Engineering Commons^™

Optimal Reactor Configuration Of A Microbial Fuel Cell Containing Bacteria Genetically Engineered To Degrade Urea, Ann Mcmonigal, Sarah Khoilian, David Bengford

Bioengineering Senior Theses

The original specific aim of this project was to use a microbial fuel cell (MFC) fueled by the catabolism of E. coli DH5α (pKAU17) bacteria in order generate current as a result of urea degradation. The initial design plan was to test the bacteria outside of the MFC, obtain power measurements,, and finally, construct an electrochemical model that would be compared to an existing theoretical model developed at SCU. Using a 0.25 L anode chamber, graphite electrodes and a sulfonated tetrafluoroethylene based fluoropolymercopolymer proton exchange membrane the galvanic cell was constructed. In response to constraints, the design plan was modified …

Novel Cancer Treatment Using Engineered Exosomes To Disrupt Cancer’S Immune Escape, Abena Boateng, Carley Fowler, Maritza Soria

Bioengineering Senior Theses

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the United States¹. This disease has impacted billions worldwide and has led to an ever-increasing burden on the healthcare system. Over the last couple of years, researchers have improved upon conventional cancer therapy that includes chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. One novel approach is immunotherapy, which shows great potential because it has the ability to directly target cancerous cells². This is a viable treatment because most cancers develop the ability to block immune pathways and evade the killer immune cells in what is known as cancer immune …

Identification Of Messenger Molecule Between Mammalian And Bacterial Cells, Anna Fraser-Philbin, Alexander Heiler

Bioengineering Senior Theses

The rapid escalation of the antibiotic resistance crisis has brought attention to the decline in efficiency of antibiotics which have long been a cornerstone of modern medicine. This project aims to provide novel drug targets for the creation of anti-infective immunotherapies that can treat drug-resistant infections. The identification of said drug target(s) (Molecule X) will allow for the development of an antibody based drug that will neutralize bacterial virulence rather than killing the bacteria. Molecule X will be bound using the protein Sortase A (SrtA). SrtA is a surface protein that controls the virulence of gram positive bacteria by anchoring …

Characterizing A Gaucher’S Disease Model For The Evaluation Of Novel Exosome-Based Enzyme Replacement Therapy, Annie Brown

Bioengineering Master's Theses

Gaucher’s disease is a rare genetic lysosomal storage disorder. People suffering from Gaucher’s disease do not have functional beta-glucocerebrosidase (GBA), which results in toxic build-up of undegraded substrates within the cell. Currently, patients living with this disease rely on biologics to reduce their symptoms, however, they require frequent transfusions and are incapable of crossing the blood brain barrier (BBB) to address neurologic symptoms of the disease. To evaluate the efficacy of novel biologic therapeutics, a human Gaucher’s disease model is required. Here, we have utilized near-haploid human cells (Hap1) modified via CRISPR-Cas9 to model Gaucher’s disease in vitro. These cells …

Cervis: Cervical Cancer Early Response Visual Identification System, Kira Palazzo, Lauren Serfas, Juliana Trujillo

Bioengineering Senior Theses

The goal of CERVIS is to increase screening for cervical cancer through the development of a low-cost, minimally invasive screening procedure for women in low-resource settings that requires minimal healthcare expertise. There currently exist two primary screening procedures: the Pap smear, primarily used in developed countries, and visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA), primarily used in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Both of these procedures require a high degree of healthcare training in order to administer and interpret, and are highly invasive, requiring direct interaction with the cervix. Our alternative procedure utilizes a particular bacteria, Fusobacterium nucleatum , within the …

Milkguard: A Low-Cost Hydrogel Sensor For The Detection Of Escherichia Coli In Donated Human Breast Milk, Emily Brogan, Ariana Haddad, Bridget Woody

Bioengineering Senior Theses

Breast milk is considered the gold standard of infant nutrition. However , many women around the world lack the ability to breastfeed their children due to disease, malnutrition, time constraints, or cultural considerations. Human breast milk banks exist to collect and distribute breast milk , allowing the greatest number of infants to have access to safe breast milk for optimal nutrition. To ensure the safety of the breast milk that is donated and distributed, milk banks must pasteurize and test donated breast milk for biological hazards such as bacteria. While pasteurization methods in the United States and other highly developed …

Brainwave Classification For Eeg-Based Neurofeedback, Brent Baculi, Stuart Cansdale

Bioengineering Senior Theses

The aim of this project was to find a way to differentiate active and rested brain signals in a patient using tasks without bodily movement to provide extremely motorly disabled patients a method of control for robotic devices that enable them to move independently of a caretaker. Although many control methods exist for less severely motorly impaired patients, this method would improve quality of life for all patients by allowing for movements to be controlled exclusively using the brain. The three steps for our project were to define the tasks and collect data, process the signals, and run the processed …

Microfluidic Liquid Biopsy For Cancer Prognosis, Brendan Heap, Anthony Ramirez Guerrero, Sam Nichols

Bioengineering Senior Theses

Leukemia is a deadly and common cancer, especially in children and adolescents. The misdiagnosis and unexpected complications during the treatment are some factors that increase the mortality rate of leukemia. The goal of our project was to create a device that would quickly and accurately assess these complications. While there are existing tests that can perform a single test for either metastasis or sepsis, there are none that can test for both simultaneously and rapidly. We propose to modify and combine some of these existing microfluidic designs as well as create a new component to perform a combinatorial assessment. While …

Predicting Depression Progression Rates In Radiotherapy Patients, Ardella Phoa, Joshua Vincent, Shani Williams

Bioengineering Senior Theses

Cancer is a highly prevalent disease that affects millions of people worldwide. In addition to the physiological effects of the disease, cancer patients are more likely to be diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Unfortunately, prior research has shown that MDD can also decrease the efficacy of radiotherapy cancer treatments. Currently, there is no way to predict, prevent, or mitigate this comorbidity, preventing physicians from administering supplemental therapies. In this paper, we propose a low-cost and efficient computational tool that can be utilized to quantify a patient’s likelihood of developing depression. To do so, we used PET images and a …

In Vivo Non-Ribosomal Protein Synthesis In Mammalian Cells, Akhil Choppa

Bioengineering Master's Theses

The mechanism of Sortase A substrate specificity has been widely studied and applied to many approaches to bioconjugation. Current research includes transpeptidation between peptide nucleotide acids, polypeptides, viruses, or antibodies. These applications help improve drug targeting and delivery. Scientists have performed Sortase A-mediated protein ligation in vitro. This project proposes an in vivo protein ligation method with Sortase A. In this design, Sortase A acts as a catalyst to initiate bioconjugation between the LPETG motif and pentaglycine (Gly5) chain to express GFP. This technique bypasses the ribosome and offers an alternative way to synthesize protein in mammalian cells. Three recombinant …

Engineering A Switchable Nanosystem For Customizable Therapeutics, David Diebold, Hanzhe Chen

Bioengineering Senior Theses

Exosomes are nanovesicles that are naturally secreted by mammalian cells in vivo for intercellular communications. Due to their inherent targeting ability, exosomes have a potential for therapeutic applications. However, due to their physiological derivation, the isolation of engineered exosomes has been a major obstacle to their therapeutic application, and successful disease-targeting has been difficult to control. Recently, we have developed an exosome technology that borrows from switchable Chimeric Antigen Receptor (sCAR) T-Cell Therapy and Strep-tag engineering to overcome these obstacles. Here, we describe the development of a de novo method to produce genetically modified exosomes with switchable targeting ability and …

Developing A Skin Phantom For The Testing Of Biowearables, Tawni Henderson, Ju Young Lee, Matthew Placide, Kiran Sutaria

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

There is a demonstrated need in the biowearables industry for a benchtop model that can accurately emulate the perspiration mechanism and corresponding impedance vs. frequency spectra of skin. This model, or skin phantom, could increase the efficiency and accuracy of early-stage testing of biowearables, as well as minimize animal, human, and cadaver testing.

The objective of this project is to develop a skin phantom that can emulate the perspiration mechanism and impedance spectrum behavior of human skin for the testing of biowearables in the 2,000 - 20,000 Hz range. We also endeavored to create computer-simulated models to aid in the …

Sustainable, Alginate-Based Sensor For Detection Of Escherichia Coli In Human Breast Milk, Nicholas Kikuchi, Margaret May, Matthew Zweber, Jerard Madamba, Craig M. Stephens, Unyoung Kim, Maryam Mobed-Miremadi

Bioengineering

There are no existing affordable diagnostics for sensitive, rapid, and on-site detection of pathogens in milk. To this end, an on-site colorimetric-based sustainable assay has been developed and optimized using an L₁₆ (5⁴) Taguchi design to obtain results in hours without PCR amplification. To determine the level of Escherichia coli (E. coli) contamination, after induction with 150 µL of breast milk, the B-Per bacterial protein extraction kit was added to a solution containing an alginate-based microcapsule assay. Within this 3 mm spherical novel sensor design, X-Gal (5-Bromo-4-Chloro-3-Indolyl β-_D-Galactopyranoside) was entrapped at a concentration of 2 …

Role Of Nanoparticle–Polymer Interactions On The Development Of Double-Network Hydrogel Nanocomposites With High Mechanical Strength, Andrew Chang, Nasim Babhadiashar, Emma Barrett-Catton, Prashanth Asuri

Bioengineering

Extensive experimental and theoretical research over the past several decades has pursued strategies to develop hydrogels with high mechanical strength. Our study investigated the effect of combining two approaches, addition of nanoparticles and crosslinking two different polymers (to create double-network hydrogels), on the mechanical properties of hydrogels. Our experimental analyses revealed that these orthogonal approaches may be combined to synthesize hydrogel composites with enhanced mechanical properties. However, the enhancement in double network hydrogel elastic modulus due to incorporation of nanoparticles is limited by the ability of the nanoparticles to strongly interact with the polymers in the network. Moreover, double-network hydrogel …