Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Bioengineering Extracellular Matrix Scaffolds For Volumetric Muscle Loss, Kevin Roberts

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Volumetric muscle loss overwhelms skeletal muscle’s ordinarily capable regenerative machinery, resulting in fibrosis and severe functional deficits which have defied clinical repair strategies. My work spans the design and preclinical evaluation of implants intended to drive the cell community of injured muscle toward a regenerative state, as well as the development of an understanding of the molecular responses of this cell community to biomaterial interventions. I demonstrate a new class of biomaterial by leveraging the productive capacity of sacrificial hollow fiber membrane cell culture; I show specifically that unique threads of whole extracellular matrix can be isolated by solvent degradation …

Exploring The Production Of Extracellular Matrix By Astrocytes In Response To Mimetic Traumatic Brain Injury, Addison Walker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Following injury to the central nervous system, extracellular modulations are apparent at

the site of injury, often resulting in a glial scar. Astrocytes are mechanosensitive cells, which can create a neuroinhibitory extracellular environment in response to injury. The aim for this research was to gain a fundamental understanding of the affects a diffuse traumatic brain injury has on the astrocyte extracellular environment after injury. To accomplish this, a bioreactor culturing astrocytes in 3D constructs delivered 150G decelerations with 20% biaxial strain to mimic a traumatic brain injury. Experiments were designed to compare the potential effects of media type, number of …