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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Mimicking The Arterial Microenvironment With Peg-Pc To Investigate The Roles Of Physicochemical Stimuli In Smc Phenotype And Behavior, William G. Herrick Aug 2015

Mimicking The Arterial Microenvironment With Peg-Pc To Investigate The Roles Of Physicochemical Stimuli In Smc Phenotype And Behavior, William G. Herrick

Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation was to parse the roles of physical, mechanical and chemical cues in the phenotype plasticity of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in atherosclerosis. We first developed and characterized a novel synthetic hydrogel with desirable traits for studying mechanotransduction in vitro. This hydrogel, PEG-PC, is a co-polymer of poly(ethylene glycol) and phosphorylcholine with an incredible range of Young’s moduli (~1 kPa - 9 MPa) that enables reproduction of nearly any tissue stiffness, exceptional optical and anti-fouling properties, and support for covalent attachment of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. To our knowledge, this combination of mechanical range, low …


Experimental And Modeling Studies On The Formulation Of Stable Lipid Nanoparticle Dispersions, Yihui Yang Mar 2015

Experimental And Modeling Studies On The Formulation Of Stable Lipid Nanoparticle Dispersions, Yihui Yang

Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis presents both experimental and modeling studies on the formulation of stable lipid nanoparticle dispersions. A population balance equation (PBE) model was developed for prediction of the average polymorph content and aggregate size distribution to better understand the undesirable SLN aggregation behavior. Experimental and modeling studies showed that the polymorphic transformation was the rate determining step for my system, SLNs with smaller initial size distributions aggregated more rapidly, and aggregates contained particles with both alpha and beta crystals. Next the effect of different liquid carrier oils on the crystallization and aggregation behavior of tristearin NLC dispersions was investigated. I …


Prediction Of Emulsion Drop Size Distributions With Population Balance Equation Models To Enable Emulsified Product Design, Shashank Maindarkar Mar 2015

Prediction Of Emulsion Drop Size Distributions With Population Balance Equation Models To Enable Emulsified Product Design, Shashank Maindarkar

Doctoral Dissertations

Oil-in-water emulsions are ubiquitous dispersed phase systems with diverse applications in consumer products, processed foods, and the pharmaceutical industry. Emulsion formulation variables and process operating conditions both impact the drop size distribution, a key property that influences emulsion rheology, stability, texture, and appearance. A typical emulsified product requires the drop size distribution to be maintained within acceptable limits. Due to a lack of quantitative understanding, emulsified products are currently manufactured by combining a broad knowledge of previous product formulations with empirical scientific experimentation. An alternative to trial-and-error experimentation is to utilize a suitable mathematical model to predict the drop size …


Cell Adhesion Biophysics On Dynamic Polymer Constructs, Andreas Kourouklis Mar 2015

Cell Adhesion Biophysics On Dynamic Polymer Constructs, Andreas Kourouklis

Doctoral Dissertations

The biophysical characteristics of cell adhesion from single protein to cell length scales have primarily been studied using purely elastic substrates. However, natural extracellular matrix (ECM) is viscoelastic and contains mobile components. In this work, we combined chemistry and cell biology tools to design and characterize laterally mobile viscoelastic polymer films that promote receptor-specific cell adhesion. Moreover, we used amphiphilic block copolymers that are end-labeled with RGD peptide ligands to allow for integrin-mediated cell adhesion. The addition of a trace hydrophobic homopolymer in the supported bilayer block-copolymer films is used to tune the lateral mobility of the films. NIH 3T3 …


Layer-By-Layer Antimicrobial N-Halamine Polymer Coatings For Food Contact Materials, Luis J. Bastarrachea Gutierrez Mar 2015

Layer-By-Layer Antimicrobial N-Halamine Polymer Coatings For Food Contact Materials, Luis J. Bastarrachea Gutierrez

Doctoral Dissertations

Cross contamination during food processing represents a risk for public health and financial burden. Surface modification of food contact materials to render them antimicrobial can be effective against such risk. The objective of the present work was to develop antimicrobial coatings with the potential to be applied in a variety of food contact materials. The polymer coatings developed became antimicrobial by incorporation of a type of chlorinated compounds called N-halamines, capable of regenerating their antimicrobial activity. Two layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly surface modification procedures were followed. In the first procedure, bilayers of branched polyethyleneimine (PEI) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) were applied …