Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Shape Memory Alloy Capsule Micropump For Drug Delivery Applications, Youssef Mohamed Kotb

Theses and Dissertations

Implantable drug delivery devices have many benefits over traditional drug administration techniques and have attracted a lot of attention in recent years. By delivering the medication directly to the tissue, they enable the use of larger localized concentrations, enhancing the efficacy of the treatment. Passive-release drug delivery systems, one of the various ways to provide medication, are great inventions. However, they cannot dispense the medication on demand since they are nonprogrammable. Therefore, active actuators are more advantageous in delivery applications. Smart material actuators, however, have greatly increased in popularity for manufacturing wearable and implantable micropumps due to their high energy …

Construction And Performance Optimization Of Bioconjugated Nanosensors For Early Detection Of Breast Cancer And Pro-Inflammatory Diseases, Pooja Gaikwad

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In recent years, nanosensors have emerged as a tool with strong potential in medical diagnostics. Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) based optical nanosensors have notably garnered interest due to the unique characteristics of their near-infrared fluorescence emission, including tissue transparency, photostability, and various chiralities with discrete absorption and fluorescence emission bands. Additionally, the optoelectronic properties of SWCNT are sensitive to the surrounding environment, which makes them suitable for in vitro and in vivo biosensing. Single-stranded (ss) DNA-wrapped SWCNTs have been reported as optical nanosensors for cancers and metabolic diseases. Breast cancer and cardiovascular diseases are the most common causes of death …

Sequential Illumination In A Tomographic Microendoscopic Probe For Imaging Tumor Microvasculature, Zachariah Neumeier

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Knowledge of colorectal cancer biology is improving how we approach cancer treatment. Specifically, the tumor microenvironment and abnormal angiogenesis are of particular interest. Optical methods are a prime candidate for research of the tumor microenvironment due to their ability to quantitively assess tissue structure and perfusion in real time. Particularly, the “transport scattering regime” has been identified as a method of obtaining high-resolution images and reflectance spectroscopy data; this light scattering regime has been demonstrated compatible with endoscopic imaging systems. In this study, a proof-of-concept optical imaging system is presented, capable of resolving absorbers within scattering turbid media using a …

Diagnosis Of Melanoma Disease State From Patient Blood Samples Using Photoacoustic Flow Cytometry, Jacob Salvatore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Approximately 1 in 50 Americans develop melanoma in their lifetime. Early detection of melanoma is pivotal to the survival of the patient, with a 99% survival rate for 5 or more years after an early diagnosis. Metastasis, or the spread of cancer, increases the chances of cancerous growth in other parts of the body. In this study, we propose the use of photoacoustic flow cytometry as a diagnostic of patient disease state, by closely monitoring the amount of circulating melanoma cells (CMCs) in a patient’s blood before and after chemotherapy treatments. Using this patient data, we were able to make …

Sensitivity Of Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy To Dose- And Depth-Dependent Changes In Tumor Oxygenation After Radiation Therapy, Daria Semeniak

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Along with chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and surgery, radiotherapy is one of the most common treatments used against cancer. Around 50% of all cancer patients undergo radiation therapy. While for some patients radiotherapy works efficiently and lead to a complete cancer disappearance, for others treatment outcome may be less favorable due to radioresistance processes happening within a tumor on the molecular level. Radioresistance remains a big challenge for modern oncology. The ability to identify radioresistance at the early stage of radiotherapy would help physicians to improve therapy efficiency. At the current moment, despite the rapid progress in cancer understanding and diagnostic modalities, …

A Novel Minimally Invasive Tumour Localization Device, Doran Avivi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of death, by cancer. The usual treatment is surgical resection of tumours. However, patients who are weak or have poor pulmonary function are deemed unfit for surgery. For these patients, a minimally-invasive approach is desired. A major problem associated with minimally-invasive approaches is tumour localization in real time and accurate measurement of tool--tissue forces.

This thesis describes the design, analysis, manufacturing and validation of a minimally-invasive instrument for tumour localization, named Palpatron. The instrument has an end effector that is able to support two previously designed jaws, one containing an ultrasound sensor …

Impedance Sensing Of N2a And Astrocytes As Grounds For A Central Nervous System Cancer Diagnostic Device, Fraser Traves Smith Grove

Master's Theses

This thesis utilizes previously described manufacturing and design techniques for the creation of a PDMS-glass bonded microfluidic device, capable of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). EIS has been used across various fields of research for different diagnostic needs. The major aim of this thesis was to capture cancerous and non-cancerous cells between micron sized electrodes within a microfluidic path, and to complete analysis on the measured impedances recorded from the two differing cell types. Two distinct ranges of impedance frequency were analyzed – the α dispersion range, which quantifies the impedance of the membranes of the cells of interest, and the …

Impedance-Based Detection Of Tissue Using A Multi-Electrode Device, Shane Killian Fleshman

Master's Theses

Melanoma skin cancer is the abnormal growth of the melanocytes – the pigmented cells located in the epidermis. The current gold standard diagnostic technique for determining whether a lesion is cancerous involves subjectively examining suspicious lesions and performing an invasive biopsy to confirm melanoma. This method may neglect some lesions or cause scarring from biopsies that turn out to be benign. Thus, impedance-based detection using a multi-electrode device was investigated as a noninvasive technique to diagnose melanoma skin cancer. The multi-electrode device was designed with 8 equally spaced Ag/AgCl electrodes surrounding one central electrode at a 5 mm radius. The …