Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Shear Detection Of Microencapsulated Cells For Monoclonal Antibody Production Scaleup, Kendall Defelippi, Dwight Johnson

Bioengineering Senior Theses

Scale the reported hydrodynamic shear values in industrial bioreactors for monoclonal antibody production to the shear stress measured in our custom microneedle prototype by extruding microencapsulated CHO cells. A correlation between the number of extrusion loops to reduction in cell viability enables a scalable screening method for bioprocessing efficiency.

Engineering Hydrogels For Delivery Of Therapeutic Proteins, Francesca Briggs, Daryn Browne

Bioengineering Senior Theses

In this project, we investigate how innate hydrogel properties can be leveraged for controlled protein drug release platforms. Therapeutic proteins have many valuable applications within the medical field, however, professionals often face many obstacles with obtaining controlled drug release. This paper analyzes how the manipulation of hydrogel properties can improve protein drug release rates. We started these investigations by varying hydrogel concentrations since we saw that this affects the release of small molecules. Additionally, we wanted to see what the addition of a second hydrogel network would do to protein release rates. These experiments concluded that raising polymer concentrations and …

Poly(Adr-Ribose) Polymerase 14-Specific Inhibitor For Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Clarissa Silvers, Colin Sim

Bioengineering Senior Theses

Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerases, PARPs, are comprised of a family of 17 human enzymes that share a conserved catalytic domain that transfers ADP-ribose from nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) to target proteins. While significant proteomic-based efforts in the field have uncovered a host of potential targets for each of the various active PARP enzymes, an outstanding question remains as to what extent proximal versus distal interactions with the protein substrates govern target selection. In this work, we describe the use of tandem mass spectrometry to identify specific residues that are auto-modified in both PARP14 and PARP15 as well as their preferred modification …

Wearable Health Sensor, George Kouretas, Kelley Mccarroll

Bioengineering Senior Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted several populations, partially due to the lack of access to basic health care amenities, and emphasized the need for continuous telehealth monitoring of relevant biometric vitals. This need is further emphasized through research that has suggested that simple biometric vitals, including heart rate (HR), blood oxygen saturation rate (SpO2), and temperature, are relevant biomarkers for early disease diagnosis. The project aims to address this need through the design wearable health platform that uses novel, non-invasive techniques to monitor biometrics with the eventual goal to provide user insights into current health status and identify early …

Therapeutic Payload Delivery To The Myocardium: Evolving Strategies And Obstacles, Tarek Shazly, Arianna Smith, Mark J. Uline, Francis G. Spinale

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Self-Balancing Bicycle Device, Charles Cole, Raffy Lorenzo, Neil Boyal

Biomedical Engineering

The sponsor, Justin Shaw, is currently developing a bicycle for an athlete who has lost movement in their legs. This athlete can no longer experience the unmatched feeling of naturally banking a bicycle at corners. The Self-Balancing Bike Device Team will create a device that can self-balance an electric recumbent bicycle at low speeds while being almost undetectable while turning. This document will outline the team’s background research into self-balancing vehicles, define the needs that must be solved, and delineate a schedule for future milestones.

Rod Bend Approximator For Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery, Amanda Hansell, Anise Ghandchi, Shervin Moghimi

Biomedical Engineering

This Final Report will go over the project deliverables and future steps in the making of a rod bending approximator tool by the Cal Poly Senior Design team for the client SeaSpine. The latest designs and research done regarding minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is covered including the impediments with the current methods. SeaSpine presented the need to our team for an approximating tool within the MIS procedure. Our team began project planning through task generation and schedule development. Once the product definition was fully understood, competition was evaluated and engineering specifications were created for the project. A conceptual design was …

Wire Cutting Saw For Spinal Fusion Surgery, Connor Kilzer Kilzer, Kayla Hong, Kyle Himmelein

Biomedical Engineering

The purpose of this project was to design and prototype a spinal facetectomy tool which will minimize the risk of spinal nerve damage and standardize this procedure for all surgeons. This Final Report for Alphatec describes the scope of the project, the process to get to the final prototype of the device, along with a project timeline for the team. A background of current devices and their issues is included to illustrate the need for a new spinal facetectomy device. Within the scope of the project includes a list of customer requirements for the device and the process of translating …

Eagle Medical Tray Denesting & Debris Removal Process, Nicholas Allen Ungefug, Noah Chavez, Susana Shu-Lin Okhuysen, Michael Augustine Pennington

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Eagle Medical Incorporated is a contract medical device packaging and sterilization company. The company purchases thermoformed medical packaging trays, which maintain the sterility of medical devices, from various manufacturers. To ensure packaging quality and to prevent cleanroom contamination, Eagle Medical inspects and sterilizes each blister tray that they order. This process is an essential non-value-added activity that creates a bottleneck. Cleanroom employees must stop packaging medical devices and attend to the processing of blister trays and packaging solutions. The blister trays arrive at Eagle’s facility in nested stacks. Vibration and movement during shipping further compresses the stacks, which makes separation …

Porcine Liver Injury Model To Assess Tantalum-Containing Bioactive Glass Powders For Hemostasis, Malvika Nagrath, Danielle Bince, Corwyn Rowsell, Deanna Polintan, Joao Rezende-Neto, Mark R. Towler

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study evaluates compositions of tantalum-containing mesoporous bioactive glass (Ta-MBG) powders using a porcine fatal liver injury model. The powders based on (80-x)SiO₂-15CaO-5P₂O₅-xTa₂O₅ compositions with x = 0 (0Ta/Ta-free), 1 (1Ta), and 5 (5Ta) mol% were made using a sol–gel process. A class IV hemorrhage condition was simulated on the animals; hemodynamic data and biochemical analysis confirmed the life-threatening condition. Ta-MBGs were able to stop the bleeding within 10 min of their application while the bleeds in the absence of any intervention or in the presence of a commercial agent, AristaTM …

Staphylococcus Aureus Sortase A Protein Applications And Methods: (1) Drug Discovery In Anti-Infectious Agents; (2) A Biotechnique Analysis For Indication Sortase A Protein Purification Methods; (3) In Vivo Protein Ligation For Discovery Of Novel Protein Engineering Methods:, Melina Huang Xia

Bioengineering Master's Theses

It has been understood that during Gram-positive bacterial infection, the bacterial cells interact with host mammalian cells via the virulence factors whose anchorage onto the bacterial surface are mainly catalysed by Sortase A[2]. Emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, especially the Gram-positive bacteria, has rendered the rise of many antibiotic resistant bacteria, resulting in rise of infection cases that bypass traditional first-line antibiotics treatments. It is crucial for the public health that scientists and researchers discover an alternative treatment for the bacterial infection that targets the underlying pathogenic mechanism that are responsible for the increased virulence of such bacteria without contributing …

Air Wear, Ani M. Svadjian, Ada A. Tadeo, Deepthi Ravuru

General Engineering

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals have experienced an overwhelming increase in patients needing respiratory assistance. Our client identified the need for a sustainable, affordable, and portable outpatient device that will provide supplemental oxygen and assisted breathing to speed up the patient recovery process. Our team accomplished to design a device that contains a more sustainable oxygen supply method, has a longer functional duration, is safer and ergonomic, as well as compact.

Hepatic Artery Flow, Inspired Oxygen, And Hemoglobin Determine Liver Tissue Saturation Measured With Visible Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (Vis-Drs) In An In Vivo Swine Model, Stylianos Voulgarelis, Faraneh Fathi, Bing Yu, Barbara Palkovic, Nikolaos A. Chatzizacharias, Kenneth P. Allen, Astrid G. Stucke

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Background

Prompt diagnosis of vascular compromise following pediatric liver transplantation and restoration of oxygen delivery to the liver improves organ survival. vis-DRS allows for real-time measurement of liver tissue saturation.

Methods

The current study used vis-DRS to determine changes in liver saturation during clinically relevant conditions of reduced oxygen delivery. In an in vivo swine model (n = 15), we determined liver tissue saturation (S_tO₂) during stepwise reduction in hepatic artery flow, different inspiratory oxygen fraction (FiO₂), and increasing hemodilution. A custom vis-DRS probe was placed directly on the organ.

Results

Liver tissue …

Modeling And Simulating Brain Damage From Football Helmet Impacts, Tate Russell Fonville

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The objective of this research was to present a model for brain damage to investigate the head’s response to mechanical loadings. A Finite Element (FE) head and brain mesh used throughout this dissertation was constructed from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan data of one of the authors and validated in previous research. A computational modal analysis was first conducted on the whole head and an isolated brain to identify the resonant frequencies, mode shapes, and locations. A physics-based Internal State Variable (ISV) constitutive model for polymers was modified to include damage in the form of pore growth. The brain damage …

Novel Neurostimulation-Based Haptic Feedback Platform For Grasp Interactions With Virtual Objects, Aliyah K. Shell, Andres E. Pena, James J. Abbas, Ranu Jung

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Haptic perception is a vital part of the human experience that enriches our engagement with the world, but the ability to provide haptic information in virtual reality (VR) environments is limited. Neurostimulation-based sensory feedback has the potential to enhance the immersive experience within VR environments by supplying relevant and intuitive haptic feedback related to interactions with virtual objects. Such feedback may contribute to an increase in the sense of presence and realism in VR and may contribute to the improvement of virtual reality simulations for future VR applications. This work developed and evaluated xTouch, a neuro-haptic platform that extends the …

Variations In Surgeon-Applied Loads During Passive Range Of Motion Following Total Knee Replacement With Relevance To Computational Modeling, Cj Bakle Ii

All Theses

Total knee replacement (TKR) is generally considered a successful treatment for musculoskeletal disorders of the knee. However, as many as 20% of patients report some dissatisfaction in their physical function after TKR. And approximately 50% of early revisions needed to address conditions related to component alignment and soft tissue tension to stabilize the knee. During TKR, surgeons manually perform passive range of motion (ROM) assessments to gain feedback perceived as tension in ligaments and other soft tissues. Such assessments are highly subjective and rely on the surgeon's perception of soft tissue tension rather than quantitative objective means. The variability in …

Comparison Of Performance Of Self-Expanding And Balloon-Expandable Transcatheter Aortic Valves, Hoda Hatoum, Milad Samaee, Janarthanan Sathananthan, Stephanie Sellers, Maximilian Kuetting, Scott M. Lilly, Abdul R. Ihdayhid, Philipp Blanke, Jonathon Leipsic, Vinod H. Thourani, Lakshmi Prasad Dasi

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Objective: To evaluate the flow dynamics of self-expanding and balloon-expandable transcatheter aortic valves pertaining to turbulence and pressure recovery. Transcatheter aortic valves are characterized by different designs that have different valve performance and outcomes. Methods: Assessment of transcatheter aortic valves was performed using self-expanding devices (26-mm Evolut [Medtronic], 23-mm Allegra [New Valve Technologies], and small Acurate neo [Boston Scientific]) and a balloon-expandable device (23-mm Sapien 3 [Edwards Lifesciences]). Particle image velocimetry assessed the flow downstream. A Millar catheter was used for pressure recovery calculation. Velocity, Reynolds shear stresses, viscous shear stress, and pressure gradients were calculated. Results: The maximal velocity …

Functional Analysis Of The Cortical Transcriptome And Proteome Reveal Neurogenesis, Inflammation, And Cell Death After Repeated Traumatic Brain Injury In Vivo, Celeste Dunn, Lais A. Ferreira, Sara M. Venier, Syed F. Ali, Jeffery Wolchok, Kartik Balachandran

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The pathological effects of repeated traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are largely unknown. To gain a detailed understanding of the cortical tissue acute biological response after one or two TBIs, we utilized RNA-sequencing and protein mass spectrometry techniques. Using our previously validated C57Bl/6 weight-drop model, we administered one or two TBIs of a mild or moderate severity. Double injury conditions were spaced 7 days apart, and cortical tissue was isolated 24 h after final injury. Analysis was carried out through functional gene annotation, utilizing Gene Ontology, for both the proteome and transcriptome. Major themes across the four different conditions include: neurogenesis; …

Multicolor Fluorescence Guided Surgery For Head And Neck Cancer, Dani Szafran-Reeder

University Honors Theses

This project aims to take a novel, NIR nerve-specific fluorophore LGW05-75⁴ and test its compatibility with a tumor-targeting affibody molecule, ABY-029⁶ that has been labeled with IRDye800CW. The overall goal is to show that these two molecules can be co-administered to show the nerves and tumor cells in real-time to better assist surgeons in a full resection while avoiding iatrogenic nerve damage.

Improving The Performance And Evaluation Of Computer-Assisted Semen Analysis, Ji-Won Choi

Dissertations

Semen analysis is performed routinely in fertility clinics to analyze the quality of semen and sperm cells of male patients. The analysis is typically performed by trained technicians or by Computer-Assisted Semen Analysis (CASA) systems. Manual semen analysis performed by technicians is subjective, time-consuming, and laborious, and yet most fertility clinics perform semen analysis in this manner. CASA systems, which are designed to perform the same tasks automatically, have a considerable market share, yet many studies still express concerns about their accuracy and consistency. In this dissertation, the focus is on detection, tracking, and classification of sperm cells in semen …