Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

The Electrical Properties Of Human Tissue For The Diagnosis And Treatment Of Melanoma Skin Cancer, Glenn Cameron Stante

Master's Theses

This thesis discusses the research, experimental methods, and data gathered for the investigation of a novel method for the diagnosis of melanoma skin cancer. First, a background about human skin tissue is presented. Then, a detailed description of melanoma along with current diagnosis techniques and treatment options are presented. In the experimental methods, the electrical properties of several types of tissue were analyzed, the purpose of which was to discover if a tissue type can be distinguished by its electrical properties alone. This would allow for the diagnosis of melanoma to be done by examining the electrical properties of the …

Regression Analysis Of Fracture Toughness For Secondary Osteons Located In Human Cortical Bone, Chase A. Fetzer

Master's Theses

An experiment was carried out in order to locate and quantify osteon types within a sample of cortical bone taken from a human tibia. This was done using a microscope-camera assembly and the BioQuant computer software. The results of this were correlated with a previous experiment’s results on fracture toughness so that an analysis could be run on the data in order to determine the factors that most affect the value of fracture toughness of this cortical bone. Results were examined closely and the analysis repeated until the author was satisfied that the best possible model for fracture toughness had …

Assessment Of Electrospinning As An In-House Fabrication Technique For Blood Vessel Mimic Cellular Scaffolding, Colby M. James

Master's Theses

Intravascular devices, such as stents, must be rigorously tested before they can be approved by the FDA. This includes bench top in vitro testing to determine biocompatibility, and animal model testing to ensure safety and efficacy. As an intermediate step, a blood vessel mimic (BVM) testing method has been developed that mimics the three dimensional structure of blood vessels using a perfusion bioreactor system, human derived endothelial cells, and a biocompatible polymer scaffold used to support growth of the blood vessel cells. The focus of this thesis was to find an in-house fabrication method capable of making cellular scaffolding for …

Preparation And Characterization Of Electrospun Poly(D, L-Lactide-Co-Glycolide) Scaffolds For Vascular Tissue Engineering And The Advancement Of An In Vitro Blood Vessel Mimic, Tiffany Richelle Pena

Master's Theses

PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ELECTROSPUN POLY(D,L-LACTIDE-CO-GLYCOLIDE) SCAFFFOLDS FOR VASCULAR TISSUE ENGINEERING AND THE ADVANCEMENT OF AN IN VITRO BLOOD VESSEL MIMIC

Tiffany Richelle Peña

Currently, an estimated 1 in every 3 adult Americans are affected by one or more cardiovascular complications. The most common complication is coronary artery disease, specifically atherosclerosis. Outcomes of balloon angioplasty treatments have been significantly improved with the addition of drug eluting stents to the process. Although both bare metal and drug eluting stents have greatly increased the effectiveness of angioplasty and decreased the occurrence of restenosis, several complications still exist. For this reason, the stent …

Development Of An In-Vitro Tissue Engineered Blood Vessel Mimic Using Human Large Vessel Cell Sources, Dimitri E. Delagrammaticas

Master's Theses

Tissue engineering is an emerging field that offers novel and unmatched potential medical therapies and treatments. While the vast aim of tissue engineering endeavors is to provide clinically implantable constructs, secondary applications have been developed to utilize tissue-engineered constructs for in-vitro evaluation of devices and therapies. Specifically, in-vitro blood vessel mimics (BVM) have been developed to create a bench-top blood vessel model using human cells that can be used to test and evaluate vascular disease treatments and intravascular devices. Previous BVM work has used fat derived human microvascular endothelial cells (EC) sodded on an ePTFE scaffold. To create a more …

Nano-Mechanics Of Cartilage Glycosaminoglycans Using Molecular Dynamics Methods, Kevin Neil Hendrickson

Master's Theses

Articular Cartilage (AC) is the main load carrying material in synovial joints {Hamerman, 1962} and degeneration of AC can cause pain in the form of arthritis. Current work is centered on the method of replacing damaged cartilage inside the body (in vivo) with tissue engineered outside the body (ex vivo) {Temenoff, 2000}. In order to engineer tissue ex vivo similar to the native tissue in structure and function there must be a comprehensive understanding of the mechanical properties of AC. This work focuses on the study of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), a molecule known to be primarily responsible for the compressive stiffness …