Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Synthesis And Characterization Of Biodegradable Poly(Vinyl Esters) With Hdac Inhibitory Activity, Kyle Lawrence Horton

Wayne State University Theses

HDAC inhibitors are known to have anti-inflammatory properties. HDAC inhibitors are used in combination with Oct4 to generate induced pluripotent stem cells. I hypothesized that polyesters based on simple aliphatic HDAC inhibitors like valproic acid (VPA) and phenylbutyric acid (PBA) can serve as alternatives to existing polyester biomaterials with improved anti-inflammatory properties and as scaffolds for generation of iPSCs when used in combination with layer-by-layer thin films delivering reprogramming transcription factors. Vinyl ester of phenylbutyric acid (VEPA) and vinyl ester of valproic acid (VEVA) were synthesized from their carboxylic acid precursors using an iridium complex catalyst at yields as high …

Investigation Of Physiochemical Properties Of A Novel Gradient Calcium Polyphosphate Bone Scaffold And Its Influence On Cellular Behavior, Liang Chen

Wayne State University Theses

A good designed bone scaffold is crucial to bone tissue engineering. We have developed and characterized a novel gradient bone scaffold by combination of Calcium Polyphosphate (CPP) with different size of porogen (stearic acids). Compared with homogenous scaffold, the gradient bone scaffold with different pore size and porosity can better mimic natural bone structure. Directly perfusion flow bioreactor was developed. This 3D dynamic cell culture was better mimic the physiological condition for cell growth. It was beneficial to nutrition and oxygen delivery throughout the whole scaffold and was able to form shear stress. We wanted to investigate the effect of …

How Atomic Level Interactions Drive Membrane Fusion: Insights From Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Navendu Bhatnagar

Wayne State University Dissertations

This project is focused on identifying the role of key players in the membrane fusion process at the atomic level with the use of molecular dynamics simulations. Membrane fusion of apposed bilayers is one of the most fundamental and frequently occurring biological phenomena in living organisms. It is an essential step in several cellular processes such as neuronal exocytosis, sperm fusion with oocytes and intracellular fusion of organelles to name a few. Membrane fusion is a frequent process in a living organism but is still not fully understood at the atomic level in terms of the role of various factors …

Visual Exploration And Information Analytics Of High-Dimensional Medical Images, Darshan Pai

Wayne State University Dissertations

Data visualization has transformed how we analyze increasingly large and complex data sets. Advanced visual tools logically represent data in a way that communicates the most important information inherent within it and culminate the analysis with an insightful conclusion. Automated analysis disciplines - such as data mining, machine learning, and statistics - have traditionally been the most dominant fields for data analysis. It has been complemented with a near-ubiquitous adoption of specialized hardware and software environments that handle the storage, retrieval, and pre- and postprocessing of digital data. The addition of interactive visualization tools allows an active human participant in …

The Role Of Tissue Sound Speed As A Surrogate Marker Of Breast Density, Mark Sak

Wayne State University Dissertations

Breast density is one of the strongest predictors of breast cancer risk as women with the densest breasts have a three- to five-fold increase in risk compared to women with the least dense breasts. Breast density is currently measured by using mammography, the current gold standard for breast imaging. There are many shortcomings to using mammography to measure breast density, including the use of ionizing radiation. Ultrasound tomography (UST) does not use ionizing radiation and can create tomographic breast sound speed images. These sound speed images are useful because breast density is proportional to sound speed. The purpose of this …

Use Of Focused Ultrasound For Transcranial Sonothrombolysis, Golnaz Ahadi

Wayne State University Dissertations

Worldwide, stroke is the second most common cause of death. Ischemic stroke remains accountable for the majority of the 20 million devastating stroke events occurring globally each year. Use of transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS) for sonothrombolysis is a new research field for ischemic stroke treatment. If shown to be effective, FUS sonothrombolysis could become a widely available treatment option for the majority of the stroke sufferers that do not qualify or do not have access to current thrombolytic treatment options, such as tPA or neurointerventional methods.

The current study was an in vitro transcranial FUS headsystem investigation for the potential …

Compressed Sensing And Joint Acquisition Techniques In Mri, Rouhollah Hamtaei

Wayne State University Theses

The relatively long scan times in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) limits some clinical applications and the ability to collect more information in a reasonable period of time. Practically, 3D imaging requires longer acquisitions which can lead to a reduction in image quality due to motion artifacts, patient discomfort, increased costs to the healthcare system and loss of profit to the imaging center. The emphasis in reducing scan time has been to a large degree through using limited k-space data acquisition and special reconstruction techniques. Among these approaches are data extrapolation methods such as "constrained reconstruction" techniques, data interpolation methods such …

Imaging Iron Content In Patients With Multiple Sclerosis Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Charbel Abdo Habib

Wayne State University Dissertations

The importance of iron in maintaining normal physiological processes in the human body has been well emphasized in the literature. However, "when iron behaves badly", its abnormal presence might lead to a spectrum of pathologies depending on what function has been altered. In the brain, for instance, abnormal iron content is thought to be associated with neurodegenerative diseases. In this dissertation, we study iron involvement in one of the most debilitating neurological diseases, multiple sclerosis (MS), using in vivo magnetic resonance imaging. We first test the sensitivity and specificity of the MR method used, known as susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) …

Induced Damping And Its Relationship To Beneficial Energy Harvesting In Dielectric Elastomers With Application To Walking, Heather L. Lai

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation presents a novel, interdisciplinary research which addresses the potential of applying soft polymeric materials to strategically harvest biomechanical energy in a beneficial manner for use as a viable, low power source for on-board electronics. Of particular interest are electroactive polymers (EAP), which unlike other types of electromechanical smart materials such as piezoelectric ceramics, which are often brittle, have low elastic modulus and can exhibit large strains without substantial stress generations. One type of EAP, the dielectric elastomer (DE), which utilizes electrostatic forces built up across the dielectric polymer to convert between electrical and mechanical energy, is employed in …

Cervical Spine Tolerance And Response In Compressive Loading Modes Including Combined Compression And Lateral Bending, Daniel Toomey

Wayne State University Dissertations

Injuries in motor vehicle accidents continue to be a serious and costly societal problem. Automotive safety researchers have observed noticeable lateral bending of the anthropomorphic test device (ATD) neck prior to or in conjunction with head impact with the vehicle roof in rollover crash tests. Since there is scant data available about the effects of lateral bending on overall compressive tolerance of the human cervical spine, it is unknown if the presence of lateral bending is important to consider during impacts with the apex of the head. Compressive injury tolerance has historically been reported by identifying the axial force at …