Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Regenerative Medicine For Tendon/Ligament Injuries: De Novo Equine Tendon/Ligament Neotissue Generation And Application, Takashi Taguchi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Tendon and ligament injuries are debilitating conditions across species. Poor regenerative capacities of these tissues limit restoration of original functions. The first study evaluated the effect of cellular administration on tendon/ligament injuries in horses using meta-analysis. The cellular administration was effective in restoring ultrasonographic echogenicity and increasing vascularity during early phase of healing. Additionally, it improved microstructural organization of healed tissue in terms of cellularity and fiber alignment. However, the study did not support its use for increasing rate of return to performance, expression/deposition of tendon-specific genes/proteins, or mechanical properties.

The findings led to the second study that engineered implantable …

Incorporation Of Lignin In Natural And Synthetic Biomaterials To Alter Mechanical And Biochemical Properties For Enhanced Wound Healing, Jorge Alfonso Belgodere

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

It is estimated that chronic, non-healing wounds affect more than 6.5 million Americans annually, with an estimated healthcare cost beyond $14 billion. Here, we attempted to create composites of natural (collagen type I or gelatin-methacrylate) or synthetic (poly(ethylene glycol) polymers incorporating a natural plant component, lignin, to combat the costs and limitations current wound healing methods face. Three-dimensional matrices of collagen type I (Col I) are widely used in tissue engineering applications for its abundance in many tissues, bioactivity with many cell types, and excellent biocompatibility. Inspired by the structural role of lignin in plant tissue, we found that sodium …

Direct Quantification Of Deubiquitinating Enzyme Activity In Single Intact Cells, Nora Safabakhsh

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Challenges in drug efficacy occur during the treatment of most types of cancer due to the heterogeneity of the tumor microenvironment. This has led to the development of personalized medicine. Due to the clinical success of the proteasome inhibitors Bortezomib and Carfilzomib in treatment of multiple myeloma, interest has shifted towards molecularly-targeted chemotherapeutics for ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS). Deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) are an essential part of this pathway which have been found to promote Bortezomib resistance in multiple myeloma patients. Unfortunately, there is a lack of specific, high throughput biochemical assays to characterize DUB activity in patient samples before and after …