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Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering

Data-Driven And Cell-Specific Determination Of Nuclei-Associated Actin Structure, Nina Nikitina, Nurbanu Bursa, Matthew Goelzer, Madison Goldfeldt, Chase Crandall, Sean Howard, Janet Rubin, Anamaria Zavala, Aykut Satici, Gunes Uzer May 2024

Data-Driven And Cell-Specific Determination Of Nuclei-Associated Actin Structure, Nina Nikitina, Nurbanu Bursa, Matthew Goelzer, Madison Goldfeldt, Chase Crandall, Sean Howard, Janet Rubin, Anamaria Zavala, Aykut Satici, Gunes Uzer

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Quantitative volumetric assessment of filamentous actin (F-actin) fibers remains challenging due to their interconnected nature, leading researchers to utilize threshold-based or qualitative measurement methods with poor reproducibility. Herein, a novel machine learning-based methodology is introduced for accurate quantification and reconstruction of nuclei-associated F-actin. Utilizing a convolutional neural network (CNN), actin filaments and nuclei from 3D confocal microscopy images are segmented and then each fiber is reconstructed by connecting intersecting contours on cross-sectional slices. This allows measurement of the total number of actin filaments and individual actin filament length and volume in a reproducible fashion. Focusing on the role of F-actin …


Blood Flow Regulates Atherosclerosis Progression And Regression, Morgan A. Schake May 2023

Blood Flow Regulates Atherosclerosis Progression And Regression, Morgan A. Schake

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Atherosclerosis is the most prevalent pathology of cardiovascular disease with no known cure. Despite the many systemic risk factors for atherosclerosis, plaques do not form randomly in the vasculature. Instead, they form around bifurcations and the inner curvature of highly curving arterial segments that contain so-called disturbed blood flow that is low in magnitude and multidirectional over the cardiac cycle. Conversely, straight, non-bifurcated arterial segments that contain moderate-to-high and unidirectional (i.e., normal) blood flow are protected from plaque development. Thus, blood flow is a key regulator of atherosclerosis that may be able to be leveraged to develop new therapeutics. Towards …


Nuclear Envelope Mechanobiology: Linking The Nuclear Structure And Function, Matthew Goelzer, Julianna Goelzer, Matthew L. Ferguson, Corey P. Neu, Gunes Uzer Dec 2021

Nuclear Envelope Mechanobiology: Linking The Nuclear Structure And Function, Matthew Goelzer, Julianna Goelzer, Matthew L. Ferguson, Corey P. Neu, Gunes Uzer

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The nucleus, central to cellular activity, relies on both direct mechanical input as well as its molecular transducers to sense external stimuli and respond by regulating intra-nuclear chromatin organization that determines cell function and fate. In mesenchymal stem cells of musculoskeletal tissues, changes in nuclear structures are emerging as a key modulator of their differentiation and proliferation programs. In this review we will first introduce the structural elements of the nucleoskeleton and discuss the current literature on how nuclear structure and signaling are altered in relation to environmental and tissue level mechanical cues. We will focus on state-of-the-art techniques to …


A Single Cell Pair Mechanical Interrogation Platform To Study Cell-Cell Adhesion Mechanics, Amir Monemianesfahani Aug 2021

A Single Cell Pair Mechanical Interrogation Platform To Study Cell-Cell Adhesion Mechanics, Amir Monemianesfahani

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Cell-cell adhesion complexes are macromolecular adhesive organelles that integrate cells into tissues. Perturbations of the cell-cell adhesion structure or relatedmechanotransduction pathways lead to pathological conditions such as skin and heart diseases, arthritis, and cancer. Mechanical stretching has been used to stimulate the mechanotransduction process originating from the cell-cell adhesion and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) complexes. The current techniques, however, have limitations on their ability to measure the cell-cell adhesion force directly and quantitatively. These methods use a monolayer of cells, which makes it impossible to quantify the forces within a single cell-cell adhesion complex. Other methods using single cells or cell …


Systems Biology Of The Functional And Dysfunctional Endothelium, Jennifer Frueh, Nataly Maimari, Takayuki Homma, Sandra M. Bovens, Ryan M. Pedrigi, Leila Towhidi, Rob Krams Jan 2013

Systems Biology Of The Functional And Dysfunctional Endothelium, Jennifer Frueh, Nataly Maimari, Takayuki Homma, Sandra M. Bovens, Ryan M. Pedrigi, Leila Towhidi, Rob Krams

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

This review provides an overview of the effect of blood flow on endothelial cell (EC) signalling pathways, applying microarray technologies to cultured cells, and in vivo studies of normal and atherosclerotic animals. It is found that in cultured ECs, 5–10% of genes are up- or down-regulated in response to fluid flow, whereas only 3–6% of genes are regulated by varying levels of fluid flow. Of all genes, 90%are regulated by the steady part of fluid flow and 10% by pulsatile components. The associated gene profiles show high variability from experiment to experiment depending on experimental conditions, and importantly, the bioinformatical …