Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

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

All Dissertations

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

All Dissertations

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 …

Fumarate-Based Polymers: Oligo(Poly(Ethylene Glycol) Fumarate) And Poly(Butylene Fumarate) For Tissue Engineering Heart Valve And Bone Tissue, Christian T. Denny

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Tissue engineering is an emerging field that came from the fields of medicine, materials science, and engineering. The foundation of tissue engineering uses a paradigm that incorporates cells, biomaterials, and exogenous factors to create living tissues for medical, pharmaceutical, and research purposes. Within the last 100 years, biomaterials have been developed to solve many medical and research problems. As biomaterials have developed throughout the years new materials have been developed to have specific properties appropriate for medical applications. Fumarate is a naturally derived molecule in the body and has been found useful for developing polyesters that can be crosslinked into …

Controlled Codelivery Of Mir-26a And Antagomir-133a With Osteoconductive Scaffolds To Promote Healing Of Large Bone Defects, Cole J. Ferreira

Masters Theses

Often caused by trauma or tumor removal, large bone defects frequently result in delayed or non-union. The current gold standard for treatment is autograft. However, due to limitations, such as the size and location of the defect, these cannot always be utilized. A common alternative to autograft is the use of BMP-2 with a collagen scaffold, however, this treatment is limited by numerous side effects. In recent years, genetic materials such as microRNAs (miRNAs) have offered possible alternative therapies. MiRNAs are small non-coding RNA molecules that generally range from 20-24 nucleotides, serve as repressors of gene expression, and are involved …

Bone And Cartilage Compression Simulator, Karoline M. Wucherer, Benjamin A. Parmentier, Thomasina E. Hinkle

Biomedical Engineering

A device was developed that delivers mechanical loads to bone and soft tissue samples under physiological conditions to aid in the research of tissue engineering bone and cartilage. To begin the design process, a Network Diagram and Gantt Chart were produced to create a general timeline for the project to follow. This allowed us to measure our progress and determine what effects (if any) delays could have on our project.

Towards The Systematic Evaluation Of Variable Modes Of Mechanical Conditioning On The Compositional, Microstructural And Mechanical Properties Of Engineered Tissue Vascular Grafts., Sarah Saunders

Theses and Dissertations

Coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) remains one of the most common cardiac surgical procedures performed worldwide, frequently involving multiple bypasses, and commonly employing the patient’s internal mammary artery, radial artery, or saphenous vein. CABG is often not possible because native vessels were already employed in previous interventions or are diseased themselves. Synthetic vascular grafts are currently integral tools of vascular surgery and have had relative success in large-caliber applications providing substantial benefit to aortic or iliac grafting; however, small diameter (< 6 mm) arterial grafts have not yet translated into clinical effectiveness due to thrombosis and anastomotic intimal hyperplasia. ETVGs present an exciting potential alternative in vascular grafting by offering a blood vessel substitute that could exhibit all the functional characteristics of native vasculature. In addition to relieving supply limitations associated with coronary artery bypass surgery ETVGs are especially ideal for pediatric patients with congenital heart disease who require grafts that grow as they do, eliminating the need for reoccurring invasive surgeries.

Though the role of biomechanics in regulating cellular behavior promoting non-thrombogenicity, vasoactivity, and ECM synthesis and maintenance is well …