Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Selective Enhancement Of Macropinocytosis For The Treatment Of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Raul Iglesias

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past few years, researchers have focused their attention on the development of targeted cancer therapies to minimize the side effects associated with non-targeted treatments such as chemotherapy. Specifically, these approaches have focused on blocking growth factor receptors (GFR) that are overexpressed in cancer cells. In this thesis, we also focus on targeting overexpressed GFR; however, instead of blocking the GFR, our novel approach aims at using them to selectively enhance the endocytotic process of macropinocytosis to deliver peptides that either disrupts the mitochondria or inhibits glycolysis.

Herein, we show the selective enhancement of macropinocytosis by the fusion protein …

Elastin Like Polypeptides As Drug Delivery Vehicles In Regenerative Medicine Applications, Alex Leonard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Elastin like polypeptides (ELPs) are a class of naturally derived biomaterials that are non-immunogenic, genetically encodable, and biocompatible making them ideal for a variety of biomedical applications, ranging from drug delivery to tissue engineering. Also, ELPs undergo temperature-mediated inverse phase transitioning, which allows them to be purified in a relatively simple manner from bacterial expression hosts. Being able to genetically encode ELPs allows for the incorporation of bioactive peptides and functionalization of ELPs. This work utilizes ELPs for regenerative medicine and drug delivery.

The goal of the first study was to synthesize a biologically active epidermal growth factor-ELP (EGF-ELP) fusion …

Age-Related Hearing Loss: Prevention Of Threshold Declines, Cell Loss And Apoptosis In Spiral Ganglion Neurons, Robert D. Frisina, Bo Ding, Xiaoxia Zhu, Joseph P. Walton

Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) -presbycusis - is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease and number one communication disorder of our aged population; and affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Its prevalence is close to that of cardiovascular disease and arthritis, and can be a precursor to dementia. The auditory perceptual dysfunction is well understood, but knowledge of the biological bases of ARHL is still somewhat lacking. Surprisingly, there are no FDA-approved drugs for treatment. Based on our previous studies of human subjects, where we discovered relations between serum aldosterone levels and the severity of ARHL, we treated middle age mice …

Optofluidic Spectroscopy Platform For Detection Of Hemolysis, Edikan Archibong

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the United States alone, hundreds of millions of blood tests are performed annually, and a significant number of those tests are compromised due to hemolysis: e.g., 31% compromised in emergency rooms (inpatient) and 10% at blood banks, clinics, and other outpatient venues. Currently there is no way to reliably detect hemolysis without plasma separation. As a result, significant delays ensue, potentially negatively affecting patient diagnosis and treatment. In addition to in vitro hemolysis, which compromises the quality of blood tests, hemolysis can also occur in vivo. The in vivo occurrence of hemolysis is an indication of life-threatening complications. …

Smartphone Based 3d Printed Colorimeter For Biomedical Applications, Karthik Raj Konnaiyan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Here we present a novel Smartphone-based colorimeter and demonstrate its application to the measurements of glucose and protein concentrations in biological samples. The key innovation of our approach was to combine powerful image processing encoded into a mobile phone application with a low cost 3D printed sample holder that allowed to control lighting conditions and significantly improved sensitivity. Different solutions with protein and glucose concentrations ranging from 0 to 2000 mg/dL were prepared and analyzed using our system. The Smartphone-based colorimeter always correctly classified the corresponding reagent strip pads, what confirms that it can be used as a low cost …

Development Of Polymer Composite Based Enabling Technologies For Lab-On-A-Chip Devices, Vinicio Carias

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents enabling technologies to fabricate thermo-responsive polymer composite based Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC) devices. LOC devices, also known as micro-total-analytical systems (microTAS) or microfluidic devices can amalgamate miniaturized laboratory functions on a single chip. This significant size reduction decreases the amount of required fluid volumes down to nano or pico-liters. The main commercial application of LOC devices is the biomedical fields. However, these devices are anticipated to make a technological revolution similar to the way miniaturization changed computers. In fact, medical and chemical analyses are predicted to shift from room-sized laboratories to hand-held portable devices.

This dissertation is divided into …

Assessing Viscoelastic Properties Of Polydimethylsiloxane (Pdms) Using Loading And Unloading Of The Macroscopic Compression Test, Mustafa Fincan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mechanical properties were measured using custom-built compression test device. PDMS elastic modulus can be varied with the elastomer base to the curing agent ratio, i.e. by changing the cross-linking density. PDMS samples with different crosslink density in terms of their elastic modulus were measured. In this project the PDMS samples with the base/curing agent ratio ranging from 5:1 to 20:1 were tested. The elastic modulus varied with the amount of the crosslinker, and ranged from 0.8 MPa to 4.44 MPa. The compression device was modified by adding digital displacement gauges to measure the lateral strain of the sample, …

Understanding The Role Of Colloidal Particles In Electroporation Mediated Delivery, Alisha Peterson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Electroporation (EP) is a physical non-viral technique used to deliver therapeutic molecules across the cell membrane. During electroporation an external electric field is applied across a cell membrane and it causes pores to form. These pores then allow the surrounding media containing the therapeutics to diffuse across the membrane. This technique has been specifically studied as a promising gene and drug delivery system. Colloidal particles have also proven to be promising for a variety of biological applications including molecular delivery, imaging, and tumor ablation, due to their large surface area and tunable properties. In more recent years researchers have explored …

Impedance Measurements As A Means To Improve The Biological Response Of Gene Electrotransfer, Lina Fajardo Gomez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When an electric field is locally applied to tissues in vivo the uptake of exogenous DNA can be greatly increased. This approach to gene transfer, called electroporation (EP) or gene electro transfer (GET), has potential applications in the treatment of skin disorders, vaccinations, some types of cancer and metabolic diseases. The eect of electric elds on cells and tissues has been studied and related to the uptake of DNA. Tissue impedance changes have been measured as a result of electroporation. The aim of this study is to explore the predictive accuracy of impedance spectroscopy for the success of GET. Mice …

Silicone Elastomer-Based Combinatorial Biomaterial Gradients For High Throughput Screening Of Cell-Substrate Interactions, Greeshma Mohan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biomaterials have evolved over the years from the passive role of mere biocompatibility to an increasingly active role of presenting instructive cues to elicit precise responses at the molecular and cellular levels. Various characteristics common to synthetic biomaterials in vitro and extracellular matrices in vivo, such as immobilized functional or peptide groups, mechanical stiffness, bulk physical properties and topographical features, are key players that regulate cell response. The dynamics in the cell microenvironment and at the cell adhesive interface trigger a web of cell-material and cell-cell information exchanges that have a profound impact in directing the ultimate cell fate …

Fabrication Of Tissue Precursors Induced By Shape-Changing Hydrogels, Olukemi O. Akintewe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scaffold based tissue reconstruction inherently limits regenerative capacity due to inflammatory response and limited cell migration. In contrast, scaffold-free methods promise formation of functional tissues with both reduced adverse host reactions and enhanced integration. Cell-sheet engineering is a well-known bottom-up tissue engineering approach that allows the release of intact cell sheet from a temperature responsive polymer such as poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (pNIPAAm). pNIPAAm is an ideal template for culturing cell sheets because it undergoes a sharp volume-phase transition owing to the hydrophilic and hydrophobic interaction around its lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of 32°C, a temperature close to physiological temperature. Compared to …

Quantification Of Protein Adhesion Strength To Surface Attached Poly (N- Isopropylacrylamide) Networks By Hydrodynamic Detachment Shear Stresses, Gulnur Sanden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stimuli responsive coatings offer a versatile method by which to manipulate interfacial interactions of proteins in a desired way. However, there exists little guidance as to how the structure of a responsive polymer coating influences adsorption of proteins. In this dissertation, the adsorption behavior of immuglobulin G (IgG) on poly (N-isopropylacryamide) (PNIPAAm) hydrogel coatings was investigated as a function of film thickness. PNIPAAm exhibits a hydrophilic to hydrophobic transition above a critical temperature of ~32°C in aqueous solutions. In this research, through the use of quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) it was observed that the adsorption was thickness dependent …

Development Of An Efficient Human Hepatocyte Culture Platform For Assessing Novel Therapeutic Efficacy Against Plasmodium Liver Parasites, Steven Patrick Maher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Malaria is a critical and global public health problem, affecting over 200 million people every year, resulting in over 500,000 deaths. A vaccine is not currently available and only one drug, primaquine, is effective against the dormant stages of Plasmodium vivax. Preclinical assessment of novel therapeutic drugs and vaccines is hampered by the lack of an in vitro liver model for P. falciparum and P. vivax. To provide a stable human hepatocyte-based culture platform for parasite development, we engineered a microfluidic bilayer device capable of both simple and complex culture methods, including perfusion and co-culture, to better understand the requirements …

31p Dynamic Nuclear Polarization Applied To Dimethyl Methyl Phphonate For Functional Imaging And Spectroscopic Studies, Roha Afzal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the recent years, Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) has emerged as a very promising technique for enhancing the sensitivity of the magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging (MRSI). A number of nuclei, namely 13C, 15N, 29Si, 89Y, and 129Xe, have been successfully polarized and a few of them have been employed in the in-vivo studies for functional imaging and metabolism. Hyperpolarized 13C-labeled compounds have wide applications in the metabolic and perfusion studies and can be used for early stage disease diagnosis, response to treatment, prognosis etc. DNP has been demonstrated in the 31P nucleus in nucleotides triphosphates as an application for …

Localized Expansion Of Pedicle Screws For Increased Stability And Safety In The Osteoporotic Spine, Thomas Michael Shea

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When a patient is diagnosed with various spinal injuries, deformities, or advanced degeneration, it is commonly suggested that he/she undergoes surgery for spinal fusion. Most current procedures in spinal fusion restrict mobility in one or multiple levels of the spine so that, over time, new bone will grow between the levels creating a single motionless unit of bone. The bilateral pedicle screw system (BPSS) has long been considered to be the "gold standard" in spinal fusion. However, for patients with osteoporosis, adequate fixation within the bone-screw interface has continuously been difficult to achieve or has come with high risk of …

Biomaterial Testing Methodology For Long-Term In Vivo Applications: Silicon Carbide Corrosion Resistance, Biocompatibility And Hemocompatibility, Maysam Nezafati

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biomedical devices that function in-vivo offer a tremendous promise to improve the quality of life for many who suffer from disease and trauma. The most important consideration for these devices is that they interact with the physiological environment as designed without initiating a deleterious inflammatory response. ISO 10993 outlines the current international guideline for investigating the biocompatibility of such devices. Numerous groups report the use of ISO 10993 as the basis for their experimental evaluation of candidate materials for neuroprosthetics, as well as other biomedical devices, however most of these reports fail to completely comply with the standard. This leads …

Automated Localization And Segmentation Of Pelvic Floor Structures On Mri To Predict Pelvic Organ Prolapse, Sinan Onal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a major health problem that affects women. POP is a herniation of the female pelvic floor organs (bladder, uterus, small bowel, and rectum) into the vagina. This condition can cause significant problems such as urinary and fecal incontinence, bothersome vaginal bulge, incomplete bowel and bladder emptying, and pain/discomfort. POP is normally diagnosed through clinical examination since there are few associated symptoms. However, clinical examination has been found to be inadequate and in disagreement with surgical findings. This makes POP a common but poorly understood condition. Dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the pelvic floor has …

Nanodiamond Based Composite Structures For Biosensing Applications, Pedro Javier Villalba

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the synthesis and application of nanodiamond based materials for electrochemical biosensors. In this research work, nanodiamond particles have been used to prepare doped and undoped nanocrystalline diamond films, and conducting polymer composites for enhanced biosensing. The performance of the synthetized materials towards sensing applications was evaluated against glucose amperometric biosensing. Besides, cholesterol biosensing was attempted to prove the capabilities of the platform as a generic biosensing substrate.

Biosensors have been proved to provide reliable detection and quantification of biological compounds. The detection of biological markers plays a key factor in the diagnosis of many diseases and, even …

Neural Correlates Of Spectral, Temporal And Spectro-Temporal Modulation, Anusha Mohan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Natural sounds are characterized by the distribution of acoustic power over different frequency regions and/or time. This is termed spectral, temporal or spectro-temporal modulation. The auditory system is equipped with banks of filters tuned to different spectral, temporal and spectro-temporal modulation frequencies (SM, TM, STM). The sensitivity of the peripheral system to these modulations can be measured by undertaking a linear systems approach. In addition to understanding the psychophysical sensitivity, studying the neural patterns of their processing is also critical. The current study is an attempt to understand the relationship between the behavioral and neural correlates of spectral, temporal and …

Sic For Advanced Biological Applications, Joseph Register

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Silicon carbide (SiC) has been used for centuries as an industrial abrasive and has been

actively researched since the 1960's as a robust material for power electronic applications.

Despite being the first semiconductor to emit blue light in 1907, it has only recently been

discovered that the material has crucial properties ideal for long-term, implantable biomedical

devices. This is due to the fact that the material offers superior biocompatibility and

hemocompatibility while providing rigid mechanical and chemical stability. In addition, the material

is a wide-bandgap semiconductor that can be used for optoelectronics, light delivery, and optical

sensors, which is the …

Combined Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence-Surface Acoustic Wave (Mef-Saw) Biosensor, Samuel Morrill

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Immunofluorescence assays are capable of both detecting the amount of a protein and the location of the protein within a cell or tissue section. Unfortunately, the traditional technique is not capable of detecting concentrations on the nanoscale. Also, the technique suffers from non-specific attachment, which can cause false-positives, as well as photobleaching when detecting lower concentrations is attempted. There is also a time constraint problem since the technique can take from many hours to a few days in some cases.

In this work, metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF) is used to lower the detection limit and reduce photobleaching. Unfortunately, MEF also increases …

Quantification Of Transhumeral Prosthetic Socket Residual Limb Interface Movement Using Motion Capture And A Slip Detection Sensor, Matthew Wernke

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Current literature focusing on the prosthetic socket is limited by measurement techniques and modeling assumptions, leading to a limited understanding of the forces and motions occurring between the residual limb and prosthesis and how they can be used to influence socket design and fitting. Prosthetic socket fitting and prescription would benefit from an elegant method for comparing socket designs. This dissertation focuses on the development and implementation of a 3D motion capture model and a Slip Detection Sensor to quantify rotations and translations at the prosthetic socket-residual limb interface. The 3D motion capture model defines the residual limb bone position …

Theoretical And Experimental Investigations To Improve The Performance Of Surface Acoustic Wave (Saw) Biosensors, Mandek Richardson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation is to improve the performance of surface acoustic wave (SAW) biosensors for use in point-of-care-testing (POCT) applications. SAW biosensors have the ability to perform fast, accurate detection of an analyte in real time without the use of labels. However, the technology suffers from the inability to differentiate between specific and non-specific binding. Due to this limitation, direct testing of bodily fluids using SAW sensors to accurately determine an analyte's concentration is difficult. In addition, these sensors are challenged by the need to detect small concentrations of a biomarker that are typically required to give a …

Skeletal Muscle Contraction Simulation: A Comparison In Modeling, Jonathan M. Ford

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Computer generated three-dimensional (3-D) models are being used at increasing rates in the fields of entertainment, education, research, and engineering. One of the aspects of interest includes the behavior and function of the musculoskeletal system. One such tool used by engineers is the finite element method (FEM) to simulate the physics behind muscle mechanics. There are several ways to represent 3-D muscle geometry, namely a bulk, a central line of action and a spline model. The purpose of this study is to exmine how these three representations affect the overall outcome of muscle movement. This is examined in a series …

An Acoustic-Based Microfluidic Platform For Active Separation And Mixing, Myeong Chan Jo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Particle separation is of great interest to many biological and biomedical applications. Flow-based methods have been used to sort particles and cells. However, the main challenge with flow based particle separation systems is the need for a sheath flow for successful operation. Existence of the sheath liquid dilutes the analyte, necessitates precise flow control between sample and sheath flow, requires a complicated design to create sheath flow and separation efficiency depends on the sheath liquid composition. In addition, current gold standard active separation techniques are only capable of separation based on particle size; hence, separation cannot be achieved for same-size …

Fabricating And Characterizing Physical Properties Of Electrospun Polypeptide-Based Nanofibers, Dhan Bahadur Khadka

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation has aimed to fabricate polypeptide based biomaterial and characterize physical properties. Electrospinning is used as a tool for the sample fabrication. Project focused on determining the feasibility of electrospinning of certain synthetic polypeptides and certain elastin-like peptides from aqueous feedstocks and to characterize physical properties of polymer aqueous solution, cast film and spun fibers and fiber mats. The research involves peptide design, polymer electrospinning, fibers crosslinking, determining the extent of crosslinking, fibers protease degradation study, fibers stability and self-organization analysis, structure and composition determination by various spectroscopy and microscopy techniques and characterization of mechanical properties of individual suspended …

Structured Materials For Catalytic And Sensing Applications, Selma Hokenek

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The optical and chemical properties of the materials used in catalytic and sensing applications directly determine the characteristics of the resultant catalyst or sensor. It is well known that a catalyst needs to have high activity, selectivity, and stability to be viable in an industrial setting. The hydrogenation activity of palladium catalysts is known to be excellent, but the industrial applications are limited by the cost of obtaining catalyst in amounts large enough to make their use economical. As a result, alloying palladium with a cheaper, more widely available metal while maintaining the high catalytic activity seen in monometallic catalysts …

Vapor-Liquid-Solid(Vls) Grown Silica (Siox) Nanowires As The Interface For Biorecognition Molecules In Biosensors, Eduardo Murphy-Pérez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

SiOx nanowires grown through the VLS mechanism were electrophoretically deposited on top of Au electrodes. GOx was immobilized using APTES and the EDC-NHS chemistry. Cyclic Voltammetry was used as the method to characterize the electrodes through their processing steps, and CV was also used to detect glucose in a PBS based solution. Ferro-Ferri Cyanide couple was used as the mediator.

Quantifying The Ergonomic Impact On Healthcare Workers Using A Needle-Free Injector Device, Humberto Jose Olivero Lara

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Jet injectors are advantageous over needle injectors by eliminating sharps hazards. The Government Accountability Office estimates 29% preventable sharp injuries with an estimated direct cost of more than $500 million out of the CDC's reported incidence of 385,000 needle stick injuries per year among US hospital healthcare workers. Yet the forces required to set and trigger devices using spring mechanisms for medication delivery have not been explored. This laboratory experiment measured forces exerted by healthcare workers (HCWs) using a particular jet injector approved by FDA in 2011.

Objectives: In order to quantify the ergonomic impact on HCWs using a …

Myoglobin Detection On Sic: Immunosensor Development For Myocardial Infarction, Alexandra Oliveros Villalba

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Silicon carbide (SiC) has been around for more than 100 years as an industrial material and has found wide and varied applications because of its unique electrical and thermal properties. In recent years there has been increased attention on SiC as a viable material for biomedical applications. Among these applications are those where SiC is used as a substrate material for biosensors and biotransducers, taking advantage of its surface chemical, tribological and electrical properties.

In this work we have used the proven bio- and hema-compatibility of SiC to develop a viable biorecognition interface using SiC as the substrate material for …