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Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering

Strategies For Improving Oxygen Transport And Mechanical Strength In Alginate-Based Hydrogels, Joseph C. White Apr 2014

Strategies For Improving Oxygen Transport And Mechanical Strength In Alginate-Based Hydrogels, Joseph C. White

Doctoral Dissertations

Hydrogels have attracted significant interest over the past several decades due to their outstanding versatility as biomaterials. Alginate-based hydrogels are among the most popular studied due to their low cost, biocompatibility, and tunable physical properties. However, as with all hydrogels, persistent oxygen solubility and poor mechanical strength limits their utility for creating macroscopic devices for biomedical use. This thesis presents two strategies for improving oxygen transport and mechanical properties of alginate-based hydrogel. The former involves incorporating perfluorocarbons, hydrophobic compounds with very high oxygen solubility, into the formulation. The perfluorocarbons are stabilized by nonionic surfactants, Pluronics®, and the emulsion is entrapped …


Nanoengineered Templates For Controlled Delivery Of Bioactive Compounds, Nalinkanth Ghone Veerabadran Jul 2008

Nanoengineered Templates For Controlled Delivery Of Bioactive Compounds, Nalinkanth Ghone Veerabadran

Doctoral Dissertations

The significance of any drugs, therapeutic proteins, or any bioactive compounds, is based not only on their effects on diseases but also on how specifically, how readily, how controllable and how prolonged their effects on the disease without having any side effects. Thus the techniques involved in the drug encapsulation and its controlled release for a longer duration of time form one of the important processes of drug reformulation. In recent years nanoparticles have created overwhelming attention for delivering drugs by nanoencapsulation. The smaller size of nanoparticles has longer circulation time and higher cellular uptake when compared with larger size …


Application Of Self -Assembled Ultrathin Film Coatings To Stabilize Enzyme Encapsulation And Activity In Alginate Microspheres, Rohit Srivastava Apr 2005

Application Of Self -Assembled Ultrathin Film Coatings To Stabilize Enzyme Encapsulation And Activity In Alginate Microspheres, Rohit Srivastava

Doctoral Dissertations

Alginate-based hydrogels have been used for the encapsulation of a variety of materials, including enzymes, proteins, and cells for a wide range of applications from drug delivery to biosensors and bioreactors. However, due to the high porosity of the matrix, it has been increasingly difficult to retain macromolecules inside the alginate matrix, leading to loss in functionality over time. In an effort to improve the stability for long-term biosensor use, this work investigated layer-by-layer self-assembly as a potential technique to provide a diffusion barrier to an encapsulated macromolecule. Alginate microspheres (∼2–50μm radius) were fabricated using an emulsification technique, and were …