Engineering Commons^™

Thrombin-Inhibiting Perfluorocarbon Nanoparticles: A New Class Of Therapeutic For Acute Thrombosis Treatment And Diagnosis, Jacob Wheatley Myerson

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Optimization of the mediation of acute thrombi remains a significant research challenge in the treatment of emergency conditions including heart attack and ischemic stroke. We have demonstrated that a nanoparticle carrying potent direct thrombin inhibitors can advance the treatment of acute thrombosis arising from various cardiovascular pathologies. The thrombin-inhibiting nanoparticles presented herein are designed to focus the antithrombotic impact of direct thrombin inhibitors at the site of thrombus formation and to provide imaging contrast to highlight the formation or the abatement and eventual disintegration of the thrombus.

Perfluorocarbon nanoparticles were functionalized by covalent addition of PPACK or bivalirudin to carboxy-PEG …

Elucidation Of Emergent Regional Mechanisms Of Heart Muscle Dysfunction In The Mouse Model Of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Ya-Jian Cheng

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Cardiac dysfunction is a primary cause of mortality in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), potentially related to elevated cytosolic calcium. However, the regional versus global functional consequences of cellular calcium mishandling have not been defined in the whole heart. Here, we elucidate, for the first time, loci- and age-dependencies between calcium mishandling and myocardial sheet function as a manifestation of dystrophin-deficient cardiomyopathy. We also map calcium transients to illustrate the regional dependence of ion flux disturbances in the dystrophin-deficient (mdx) mouse heart. Furthermore, we elucidate abnormalities in autophagic processes that can be corrected with nanoparticle therapeutics delivering rapamycin to heart tissues …

Ecog Correlates Of Visuomotor Transformation, Neural Plasticity, And Application To A Force-Based Brain Computer Interface, Jordan John Williams

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Electrocorticography: ECoG) has gained increased notoriety over the past decade as a possible recording modality for Brain-Computer Interface: BCI) applications that offers a balance of minimal invasiveness to the patient in addition to robust spectral information over time. More recently, the scale of ECoG devices has begun to shrink to the order of micrometer diameter contacts and millimeter spacings with the intent of extracting more independent signals for BCI control within less cortical real-estate. However, most control signals to date, whether within the field of ECoG or any of the more seasoned recording techniques, have translated their control signals to …