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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

An In Vitro Platform To Characterize Myocardial Wound Remodeling, Jonathan Heywood Dec 2023

An In Vitro Platform To Characterize Myocardial Wound Remodeling, Jonathan Heywood

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Heart Failure, sometimes called Congestive Heart Failure, is a collection of pathological disruptions in which the heart is unable to pump blood properly. It affects over 6 million people in the United States, with the cost-per-patient at approximately $30,000 and the total cost estimated to be $160 billion by 2030. There is no single cause of heart failure, as it can manifest as a varying array of diseases, disorders, and syndromes. However, many of these underlying diseases result specifically from dysregulation of mechanically active cells called cardiac fibroblasts, which play a critical role in the remodeling of the extracellular matrix …


Experimental And Computational Platforms For Studying Systems Mechanobiology, Brendyn Miller Dec 2023

Experimental And Computational Platforms For Studying Systems Mechanobiology, Brendyn Miller

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Mechanical stimulation through physical activity has been shown to play an important role in treating and preventing several non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, lower back pain (LBP), type-2 diabetes mellitus, and several cancers. This is accomplished through the regulation of cellular behavior and tissue remodeling within the body at both the micro- and macro-scale levels. The goal of mechanobiology research is to gain in-depth knowledge and understanding of how cells sense physical forces in conjunction with other biochemical cues and translate those factors into important biological functions that either maintain tissue homeostasis or lead to pathological states. Understanding these processes …


Ti-6al-4v Β Phase Selective Dissolution: In Vitro Mechanism And Prediction, Michael A Kurtz Dec 2023

Ti-6al-4v Β Phase Selective Dissolution: In Vitro Mechanism And Prediction, Michael A Kurtz

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Retrieval studies document Ti-6Al-4V β phase dissolution within total hip replacement systems. A gap persists in our mechanistic understanding and existing standards fail to reproduce this damage. This thesis aims to (1) elucidate the Ti-6Al-4V selective dissolution mechanism as functions of solution chemistry, electrode potential and temperature; (2) investigate the effects of adverse electrochemical conditions on additively manufactured (AM) titanium alloys and (3) apply machine learning to predict the Ti-6Al-4V dissolution state. We hypothesized that (1) cathodic activation and inflammatory species (H2O2) would degrade the Ti-6Al-4V oxide, promoting dissolution; (2) AM Ti-6Al-4V selective dissolution would occur …


Controlled Manipulation And Transport By Microswimmers In Stokes Flows, Jake Buzhardt Dec 2023

Controlled Manipulation And Transport By Microswimmers In Stokes Flows, Jake Buzhardt

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Remotely actuated microscale swimming robots have the potential to revolutionize many aspects of biomedicine. However, for the longterm goals of this field of research to be achievable, it is necessary to develop modelling, simulation, and control strategies which effectively and efficiently account for not only the motion of individual swimmers, but also the complex interactions of such swimmers with their environment including other nearby swimmers, boundaries, other cargo and passive particles, and the fluid medium itself. The aim of this thesis is to study these problems in simulation from the perspective of controls and dynamical systems, with a particular focus …


In Vitro And In Vivo Diabetic Models For Assessment Of Tissue Engineered Vascular Grafts, Juan Carlos Carrillo Garcia Aug 2023

In Vitro And In Vivo Diabetic Models For Assessment Of Tissue Engineered Vascular Grafts, Juan Carlos Carrillo Garcia

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Diabetes has become one of the leading causes of lower-limb loss worldwide. Every 30 seconds, a person loses a limb due to diabetic-related vascular complications. About one-third of patients needing lower-limb bypass surgery have debilitated autologous vessels unsuitable for use, and no other good long-term options are available. These detrimental effects on the vasculature are caused mainly by the hyperglycemic and hyperlipidemic conditions derived from diabetes. Under these conditions, an increase in advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and reactive oxygen species leads to irreversible crosslinks of extracellular matrix proteins, accelerating vascular pathology through vascular stiffening, endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, atherosclerosis, fibrosis, …


Investigating The Potential Of A Cell-Based Gene Editing Therapy For Inherited Metabolic Liver Disease, Ilayda Ates Aug 2023

Investigating The Potential Of A Cell-Based Gene Editing Therapy For Inherited Metabolic Liver Disease, Ilayda Ates

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Inherited metabolic diseases (IMDs) affecting the liver are relatively rare but collectively have a prevalence of 1 in 800 live births. These diseases result from autosomal recessive single-gene mutations, leading to organ dysfunction and potentially fatal consequences if left untreated. One potential therapeutic strategy for IMDs of the liver involves using CRISPR-Cas9-induced loss of function mutations. However, translating this approach into the clinic is limited by the need for safe and effective CRISPR delivery methods. Adeno-associated viral vectors (AAVs), commonly used for CRISPR delivery, are associated with significant safety and efficacy concerns, including risks for immunogenicity, off-target mutagenesis, and genotoxicity …


Assesment Of Structure, Function, And Microevolutionary Dynamics Of Extrachromosomal Circular Dna In Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells, Dylan Chitwood May 2023

Assesment Of Structure, Function, And Microevolutionary Dynamics Of Extrachromosomal Circular Dna In Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells, Dylan Chitwood

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Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines are among the most popular expression hosts used in biopharmaceutical manufacturing due to relative ease of culture, capacity to perform human-like post-translational modifications, and non-susceptibility to viruses. However, the intrinsic plasticity of the CHO genome can lead to undesired genetic rearrangements, phenotypic shifts, reduced product quality, and early culture termination that prevents continuous biomanufacturing. A characteristic of plastic and unstable genomes that is poorly understood in CHO cells is extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA). EccDNAs are focal amplifications of the genome that reside in the extranuclear space. These plasmid-like entities are structurally complex and are …