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Full-Text Articles in Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering

In Vitro Bioreactor For Mechanical Control And Characterization Of Tissue Constructs, Samuel Coeyman Dec 2022

In Vitro Bioreactor For Mechanical Control And Characterization Of Tissue Constructs, Samuel Coeyman

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Heart failure (HF) currently affects over 6 million Americans, 50% of whom die within 5 years of their initial diagnosis. A major contributor to the onset of HF is cardiac fibrosis in the myocardium, which arises when fibroblasts (FBs) are activated in response to heightened mechanical stress from overload conditions like hypertension. Activated FBs remodel the extracellular matrix (ECM) and secrete ECM proteins including collagen. FB remodeling has been studied in the past by applying forces and/or deformations to three-dimensional, cell-seeded gels and tissue constructs in vitro. Unfortunately, previous stretching platforms have traditionally not enabled mechanical property assessment to be …


Development Of A Tissue Engineered Cardiac Patch, Howard Herbert Dec 2022

Development Of A Tissue Engineered Cardiac Patch, Howard Herbert

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Cardiovascular Disease(CVD) is the leading cause of mortality in the developed world. CVD is most commonly manifested as atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries leading to Myocardial Infarction(MI). After MI, fibrosis of the ventricular wall leads to heart failure(HF), a pandemic affecting 26 million people globally. While therapies are continuously developed to combat HF, the treatment of choice, whole heart transplant, is limited by the availability of donor hearts. It is clear that there is a need to develop a long-term solution to combat HF and its enormous economic burden. Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine holds promise as a possible solution …


Effects Of Different Microenvironmental Conditions On The Growth And Differentiation Of Dental Pulp Stem Cells, Matthew Cupelli May 2012

Effects Of Different Microenvironmental Conditions On The Growth And Differentiation Of Dental Pulp Stem Cells, Matthew Cupelli

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Human teeth are very complex structures that are susceptible to many different pathologies due to poor dental health. Currently, there are many restorative methods to reestablish some of the function that teeth have, but the materials used in these methods all have drawbacks and cannot fully mimic the native teeth. Tissue engineering research groups have begun to explore regenerating bone or dental tissue using mesenchymal stem cells derived from the bone marrow. However, our group focuses on regenerating dental tissues using multipotent stem cells from dental pulp.
Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) have shown similarities to bone marrow stem cells …


Dynamic Endothelialization Of Aortic Heart Valve Scaffolds, Richard Pascal Jan 2012

Dynamic Endothelialization Of Aortic Heart Valve Scaffolds, Richard Pascal

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Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer worldwide affecting both the heart and blood vessels. Valvular heart disease can arise from calcification, and structural deterioration resulting in a stenotic or regurgitant valve incapable of proper function. With approximately 275,000 valve replacements performed annually worldwide, the need for replacement heart valves is well established. Currently, treatment of valvular heart disease is limited to two options (mechanical and bioprosthetic). Both replacement valves have their own drawbacks, which have driven research in the bioengineering field to focus on the development of a tissue engineered heart valve (TEHV) capable of growth and self-repair.
A …


Cell-Mediated Elastic Matrix Regeneration Toward Regression Of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms, Carmen Gacchina Jun 2010

Cell-Mediated Elastic Matrix Regeneration Toward Regression Of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms, Carmen Gacchina

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Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) are typically fusiform (symmetric) dilations of the aortic wall most commonly arising below the renal arteries. The progression is typically associated with an activated smooth muscle cell (SMC) phenotype, diminished density of mature medial elastic fibers, and an elevated presence of matrix-degrading enzymes (e.g., matrix-metalloproteases; MMPs), which may ultimately lead to vessel rupture. Currently, no surgical or non-surgical methods are available to regress AAAs via regeneration of new elastin matrices to regain normal vessel contour, particularly due to the inherently poor elastin synthesis by adult vascular cells and absence of methods to stimulate the same. Previously, …


The Development Of A Mesenchymal Stem Cell Based Biphasic Osteochondral Tissue Engineered Construct, Scott Maxson Jan 2010

The Development Of A Mesenchymal Stem Cell Based Biphasic Osteochondral Tissue Engineered Construct, Scott Maxson

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The ability of human articular cartilage to respond to injury is poor. Once cartilage damage has occurred, an irreversible degenerative process can occur and will often lead to osteoarthritis (OA). An estimated 26.9 million of U.S. adults are affected by OA. Osteochondral grafting is currently used to treat OA and osteochondral defects; however, complications can develop at the donor site and defect area. Osteochondral tissue engineering provides a potential treatment option and alternative to osteochondral grafting. The long term goal of this work is to develop a tissue engineered mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) based osteochondral construct to repair cartilage damage. …


A Tissue Engineering Approach To Anterior Cruciate Ligament, Kristofer Sinclair May 2009

A Tissue Engineering Approach To Anterior Cruciate Ligament, Kristofer Sinclair

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Ruptures of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) are the most frequent of injuries to the knee due to its role in preventing anterior translation of the tibia. It is estimated that as many as 200,000 Americans per year will suffer from a ruptured ACL, resulting in management costs on the order of 5 billion dollars. Without treatment these patients are unable to return to normal activity, as a consequence of the joint instability found within the ACL deficient knee.
Over the last thirty years, a variety of non-degradable, synthetic fibers have been evaluated for their use in ACL reconstruction; however, …


Cues For Cellular Assembly Of Vascular Elastin Networks, Chandrasekhar Kothapalli Aug 2008

Cues For Cellular Assembly Of Vascular Elastin Networks, Chandrasekhar Kothapalli

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Elastin, a structural protein distributed in the extracellular matrix of vascular tissues is critical to the maintenance of vascular mechanics, besides regulation of cell-signaling pathways involved in injury response and morphogenesis. Thus, congenital absence or disease-mediated degradation of vascular elastin and its malformation within native vessels due to innately poor elastin synthesis by adult vascular cells compromise vascular homeostasis. Current elastin regenerative strategies using tissue engineering principles are limited by the progressive destabilization of tropoelastin mRNA expression in adult vascular cells and the unavailability of scaffolds that can provide cellular cues necessary to up-regulate elastin synthesis and regenerate faithful mimics …


An In Vitro Evaluation Of Dbm As A Tissue Engineered Scaffold, Stephanie Arnold Aug 2007

An In Vitro Evaluation Of Dbm As A Tissue Engineered Scaffold, Stephanie Arnold

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Over 500,000 bone graft procedures are performed each year in the United States. Bone grafting involves a surgical procedure to replace missing bone. Problems can arise with donor and defect sites during and after surgery, sometimes resulting in poor clinical results. The development and optimization of bone graft substitutes via a tissue engineering approach could markedly improve bone graft surgical outcome. Demineralized bone matrix (DBM), a bone graft material, is currently used in a clinical setting but has variable success rates.
The primary objective of the research presented in this thesis was to assess the cellular activity of D1 mouse …