Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Production And Biocompatibility Of Spider Silk Proteins In Goat Milk, Richard E. Decker Jr

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Due to its strength, flexibility, and biocompatibility, spider silk is a highly appealing material for applications in the medical field. Unfortunately, natural spider silk is difficult to obtain in large quantities because spiders are territorial and cannibalistic, making them impractical to farm. Synthetic spider silk proteins produced by transgenic hosts such as bacteria and goats have made it possible to obtain the quantities of spider silk needed to study it more fully and to investigate its potential uses. The spider silk proteins produced in our laboratory do not have an optimal purification method to remove all of the non-biocompatible contaminants …

Identification And Engineering Of Nonribosomal Peptide Biosynthetic Systems, Fuchao Xu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research focuses on the understanding and engineering of nonribosomal peptide biosynthetic pathways in Streptomyces coelicolor CH999, Escherichia coli BAP1 and Saccharomyces cerevisiae BJ5464-NpgA. The biosynthetic systems of indigoidine from bacteria and beauvericin/bassianolide from fungi were studied in this research. The production of these valuble products was significantly increased by enhancing their synthetic pathway with metabolic engineering approaches.

Indigoidine is a bacterial natural product with antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Its bright blue color resembles the industrial dye indigo, thus representing a new natural blue dye that may find uses in industry. Indigo is a dark blue crystalline powder and has …

Development And Characterization Of Aqueous-Based Recombinant Spider Silk Protein Biomaterials With Investigations Into Potential Applications, Thomas I. Harris

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Spider silks are incredible natural materials that possess desirable combinations of strength, elasticity, weight, and robustness. Other properties such as biocompatibility and biodegradability further increase the worth of these materials. The possibility of farming spiders is impractical due to spiders’ natural behaviors. Modern biotechnologies have allowed for recombinant spider silk proteins (rSSps) to be produced without the use of spiders. However, the features responsible for spider silks impressive properties can cause difficulties with producing silk materials. A recently developed water-based and biomimetic solvation method has provided a solution to such difficulties and has also led to novel silk biomaterials. Most …

Biomass And Phycocyanin From Oil And Natural Gas Extraction Produced Water Utilizing A Cyanobacteria Dominated Rotating Algal Biofilm Reactor (Rabr), Jonathan L. Wood

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The production of cyanobacterial biofilm biomass and phycocyanin from Rotating Algal Biofilm Reactors utilizing undiluted produced water from oil and natural gas extraction as a culture medium was investigated in this study. Produced water is the largest waste stream generated by the oil and natural gas industries and represents a large volume of non-potable water that may be available for algae culture with minimal impact on freshwater resources. Combining the use of produced wastewater as culture medium with the production of high value algal pigments, such as phycocyanin, may increase the economic viability of algae culture and wastewater purification. High …

Development And Optimization Of A Produced Water, Biofilm Based Microalgae Cultivation System For Biocrude Conversion With Hydrothermal Liquefaction, Benjamin L. Peterson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Extraction of oil and gas in Utah’s Uintah Basin results in large quantities of wastewater, or produced water, with nutrients and residual organic chemical that represent a significant resource for producing energy-related and value-added products. Produced water was obtained as a biomass producing nutrient source from industries operating in Utah’s Uintah Basin. Within the Uintah Basin (defined as Uintah and Duchesne Counties within Utah) approximately 93 million barrels of water were produced in 2013 while only 11% of the water was disposed of through evaporation, with the national average at 2%. The rest is reinjected into the subsurface.

The goal …

Novel Methods To Produce Large Recombinant Spider Silk Proteins Via Polymerization, Nathan L. Hebert

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Spider silk has long been a subject of scientific research due to its remarkable mechanical properties. Until recently, there has been no way to effectively obtain spider silk except by harvesting it from individual spiders. With advances in technology, the genes that code for the individual spider silk proteins have been isolated and genetically engineered into other hosts to produce recombinant spider silk proteins (rSSp) of varying sizes, Larger rSSp have correspondingly greater mechanical properties in any resulting materials. Using current production methods, larger rSSp cannot be produced in commercially viable quantities while simultaneously being economically viable. The current production …

Silane Modulation Of Protein Conformation And Self-Assembly, Abul Bashar Mohammad Giasuddin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research focused on development of nanoparticle- based therapeutics against amyloid fibrils. Amyloid fibrils are associated with various diseases such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, mad cow disease, Alzheimer’s, and cataracts. Amyloid fibrils develop when proteins change their shape from a native form to a pathogenic “misfolded” form. The misfolded proteins have the ability to recruit more native proteins into the pathogenic forms, which self-assemble into amyloid fibrils that are hallmarks of the various protein-misfolding diseases listed above. Amyloid fibrils are highly resistant to degradation, which may contribute to the symptoms of amyloid diseases. Synthetic drugs, natural compounds, and antibodies are widely …

The Use Of Microfluidics And Dielectrophoresis For Separation, Concentration, And Identification Of Bacteria, Cynthia Hanson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Typical bacterial analysis involves culturing and visualizing colonies on an array of agar plates. The growth patterns and colors among the array are used to identify the bacteria. For fast growing bacteria such as Escherichia coli, analysis will take one to two days. However, slow growing bacteria such as mycobacteria can take weeks to identify. In addition, there are some species of bacteria that are viable but nonculturable. This lengthy analysis time is unacceptable for life-threatening infections and emergency situations. It is clear that to decrease the analysis of the bacteria, the culturing and growth steps must be avoided. …

Investigations Of Polyhydroxyalkanoate Secretion And Production Using Sustainable Carbon Sources, Chad L. Nielsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a type of biologically-produced plastic known for their biocompatibility and biodegradability. They have the potential to replace petroleum-based plastics as an environmentally-friendly alternative. This is beneficial because the release of plastics into environments such as the ocean and the buildup of plastics in landfills are major concerns facing society today. Currently, however, PHAs are significantly more expensive than their petroleum-based counterparts. This is largely due to the cost of carbon sources and of extracting the bioplastics from bacteria. The goal of these studies was to examine replacing traditional carbon sources used in PHA production like sugar and …

Designing A Synthetic Spider Silk-Based Coating For Urinary Catheters To Reduce The Risk Of Cautis, Alexander Cook

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Urinary and Intravenous (IV) catheters are two of the most commonly used medical devices for administering vital drugs and obtaining diagnostic samples from patients. Unfortunately, hospital acquired infections (HAIs) occur at alarming rates due to catheter usage. The aim of this project was to design a urinary catheter that would decrease the occurrence of these infections with a catheter coating that utilizes the antimicrobial properties of synthetic spider silk in combination with the antiseptic chlorhexidine. This synthetic spider silk catheter will introduce a novel approach to catheterization in the medical industry.

Designing A Synthetic Spider Silk Based Coating For Urinary Catheters To Reduce The Risk Of Cautis, Tess Marie Armbrust

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTis) are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with life-threatening conditions. Foley catheters are the most common catheter used when a patient requires hospitalization but can become burdened with microbes which lead to CAUTis, the most common source of hospital acquired infection (HAI). The attached bacteria can form biofilms on the catheter which are difficult to treat using oral antibiotics and can lead to chronic infections. Synthetic spider silk as a catheter coating shows great promise because of demonstrated strength, biocompatibility, and antimicrobial properties. In addition, the antiseptic chlorhexidine can enhance the …