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Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering
Spontaneous Firing Of Sensory Neurons Modulates The Gain In The Downstream Circuit Of A Simple Olfactory System, Matthew O'Neill
Spontaneous Firing Of Sensory Neurons Modulates The Gain In The Downstream Circuit Of A Simple Olfactory System, Matthew O'Neill
McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations
In locusts and other insects, odorants are transduced into electrical signal by the olfactory receptor neurons and transmitted to central circuits for further processing. Previous studies have shown that exogenous variables (e.g., flow rates, humidity, temperature, odor mixtures, etc.) can influence the responses of the sensory neurons and therefore modulate the central circuits. However, how the sensory neuron activity is manipulated to achieve adaptive gain control in the following circuit is yet to be understood. It is possible that the magnitude of the stimulus-evoked response in the receptor neurons, their spontaneous activity, or both of these factors can change how …
Gold Nanostructures For Sensing And Functional Bioimaging, Maximilian Y. Fei
Gold Nanostructures For Sensing And Functional Bioimaging, Maximilian Y. Fei
McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations
Gold nanostructures offer an extremely promising path forward in the fields of imaging and sensing because of their unique optical and chemical properties. Here, we demonstrate that plasmonic nanostructures can be employed as nanoscale transducers to monitor the growth and phase transitions in ultrathin polymer films. In particular, gold nanorods with high refractive index sensitivity (~150 nm / refractive index unit (RIU)) were employed to probe the growth and swelling of polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEM). By comparing the wavelength shift and extinction intensity of the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the gold nanorods coated with PEM in air and water, …