Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

All-Wheel-Ukraine, Sofiya Rakovska, Hannah Mcculloch, Andrey Garasimchuk, Ahmad Alsaihati

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

We are working with a non-profit organization in Ukraine that provides wheelchairs/strollers to families of disables children who cannot afford them. Their current preferred solution is a baby stroller. The organization asked us to create a wheelchair that is cost efficient, light and collapsible to be used for children ages up to thirteen years old. We will be creating an alpha prototype wheelchair by modifying a basic wheelchair that we purchased. This modifications include adding a headrest that is adjustable and provides a sufficient support for children within the age group given to us and diverse levels of disabilities. We …

The Tera Multi Terrain Mobility Aid Chassis, Colton Kemp, Daniel Nicoll, Ibrahim Suleiman, Mohammad Alyami

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The natural environment poses a significant number of obstacles and dynamic settings that makes mobility difficult for those with physical and mobility impairments. To approach this problem, a suspension was designed using inspiration from the early Mars rovers developed by NASA for traversing the varied Martian landscape. The course of the project followed the direction of a start-up through problem identification, early design generation and review, and final design production. The project outcome, through client request and proven market research, aimed to produce a multi-terrain wheelchair. The final product is a kinematic body with mobile front “legs” and a rotational …

Higher Tensile Forces Across Cellular Junctions And An Intact Nuclear Linc Complex Is Required For Epithelial Function And Stability, Fnu Vani Narayanan

Theses and Dissertations

Recent advances in three-dimensional (3D) cell culture systems have provided key insights into the understanding of biochemical and physiological states of native tissue. A significant progress in the field of mechanobiology involves measuring cellular traction forces in a more native 3D environment. However, the effects of mechanical forces exerted across cellular junctions and the nuclear LINC complex, in an organized 3D system has not been investigated thus far. Epithelial cells spontaneously form acini (also known as cysts or spheroids) with a single, fluid-filled central lumen, when grown in 3D matrices. The size of the lumen is dependent on apical secretion …

Electrotransfer Of Il-15/Il-15rα Complex For The Treatment Of Established Melanoma, Shawna A. Shirley, Cathryn G. Lundberg, Richard Heller

Bioelectrics Publications

Gene electrotransfer (GET) is a safe, reliable, and effective method of delivering plasmid DNA (pDNA) to solid tumors. GET has been previously used to deliver interleukin-15 (IL-15) to mouse melanoma, resulting in long-term tumor regression and the survival of a percentage of treated animals after challenge. To enhance this effect, we evaluated modulating the expression levels of IL-15 and co-expressing its receptor, IL-15Rα. GET was used to deliver plasmids encoding IL-15 and IL-15Rα to established B16.F10 tumors on days 0, 4, and 7. Two delivery protocols that yielded different expression profiles were utilized. Mice that were tumor-free for 50 days …

Laboratory Versus Daily Life Gait Characteristics In Patients With Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’S Disease, And Matched Controls, Vrutangkumar Shah, James Mcnames, Martina Mancini, Patricia Carlson-Kuhta, Rebecca I. Spain, John G. Nutt, Mahmoud El-Gohary, Carolin Curtze, Fay Horak

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background and purpose: Recent findings suggest that a gait assessment at a discrete moment in a clinic or laboratory setting may not reflect functional, everyday mobility. As a step towards better understanding gait during daily life in neurological populations, we compared gait measures that best discriminated people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and people with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) from their respective, age-matched, healthy control subjects (MS-Ctl, PD-Ctl) in laboratory tests versus a week of daily life monitoring.

Methods: We recruited 15 people with MS (age mean ± SD: 49 ± 10 years), 16 MS-Ctl (45 ± 11 years), 16 …

Effects On Initial Fixation Of Cementless Tibial Trays In Total Knee Arthroplasty, Brooke Fritts Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bone mineral density (BMD), among other factors, largely effect the initial stability of the cementless tibial tray component in a total knee replacement (TKR), where increased motion at the tray-bone interface hinders bony ingrowth. With a lack of bony ingrowth, the cementless implant will not experience long-term success. Understanding which factors influence initial stability yields insight into surgical technique considerations and help inform a surgeon’s implant choice. The objective of this study was to evaluate factors influencing the initial stability of cementless tibial trays using a 6-degree of freedom (6-DOF) robotic joint simulator, the AMTI VIVO, and combined loading scenarios …

Spectral Dependence Of Transmission Losses In High-Index Polymer Coated No-Core Fibers, Xiaokang Lian, Gerald Farrell, Qiang Wu, Wei Han, Changyu Shen, Youqiao Ma, Yuliya Semenova

Articles

A high-index polymer coated no-core fiber (PC-NCF) is effectively a depressed core fiber, where the light is guided by the anti-resonant, inhibited coupling and total internal reflection effects and the dispersion diagram shows periodic resonant and anti-resonant bands. In this paper, the transmission spectra of the straight and bent PC-NCFs (length > 5 cm) are measured and analyzed from a modal dispersion perspective. For the purpose of the study, the PC-NCFs are contained within a fiber hetero-structure using two single-mode fiber (SMF) pigtails forming a SMF-PC-NCF-SMF structure. The anti-resonance spectral characteristics are suppressed by the multimode interference in the PC-NCF with …

Proteomic Analysis Of Fetal Rat Neural Stem Cells After Treatment With Hericium Erinaceus, Bright Adam Test

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The fungus, Hericium erinaceus, has outstanding chemical properties, displaying health benefits in digestive, hepatic, and nervous tissues. Its ease of accessibility and use makes it one of the most common substances used for treatment in Eastern medicine. More and more recent research is confirming the incredible health benefits of this fungus, especially the impact that is seen on nervous tissue growth and recovery post-treatment. Such neurite outgrowth and myelin sheath regeneration could illustrate the beginning of the cure to lifelong neurodegenerative diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis. In this first-of-its-kind study, we cultured and differentiated fetal rat neural stem cells while …

Electrochemical Detection Of Reactive Oxygen Species Via A Platinum Microelectrode Array, Victor M. Carriere Jr.

Master's Theses

Oxidative stress, an excess of endogenous or exogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the body, is closely aligned with inflammatory responses. ROS such as hydrogen peroxide, superoxide, and radical hydroxyl ion serve essential functions in fighting infection, but chronic elevation of these species irreversibly damages cellular components. Given the central role of inflammation in a variety of diseases, including Alzheimer’s Disease, atherosclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis, a low-cost, extracellular, non-invasive assay of ROS is needed.

This work reports the use of a platinum microelectrode array (Pt MEA)-based ceramic probe to detect time- and concentration-dependent variations in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production by …

Speckle-Noise Reduction In Knee Articular Cartilage Ultrasound Image Using Anisotropic Diffusion, Ali Muhammad Shoaib

Student Works (2020-2029)

Knee arthritis is the most common type of arthritis which effects the people and may cause severe pain to the patient and can lead to joint effusion. Ultrasound (US) imaging is an appropriate and consistent substitute for other imaging techniques like magnetic resonance imaging or X-rays in the investigation or screening of knee injury. Nevertheless, one of the major problems in US images which make the analysis of these images hard is the presence of speckle noise. For the reduction of speckle noise, the performance of the anisotropic method is found much better over other approaches. In removing the speckle …

Cone Identification In Choroideremia: Repeatability, Reliability, And Automation Through Use Of A Convolutional Neural Network, Jessica I.W. Morgan, Min Chen, Andrew M. Huang, Yu You Jiang, Robert F. Cooper

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose: Adaptive optics imaging has enabled the visualization of photoreceptors both in health and disease. However, there remains a need for automated accurate cone photoreceptor identification in images of disease. Here, we apply an open-source convolutional neural network (CNN) to automatically identify cones in images of choroideremia (CHM). We further compare the results to the repeatability and reliability of manual cone identifications in CHM.

Methods: We used split-detection adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy to image the inner segment cone mosaic of 17 patients with CHM. Cones were manually identified twice by one experienced grader and once by two …

Rapid Assessment Of Breast Tumor Margins Using Deep Ultraviolet Fluorescence Scanning Microscopy, Tongtong Lu, Julie M. Jorns, Mollie Patton, Renee Fisher, Amanda Emmerich, Todd Doehring, Taly Gilat-Schmidt, Dong Hye Ye, Tina Yen, Bing Yu

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Significance: Re-excision rates for women with invasive breast cancer undergoing breast conserving surgery (or lumpectomy) have decreased in the past decade but remain substantial. This is mainly due to the inability to assess the entire surface of an excised lumpectomy specimen efficiently and accurately during surgery.

Aim: The goal of this study was to develop a deep-ultraviolet scanning fluorescence microscope (DUV-FSM) that can be used to accurately and rapidly detect cancer cells on the surface of excised breast tissue.

Approach: A DUV-FSM was used to image the surfaces of 47 (31 malignant and 16 normal/benign) fresh breast tissue samples stained …

Deep Uv Fluorescence Scanning Microscopy For Breast Tumor Margin Detection, Tongtong Lu, Julie M. Jorns, Mollie Patton, Renee Fisher, Amanda Emmrich, Todd Doehring, Taly Gilat-Schmidt, Dong Hye Ye, Tina Yen, Bing Yu

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women. Positive margin status after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) is a predictor of higher rates of local recurrence. Intraoperative margin detection helps to complete tumor excision at the first operation. A margin tool that is capable of imaging all six margins of large lumpectomy specimens with both high resolution and fast speed (within 20 min) is yet to be developed. Deep UV light allows simultaneous excitation of multiple fluorophores and generating surface fluorescence images. We have developed a deep UV fluorescence scanning microscope (DUV-FSM) for slide-free, high-resolution and rapid examination of tumor …

A Size‐Modified Poisson–Boltzmann Ion Channel Model In A Solvent Of Multiple Ionic Species: Application To Voltage‐Dependent Anion Channel, Dexuan Xie, Said H. Audi, Ranjan K. Dash

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

We present a new size‐modified Poisson–Boltzmann ion channel (SMPBIC) model and use it to calculate the electrostatic potential, ionic concentrations, and electrostatic solvation free energy for a voltage‐dependent anion channel (VDAC) on a biological membrane in a solution mixture of multiple ionic species. In particular, the new SMPBIC model adopts a membrane surface charge density and a natural Neumann boundary condition to reflect the charge effect of the membrane on the electrostatics of VDAC. To avoid the singularity difficulties caused by the atomic charges of VDAC, the new SMPBIC model is split into three submodels such that the solution of …

Integrated Techno-Economic And Life Cycle Analyses Of Biomass Utilization For Value-Added Bioproducts In The Northeastern United States, Yuxi Wang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A multi-stage spatial analysis was first conducted to select locations for lignocellulosic biomass-based bioproduct facility, using Geographical Information System (GIS) spatial analysis, multi-criteria analysis ranking algorithm, and social-economic assessment. A case study was developed to determine locations for lignocellulosic biorefineries using feedstocks including forest residue biomass and three energy crops for 13 states in the northeastern United States. In the entire study area, 11.1% of the counties are high-suitable, 48.8% are medium-suitable for biorefinery siting locations. A non-parametric analysis of cross-group surveys showed that preferences on biorefinery siting are homogeneous for experts in academia and industry groups, but people in …

3d Printing Of Iron Oxide Incorporated Polydimethylsiloxane Soft Magnetic Actuator, Rasoul Bayaniahangar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Soft actuators have grown to be a topic of great scientific interest recently. As the fabrication of soft actuators with conventional microfabrication methods are tedious, expensive, and time consuming, employment of 3-D printing fabrication methods appears promising as they can simplify fabrication and reduce the production cost. Complex structures can be fabricated with 3-D printing such as helical coils can achieve actuation performances that otherwise would not be possible with simpler geometries. In this thesis development of soft magnetic helical coil actuators of iron-oxide embedded polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was achieved with embedded 3-D printing techniques. Composites with three different weight ratios …

Knee Joint Loading Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: Link To Patient Reported Outcomes And A Novel Method To Monitor With Wearable Sensors, Alex Spencer

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

Recovery from anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) commonly results in undesirable physical and patient-reported outcomes (PROs). Identification of modifiable factors such as knee contact force (KCF) early in rehabilitation that can improve these outcomes is important due to the rapid decrease in function, quality of life, and joint health in this population. Additionally, if noninvasive measurement of KCFs outside of a traditional laboratory were possible, clinicians could optimize patient treatment with personalized care. Therefore, there are two primary aims to this thesis: 1) quantify the link between KCF and PROs which measure pain, ability to perform activities of daily living, …

Thei Student Applied Research Presentations Sarp 2020, Research Office, Technological And Higher Education Institute Of Hong Kong

THEi Student Applied Research Presentations (SARP)

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Electrical Stimulation And Methyl Jasmonate Elicitation On Camptothecin Production In Tissue Culture Of Ophiorrhiza Ridleyana, Supakit Pisitpaibool

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This research aimed to enhance plant camptothecin (CPT) production in vitro, 5-month-old Ophiorrhiza ridleyana Craib. The plant cultures were treated with methyl jasmonate (MeJA) solution (0, 20, 50, and 100 µM) dissolved in ethanol, which was applied to the surface of the solid culture medium. The CPT content in the roots, stems, and leaves of the MeJA-elicited tissue-cultured plants at 12 and 24 h after the elicitation was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). It was demonstrated that the maximum CPT content in the tissue-cultured plants was achieved after 12 h elicitation with 50 µM MeJA. The average CPT contents …

Nanofiber Scaffolds As 3d Culture Platforms, Stephanie Bule

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Cell culture has become the basis for understanding the fundamental mechanisms of cell, tissue and organ function. Although major advancements in uncovering the underlying processes and mechanisms of normal and diseased cell biology have been made by using two-dimensional (2D) cell culture, there is a recent shift in moving towards three-dimensional (3D) culture platforms. The motivation is to better recapitulate the microenvironment of cells in vivo to obtain results that are more indicative to actual cellular processes. In this study, electrospun nano-fibrous scaffolds made of polycaprolactone were used as a 3D culture tool to investigate difference in cell behavior and …