Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Development And Analysis Of A Statics And Kinematics Demonstration As A Learning Tool In The Biomechanics Classroom, Bethany D. Knight

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study was done with the objective of determining if students in the biomedical engineering department at the University of Arkansas would gain better understanding of basic biomechanics principles through the implementation of in-class demonstrations. Biomechanics was chosen because it is the first class taken in sequence after the “Introduction to Biomedical Engineering” class. A pre-demonstration survey was administered to gauge how comfortable the students were with the topics on the syllabus. Two demonstrations were done in class and related homework was assigned. The post-semester survey was administered and collected to determine how effective the students felt the presentations to …

Investigating The Mechanical Behaviors Of Organic/Inorganic Composite Bone Scaffolds, Parker Davidson

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The regeneration of bone over a large area cannot occur without a structure for the bone cells to bind and divide. The use of an organic/inorganic composite bone scaffold appears to be a promising alternative to the current clinical standard of bone grafting. Bone grafting is very limited, in that the size and shape of the area are hard to replicate and the use of donor tissue can trigger an immunologic response resulting in rejection of the bone tissue. This study experimented with composite bone scaffolds which can be made to fit the shape of the area in which bone …

Effect Of Impact Angle On Astrocyte Gene Expression, Nicholas A. Chavis

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Over one million people each year experience some form of traumatic brain injury. Every individual’s injury is different as impacts can affect different parts of the brain in various ways. This study was conducted to test the impact angles effect on astrocytes by measuring gene expression of TNF- alpha, an inflammation marker, and GFAP, a gene released in response to reactive astrocytes, following impacts from 0, 45, and 90 degrees. Results were recorded from Polymerase Chain Reaction via the delta delta Ct method and compared to the control group for to show under-regulation or up- regulation of the genes of …

Customization Of Titanate Nanofiber Bioscaffolds, Jared Hopkins

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the field of orthopedic devices implant loosening is a major issue resulting in the majority of device failures. These failures result in the need for costly secondary procedures. To reduce device loosening an improved method of tissue anchoring is required. A previously studied titanate nanofiber bioscaffold has been shown to be safely implantable and to contribute to the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells to osteocytes. Through the customization of both physical and chemical characteristics this titanate nanofiber bioscaffold was fabricated as a potential means to enhance tissue anchoring for use with orthopedic devices. This customization was enabled by acoustic …

Intravital Microscopy Of Tumor Oxygenation And Glycolytic Demand, Jesse D. Ivers

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

There is growing concern about the over treatment of cancer because treatments are based primarily on tumor anatomy. In this study, we aim to begin the process of addressing that issue by developing an intravital technique for optically analyzing tumor biology. Two traits were identified as having significant importance in the aggression of a tumor, vascular oxygenation (SO2) and glycolytic demand. Dorsal skin flap window chambers were implanted and 4T1 and 67NR cancer cells were injected to provide a tumor model for the development of this intravital quantification technique. This study provides a detailed protocol from instrumentation setup to surgical …

Determining The Effect Of Delivery Rate On Glucose Uptake By Cancer Cells, Luke Felton

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Radiation therapy is one of the most commonly performed cancer treatment therapies today. Radiation therapy can cause can changes to tumor vasculature and affect blood flow rates. It is important to determine how changes in blood flow rates affect tumor glycolytic uptake to better understand tumor response to radiation therapy (1). The goal of this study was to use a fluorescent analog of glucose, 2-NBDG, to study the effect of varying flow rates on glucose uptake. A microfluidic device was constructed to flow 2-NBDG through. A murine metastatic breast cancer cell line was then cultured inside this microfluidic channel, and …

Immunomodulation Of Breast Cancer Cells For Whole Tumor Vaccination, Kristina G. Maxwell

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Hematogenous metastasis causes 90% of breast cancer-related deaths.Current therapies include chemotherapy and irradiation following surgery. These therapies are very harmful to the human body and do not elicit an anti-tumor immune response. To create a novel therapeutic, an autologous vaccine increasing the immunogenicity of non immunogenic breast cancer cell lines has been proposed.

To create this vaccine, 4T1 mouse mammary breast cancer cells have been selected as the desired cell line to treat. They are non immunogenic and highly invasive. In order to increase their immunogenicity, first projected, was the addition of cytokines to 4T1 cells to increase the expression …

Crizotinib And Ceritinib Induce Apoptosis And Necrosis In Primary Rat Hepatocytes With Distinct Capacity, Alec T. Salminen

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Drug development makes up a major portion of biomedical engineering research interests. The FDA oversees the introduction, experimentation, and implementation of all drugs before market approval is granted. Even after market approval is granted, the FDA continues to monitor the safety of all drugs. Crizotinib and ceritinib are two anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitors recently approved by the FDA. Both drugs are indicated for treatment of non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) with abnormal ALK gene, and they are approved with a companion diagnostic test that determines ALK abnormality. Clinical trial data suggest that crizotinib and ceritinib can cause liver injury, …

Localized Immunotherapy Delivery Using Injectable In Situ Forming Chitosan Hydrogel, Seth Washispack

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Cytokine-based cancer immunotherapies stimulate a host’s immune system to fight cancer. In particular, interleukin-12 (IL-12), a potent pro-inflammatory cytokine, has demonstrated the ability to eliminate tumors in a number of preclinical models. Toxicities associated with the systemic delivery of IL-12 have precluded its use in the clinic. We are developing a novel chitosan-based hydrogel to maintain high local concentrations of cytokines, such as IL-12, in the tumor while minimizing its systemic dissemination. This hydrogel was found to form spontaneously within ten seconds of mixing two proprietary components. To increase the usefulness of the hydrogel, an efficient mixing and delivery system …

Non-Directional Conjugation Of Fluorescent Antibodies To Gold Nanoparticles For Stem Cell Therapy, Kunal B. Shah

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The objective of this study was to design citrate-coated gold nanoparticles conjugated with FITC-IgG, a fluorescent antibody, and to qualitatively and quantitatively measure the resulting fluorescent emission. Optical properties of the gold nanoparticles were measured at various stages to provide evidence of successful conjugation. The absorbance spectrum of the citrate gold nanoparticles was compared to that of the reaction mixture containing the gold nanoparticles and the FITC-IgG. A noticeable broadening of the absorption peak was observed at 519 nm indicating a surface modification of the gold nanoparticles. Fluorescence data was obtained with a fluorospectrometer and revealed a significant amount of …

Chitosan As An Antiviral, Tayler Pauls

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

There is no broad-based antiviral medication available today; there are specific antivirals, for example, the antiretroviral for HIV. However, these specific antivirals are not available in each country and can be problematic for specific patients. Chitosan is proposed as a possible broad-based antiviral, which has already demonstrated antibacterial properties, antiviral properties in plants, is used for wound healing and as a hydrogel among other medical applications. The methods used are transfection of NIH-3T3 cells with GFP-adenovirus with 0.1%, 0.5%, and 1% chitosan added to virus prior to transfection. Fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry data has validated that the use of …