Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Advanced Microstructural Characterization Of Functionally Graded Dental Ceramic Material For Materials-Informed Finishing, Angani Vigneswaran

Theses and Dissertations--Manufacturing Systems Engineering

Yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (Y-TZP) has gained popularity as the choice of material for dental prosthetics. Ivoclar Vivadent’s IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime dental ceramic incorporates a unique gradient technology that varies the yttria content over the thickness of the material. The top layer is composed of 5Y-TZP which is desired for its optical properties while the bottom layer is composed of a much stronger 3Y-TZP. In between the two layers, 5Y-TZP and 3Y-TZP are mixed to form a transition layer. Varying the amount of yttria allows for more esthetically pleasing translucency in the visible areas of the restoration without compromising …

Surface-Initiated Polymerizations For The Rapid Sorting Of Rare Cancer Cells, Jacob L. Lilly

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Cancer metastasis directly accounts for an estimated 90% of all cancer related deaths and is correlated with the presence of malignant cells in systemic circulation. This observed relationship has prompted efforts to develop a fluid biopsy, with the goal of detecting these rare cells in patient peripheral blood as surrogate markers for metastatic disease as a partial replacement or supplement to tissue biopsies. Numerous platforms have been designed, yet these have generally failed to support a reliable fluid biopsy due to poor performance parameters such as low throughput, low purity of enriched antigen positive cells, and insufficiently low detection thresholds …

Bioerodible Calcium Sulfate Bone Grafting Substitutes With Tailored Drug Delivery Capabilities, Bryan R. Orellana

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Bone regeneration or augmentation is often required prior to or concomitant with implant placement. With the limitations of many existing technologies, a biologically compatible synthetic bone grafting substitute that is osteogenic, bioerodible, and provides spacing-making functionality while acting as a drug delivery vehicle for bioactive molecules could provide an alternative to ‘gold standard’ techniques.

In the first part of this work, calcium sulfate (CS) space-making synthetic bone grafts with uniformly embedded poly(β-amino ester) (PBAE) biodegradable hydrogel particles was developed to allow controlled release of bioactive agents. The embedded gel particles’ influence on the physical and chemical characteristics of CS was …