Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Producing And Measuring Oscillatory Shear In A Novel Microfluidic Chip, Sanaz Lordfard, Daniel Lorusso, Tamie L. Poepping, Hristo N Nikolov, Kayla Soon, Stephen Sims, Jeffrey Dixon, David Holdsworth

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Purpose: To demonstrate the effectiveness of a novel microfluidic device mimicking oscillatory blood flow, allowing cell biologists to examine how endothelial cells respond to a range of oscillatory shear stress levels.

Methods: The microfluidic chip consists of a circular-shaped reservoir, leading to a rectangular channel that is examined under a microscope. The plunger is connected to a speaker system and oscilloscope, allowing the plunger to apply a range of frequencies (5-60Hz) and voltages (5-10 V, leading to a variety in oscillation amplitudes) to the reservoir region. 1.1 um fluorescent particles diluted in distilled water were used for tracking. Processing was …

Engineering Of Ideal Systems For The Study And Direction Of Stem Cell Asymmetrical Division And Fate Determination, Martina Zamponi

Biomedical Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The cellular microenvironment varies significantly across tissues, and it is constituted by both resident cells and the macromolecules they are exposed to. Cues that the cells receive from the microenvironment, as well as the signaling transmitted to it, affect their physiology and behavior. This notion is valid in the context of stem cells, which are susceptible to biochemical and biomechanical signaling exchanged with the microenvironment, and which plays a fundamental role in establishing fate determination and cell differentiation events. The definition of the molecular mechanisms that drive stem cell asymmetrical division, and how these are modulated by microenvironmental signaling, is …

Investigating The Impact Of Hypoxia On Reactive Oxygen Species Generation Within Murine Breast Cancer Cells, Jared Mcpeake

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

When cancer metastasizes from a primary tumor site to secondary site through the bloodstream or lymph, the cancer becomes more difficult to treat. For this reason, it is vital to study what indicates the metastatic potential of a tumor. Current research has shown that cell lines with high metastatic potential display increased levels of metabolic adaptability over their nonmetastatic counterparts after undergoing hypoxic conditions. One method of assessing this adaptability is to measure the concentration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by the cells while undergoing oxidative stress. In highly adaptable metastatic cells, an increase of ROS buildup within the …

Development Of A Long-Read Sequencing Protocol To Assess The Precision And Efficacy Of Gene Editing For Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Landon Andrew Burcham

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work establishes a method for assessing on-target precision due to CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, especially within the context of exon skipping therapy for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The proposed method utilizes an Oxford nanopore long-read sequencing approach to sequence amplified regions of DNA that have been edited using CRISPR-Cas9. NIH3T3 and C2C12 cell lines were treated with a dual-guide CRISPR-Cas9 system, that targets and deletes exon 23 from the DMD gene in mouse samples. Deletion PCR revealed deletion of exon 23 in both DNA and cDNA samples. Additionally, sequencing using Oxford Nanopore revealed targeted exon 23 deletion as the most prevalent …

Breaks In Longitudinal Elastic Fibers Of Human Femoropopliteal Arteries, Elham Zamani

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Breaks in Longitudinal Elastic Fibers of Human Femoropopliteal Arteries

Elham Zamani1, Majid Jadidi1

1 Department of Biomechanics, University of Nebraska Omaha, Omaha, NE

Introduction: Elastin is a major protein in the body with half-life >50 years. It is thought that elastic fibers are formed before the postnatal period. In the femoropopliteal artery (FPA), the main artery in the leg, longitudinal elastic fibers are present in External Elastic Lamina (EEL). Our team has studied more than 1000 cadaveric human FPA and has noticed that there are big breaks in their longitudinal elastic fibers in some subjects. Our goal in this work …

An Antimicrobial Polydopamine Surface Coating To Reduce Biofouling On Telemetry Tags Used In Marine Conservation Practices, Ariana Smies

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Satellite telemetry tags are used to track the migration patterns of large cetaceans. These tags penetrate the dermis and remain embedded in the underlying blubber tissue. As the dermis of cetaceans is host to a diverse microbiome, and it is impossible to clean the skin before implanting the devices, the potential for infection is increased when the tags penetrate through the skin. H₂O₂ is a potential antimicrobial agent that, in addition to showing broad-spectrum efficacy against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, can promote wound healing outcomes by promoting proliferative factors and peptides that protect against oxidative stress. However, …