Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Mutagenesis Of Human Alpha-Galactosidase A For The Treatment Of Fabry Disease, Erin Stokes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Fabry disease is an X-linked lysosomal storage disorder caused by the deficiency of the enzyme, α-galactosidase A, which results in the accumulation of the lipid substrate. This accumulation results in obstruction of blood flow in patients and early demise at approximately 40-60 years of age. There is currently only one FDA approved treatment (Fabrazyme) classified as an enzyme replacement therapy. However, approximately 88% of patients experience a severe immune response that, rarely, can be fatal and is a huge cost burden at average $250,000 a year per patient. The structure of α-galactosidase A has been previously determined to be a …

Multi-Scale Assessment Of Bone Mechanics And The Mineral Phase Of Intramuscular Bone Of Atlantic Herring Fish, Svetlana Zeveleva

Dissertations and Theses

Bone tissue is a complex composite structure made up of a soft organic phase consisting of collagen I and non-collagenous proteins, and a hard inorganic phase consisting of mineral nanoplatelets. Given it’s compositional properties, bone is a unique stiff, tough, and strong biomaterial, making it exceptionally difficult to synthesize ex vivo. While the complete hierarchical structure may change with age and population, the basic building block components of mineralized collagen fibrils, are preserved. This study uses a model of intramuscular bone of the Atlantic herring fish, which present a simple structure, and no process of remodeling.

A multi-scale approach …

Automatic Optimum Atlas Selection For Multi-Atlas Image Segmentation Using Joint Label Fusion, Kofi Agyeman

Dissertations and Theses

Multi-atlas image segmentation using label fusion is one of the most accurate state of the art image segmentation techniques available for biomedical imaging applications. Motivated to achieve higher image segmentation accuracy, reduce computational costs and a continuously increasing atlas data size, a robust framework for optimum selection of atlases for label fusion is vital. Although believed not to be critical for weighted label fusion techniques by some works (Sabuncu, M. R. et al., 2010, [1]), others have shown that appropriate atlas selection has several merits and can improve multi-atlas image segmentation accuracy (Aljabar et al., 2009, [2], Van de Velde …

Influence Of Fibroblasts On Metastatic Cancer Cell Drug Resistance In A 3d Microfluidic Cell Array, Elizabeth C. Benoy

Dissertations and Theses

Modeling an accurate depiction of the tumor microenvironment, (TME), is essential to observe the effect external factors might have on the tumor in vivo. In cancer therapy specifically, the outcomes of clinical treatments are heavily dependent on drug testing methods despite the cytotoxic effects these methods might have on the patient. Our lab has previously developed a three layered microfluidic cell array (3D μFCA) to reconstruct the relevantly spatial configuration of tumor and microvasculature found in vivo in order to develop a more efficient tool of high throughput drug discovery and screening. In this study, we optimized this device to …

Design Development And Performance Study Of A Novel Assistive Device For Mobility Of Toddlers And Children With Visual Impairments, Joowon Jun

Dissertations and Theses

Being able to see allows mankind tremendous access to learn about the world, and because so much learning comes visually, children with visual impairments are delayed in developing range of skills: learning own languages, doing activities, socializing with peers, and etc. While children with vision can do virtually all the activities and tasks for granted, children with visual impairment require different types of tools or materials to do same tasks most of time. Amongst all the disadvantages that children with visual impairment have, one of the most critical disadvantageous area that visual impairment brings to toddler is learning to walk. …