systems For Locoregional Therapy, Xinyi Li

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Locoregional treatment is the specific delivery of therapeutics to their desired sites of action with minimized systemic adverse effects. In this approach, drug is administered through topical instillation, inhalation, intra-lesional or intra-arterial injection. Decades of experience in locoregional treatment have delivered meaningful benefits to patients with localized diseases (e.g., osteoarthritis, ocular disorders and liver cancers). However, improvements are required for this type of treatment to be more effective. For transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most current approaches do not allow repeat treatment as the drug delivery vehicle is not degradable. In addition, image contrast agents for …

Synthesis And Performance Testing Of Ecm Fiber Scaffolds, Cassandra Reed

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The progression of regenerative medicine has advanced the treatment of multiple illnesses and injuries throughout the years. A good example of the benefits of this research is the work that has gone into volumetric muscle loss (VML), where more than 20% of the muscle is loss. Skeletal muscle makes up 40% of the human body so a loss of that size greatly diminishes the strength, the flexibility, physiology, and quality of life of the injured individual. For that reason, various techniques are used to counteract the loss of structure and innate cellular signaling in order to circumvent that from happening. …

Enhancing The Intracellular Availability Of Protein Cargoes In Polymer-Mediated Delivery, Christopher R. Hango

Doctoral Dissertations

Protein drugs, including antibodies, are rapidly emerging as the top-selling pharmaceuticals worldwide owing to their unparalleled specificity and biocompatibility. However, none of the currently-approved protein therapeutics act intracellularly, despite the vast majority of potential drug targets residing within the cell. This is due mainly to the paramount challenge of transporting hydrophilic macromolecular cargoes across the plasma membrane. As such, effective protein carriers are essential for the advancement of modern medicine. Despite significant advances, many challenges still plague protein delivery. Following membrane transduction, delivery vectors must preserve the structure and activity of their cargoes while transporting them to the correct subcellular …

3d Printed Polypyrrole Scaffolds For Ph Dependent Drug Delivery With Applications In Bone Regeneration, Matthew T. Lawrence

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Areas of large bone loss are typically healed using autologous bone grafts, seen as the gold standard of care. These materials have a complication rate of 10–40% during harvesting and are limited by the quantity available; therefore the use of 3D printed polymer scaffolds as bone graft alternatives are proposed. Polypyrrole (PPy) is a biocompatible electroactive polymer that has metal-like electrical properties that can be harnessed to hold and release charged drug molecules, triggered by a change in pH. pH fluctuations are seen inside the human body in areas of bone regrowth, which would act as the triggering mechanism for …

The Impact Of Myoblast Transplantation On Collateral Capillary Arteriogenesis And Macrophage Phenotype, Christine Hue Do

Biomedical Engineering

Gangrene, pain, loss of limb function, amputation, and death are only few of the grievous consequences associated with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), a vascular disease caused by an obstruction that narrows the blood vessels. Since some patients have collateral vessels that can re-route blood to its downstream destination, much focus has been spotlighted upon discovering the mechanism of this process, termed arteriogenesis, as well as cell therapies to increase arterial diameter of collateral vessels. Since some patients do not have native pre-existing collateral vessels, another method to re-route blood is through arterialized collateral capillaries (ACC), which is the conversion of …

Evaluation Of Blood Vessel Mimic Scaffold Biocompatibility, Nicole M. Abraham

Master's Theses

The Tissue Engineering Research Lab at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo focuses on creating tissue-engineered blood vessel mimics (BVMs) for use in preclinical testing of vascular devices. These BVMs are composed of electrospun scaffolds made of an assortment of polymers that are seeded with different cell types. This integration of polymers with cells leads to the need for biocompatibility testing of the polymer scaffolds. Many of the lab’s newest scaffolds have not been fully characterized for biologic interactions. Therefore, the first aim of this thesis developed methods for in vitro cytotoxicity testing of polymers used in the fabrication …

Injectable Ct/Mri Contrast Agent For Gastrointestinal Tumor Tracking, Luna Zhang

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Gastrointestinal cancers remain to be of the most common and deadly cancers worldwide. Early detection and treatments are crucial for reducing mortality and improving patient outcome. Radiation therapy is a non-invasive localized tumor treatment method, and utilizes radiation to kill the cancerous cells and shrink tumors at specific sites. Precise localization at the target tumor site is therefore important before radiation therapy, especially for gastrointestinal tumor sites located in the moving bowel. Currently, invasive endoscopies along with ink tattoos are used for identifying tumor location, which often require sedation and bring much discomfort. Imaging tests, including CT and MRI, play …

Impact Of Angiogenic And Osteogenic Factors In The Presence Of Biodegradable Piezoelectric Films, Jayla Millender

University Scholar Projects

One of the most common causes of bone graft rejection is lack of a vascular network connecting the graft to the existing native tissue – allowing for nutrient flow. Under current grafting techniques, the existing blood vessel network in the patient slowly invades the implant in order to supply the injured site with its necessary nutrients. The purpose of this research is to determine if a synthetic bone graft with a stable microvascular network can be developed in vitro. I hypothesize that the use of indirect angiogenic factors such as sonic hedgehog homolog and hypoxia-inducible factor-1 in combination with the …

Impact Of Angiogenic And Osteogenic Factors In The Presence Of Biodegradable Piezoelectric Films, Jayla Millender

Honors Scholar Theses

One of the most common causes of bone graft rejection is lack of a vascular network connecting the graft to the existing native tissue – allowing for nutrient flow. Under current grafting techniques, the existing blood vessel network in the patient slowly invades the implant in order to supply the injured site with its necessary nutrients. The purpose of this research is to determine if a synthetic bone graft with a stable microvascular network can be developed in vitro. I hypothesize that the use of indirect angiogenic factors such as sonic hedgehog homolog and hypoxia-inducible factor-1 in combination with the …

Machine Learning Applied To Colloidal Properties Of Perfluorocarbon Nanoemulsions For Imaging In Ards/Ali, Marco Hosfeld

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Acute Respiratory distress Syndrome (ARDS) and Acute Lung Injury (ALI) are inflammatory lung pathologies consisting of non-hydrostatic pulmonary edema leading to hypoxia and impaired gas exchange in the lungs. ARDS/ALI is both difficult to study and treat as it is not in itself a specific pathology but rather a syndrome consisting of many pathologies that vary case by case. It is, however, consistently characterized by an explosive acute inflammatory response in the lung parenchyma leading to hypoxia. Although time has seen to an increase in the understanding of ARDS/ALI, the mortality rate remains in the range of 30-50%. For these …

Survival And Proliferation Under Severely Hypoxic Microenvironments Using Cell-Laden Oxygenating Hydrogels, Shabir Hassan, Berivan Cecen, Ramon Peña-Garcia, Fernanda R. Marciano, Amir K. Miri, Ali Fattahi, Christina Karavasili, Shikha Sebastian, Hamza Zaidi, Anderson O. Lobo

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Faculty Scholarship

Different strategies have been employed to provide adequate nutrients for engineered living tissues. These have mainly revolved around providing oxygen to alleviate the effects of chronic hypoxia or anoxia that result in necrosis or weak neovascularization, leading to failure of artificial tissue implants and hence poor clinical outcome. While different biomaterials have been used as oxygen generators for in vitro as well as in vivo applications, certain problems have hampered their wide application. Among these are the generation and the rate at which oxygen is produced together with the production of the reaction intermediates in the form of reactive oxygen …

Evaluating Cellular Response Of Different Valve Interstitial Cell (Vic) Phenotypes To Angiotensin I, Smit Patel

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Calcific Aortic Valve Disease (CAVD), one of the leading causes of death in the United States, is characterized by diminished functioning and limited movement of the aortic valve (AV) due to increased thickening, disorganized extracellular matrix elastin fibers, increased collagen content, and abnormal deposition and formation of calcium nodules on the AV [1, 2]. There are two types of CAVD: i) Aortic valve sclerosis (AVS), in which patients suffer from tissue hardening, fibrosis, and early calcification, and ii) calcific aortic stenosis (CAS), representative by excessive calcification on the AV and reduced AV opening, are the two main forms of CAVD …

Developing Aligned Nerve Scaffolds In A 3d Type-I Collagen Gel, Gabriel David

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Despite significant progress in the field of peripheral nerve repair, clinical success is still limited, leaving millions to suffer from peripheral neuropathy with billions spent every year for treatment. Nerve repair methods that are capable of maximizing the regenerative properties of peripheral nerves are greatly desired in the field of medical science. This research aims to fill the gap between modern methods and the future of nerve repair by creating type-I collagen scaffolds with aligned degradation pores that will assist and nurture nerves growing through them. This is achieved by incorporating adipose stem cells into type-I collagen hydrogels and aligning …