Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Engineering Hyaluronic Acid Carbon Nanotube Nanofibers: A Peripheral Nerve Interface To Electrically Stimulate Regeneration, Elisabeth M. Steel

Wayne State University Dissertations

Peripheral nerve injuries annually affect hundreds of thousands of people globally. Current treatments like the gold standard autograft and commercially available nerve guide conduits (NGC) are insufficient to repair long gap peripheral nerve injuries. NGCs can aid recovery but lack key microenvironment cues that promote nerve regeneration. We hypothesized that providing topographical, mechanical, and electrical guidance cues through a nanofibrous composite biopolymer would result in improved neuron growth metrics using an in vitro model. We embedded hydrophilic carbon nanotubes (CNT) within hyaluronic acid (HA) nanofibers by electrospinning. The aims of this study were (1) to define the topographical, nanomechanical, and …

A Machine Learning Approach To Assess The Separation Of Seismocardiographic Signals By Respiration, Brian Solar

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The clinical usage of Seismocardiography (SCG) is increasing as it is being shown to be an effective non-invasive measurement for heart monitoring. SCG measures the vibrational activity at the chest surface and applications include non-invasive assessment of myocardial contractility and systolic time intervals. Respiratory activity can also affect the SCG signal by changing the hemodynamic characteristics of cardiac activity and displacing the position of the heart. Other clinically significant information, such as systolic time intervals, can thus manifest themselves differently in an SCG signal during inspiration and expiration. Grouping SCG signals into their respective respiratory cycle can mitigate this issue. …

Can A Comprehensive Transition Plan To Barefoot Running Be The Solution To The Injury Epidemic In American Endurance Runners?, Michael A. Scarlett

CMC Senior Theses

Fossils belonging to the genus Homo, dating as far back as two million years ago, exhibit uniquely efficient features suggesting that early humans had evolved to become exceptional endurance runners. Although they did not have the cushion or stability-control features provided in our modern day running shoes, our early human ancestors experienced far less of the running-related injuries we experience today. The injury rate has been estimated as high as 90% annually for Americans training for a marathon and as high as 79% annually for all American endurance runners. There is an injury epidemic in conventionally shod populations that …

Biom 4110/6110: The Science Of Medicine (Syllabus), Bradford D. Pendley

Biomedical Engineering Syllabi Archive

Course Description: Integration of fundamental principles from physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics, and applications of these principles to solve problems in medicine.

Restoring Cholesterol Homeostasis In Familial Hypercholesterolemia Cell Line Model, Lubna Hindi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant disorder that results in elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). This increase in serum cholesterol level has been shown to result in premature coronary artery disease (CAD) with devastating symptoms from a young age. Today, the prevalence of heterozygous FH (HeFH) and homozygous FH (HoFH) is estimated to be 1 in 320 and 1 in 160,000 people, respectively. FH is referred to as an underdiagnosed disease due to the large number of mutations that continues to grow. These mutations often exist in one of or a combination of three genes: low-density lipoprotein …

Bioproducts From Bacteria: A Synthetic Biology Approach, Andrew Walters, Ron Sims, Charles Miller

Research on Capitol Hill

What can synthetic biology do?

Synthetic biology can solve many of Utah's problems:

1. Health: generate better medicines and treatments

- Insulin, Artemisinin (anti-malaria drug), Cancer

2. Fuel: augment petroleum with biofuels and biogas

3. Electricity: directly generate electricity from waste

4. Food: engineer more nutritious food with higher yields

- Golden rice, Arctic Apples, Corn, Soybeans, Cotton

5. Products: generate necessary products renewably

- Bioplastics, Spider silk, Adhesives, Pigments, Perfumes

Multiple Factors Drive Variation Of Forest Root Biomass In Southwestern China, Hao Zhang, Kelin Wang, Zhaoxia Zeng, Zhigang Zou, Yanfang Xu, Fuping Zeng

Nebraska Center for Biotechnology: Faculty and Staff Publications

The roots linking the above-ground organs and soil are key components for estimating net primary productivity and carbon sequestration of forests. The patterns and drivers of root biomass in forest have not been examined well at the regional scale, especially for the widely distributed forest ecosystems in southwestern China. We attempted to determine the spatial patterns of root biomass (RB, Mg/ha), annual increment root biomass (AIRB, Mg/ha/year), ratio of root and above-ground (RRA), and the relative contributions of abiotic and biotic factors that drive the variation of root biomass. Forest biomass and multiple factors (climate, soil, forest types, and stand …

Diversity And Functional Evolution Of Terpene Synthases In Dictyostelid Social Amoebae, Xinlu Chen, Tobias G. Kollner, Gad Shaulsky, Qidong Jia, Jeroen S. Dickschat, Jonathan Gershenzon, Feng Chen

Nebraska Center for Biotechnology: Faculty and Staff Publications

Dictyostelids, or social amoebae, have a unique life style in forming multicellular fruiting bodies from unicellular amoeboids upon starvation. Recently, dictyostelids were found to contain terpene synthase (TPS) genes, a gene type of secondary metabolism previously known to occur only in plants, fungi and bacteria. Here we report an evolutionary functional study of dictyostelid TPS genes. The number of TPS genes in six species of dictyostelids examined ranges from 1 to 19; and the model species Dictyostelium purpureum contains 12 genes. Using in vitro enzyme assays, the 12 TPS genes from D. purpureum were shown to encode functional enzymes with …

The Effects Of Emerging Technology On Healthcare And The Difficulties Of Integration, Skyler J. Pavlish-Carpenter

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Background: Disruptive technology describes technology that is significantly more advanced than previous iterations, such as: 3D printing, genetic manipulation, stem cell research, innovative surgical procedures, and computer-based charting software. These technologies often require extensive overhauls to implement into older systems and must overcome many difficult financial and societal complications before they can be widely used. In a field like healthcare that makes frequent advancements, these difficulties can mean that the technology will not be utilized to its full potential or implemented at all.

Objective: To determine the inhibiting factors that prevent disruptive technology from being implemented in conventional healthcare.

Methods: …

Asymmetric Patterns Of Small Molecule Transport After Nanosecond And Microsecond Electropermeabilization, Esin B. Sözer, C. Florencia Pocetti, P. Thomas Vernier

Bioelectrics Publications

Imaging of fluorescent small molecule transport into electropermeabilized cells reveals polarized patterns of entry, which must reflect in some way the mechanisms of the migration of these molecules across the compromised membrane barrier. In some reports, transport occurs primarily across the areas of the membrane nearest the positive electrode (anode), but in others cathode-facing entry dominates. Here we compare YO-PRO-1, propidium, and calcein uptake into U-937 cells after nanosecond (6 ns) and microsecond (220 µs) electric pulse exposures. Each of the three dyes exhibits a different pattern. Calcein shows no preference for anode- or cathode-facing entry that is detectable with …

Damage Characterization Of Aircraft Fuselage Using Vibrothermography Technique-Review And Analysis, Abbasali Saboktakin

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Vibrothermogrphy is a promising non-destructive technique that uses ultrasonic elastic waves to detect damages and is typically applied in the aerospace and automotive industries. This technique allows for defect selective imaging using thermal waves that are generated by ultrasound waves. In this paper, vibrothermography technique was applied to the aircraft fuselage to detect its damage. The influence of the damage on the temperature distribution at the damage region on the aluminum was investigated by finite element technique. Comprehensive understanding in edge crack in fuselage heating caused by local friction between crack surfaces was obtained.

Senior Design I, Alessandra Carriero, Luis Cardoso

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Early Emerging Pathogen Detection, Mackenzie Wangenstein

Maseeh Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

A supervised learning technique was employed to identify emerging pathogen species. Portland State University has partnered with the University of New Mexico to take encodings of unknown pathogen molecular structures to determine emerging species.

Lcd 3d Printing Of A Photocurable Elastomer For Tissue Engineering, Beatriz Luiza De Souza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Three-dimensional scaffolding is an emerging research area in biomedical and tissue engineering. Scaffolds provide the possibility of growing tissues in a controlled environment, with desired characteristics and properties towards a specific application. A new method to 3D print biodegradable and biocompatible material called Polyglycerol Sebacate Acrylate (PGSA) is demonstrated. PGSA is essentially an acrylated form of PGS using photoinitiator to become a photocurable resin suitable for liquid crystal display (LCD) 3D printing. PGSA was selected because its rheological and crosslinking behavior (and hence its mechanical properties) can be controlled by changes in curing time, temperature, and pressure. This material has …

Alteration Of Metabolite Profiling By Cold Atmospheric Plasma Treatment In Human Myeloma Cells, Dehui Xu, Yujing Xu, Ning Ning, Qingjie Cui, Zhijie Liu, Xiaohua Wang, Dingxin Liu, Hailan Chen, Michael G. Kong

Bioelectrics Publications

BACKGROUND: Despite new progress of chemotherapy in multiple myeloma (MM) clinical treatment, MM is still a refractory disease and new technology is needed to improve the outcomes and prolong the survival. Cold atmospheric plasma is a rapidly developed technology in recent years, which has been widely applied in biomedicine. Although plasma could efficiently inactivate various tumor cells, the effects of plasma on tumor cell metabolism have not been studied yet.

METHODS: In this study, we investigated the metabolite profiling of He plasma treatment on myeloma tumor cells by gas-chromatography time-of-flight (GC-TOF) mass-spectrometry. Meanwhile, by bioinformatic analysis such as GO and …

Nano-Pulse Stimulation Ablates Orthotopic Rat Hepatocellular Carcinoma And Induces Innate And Adaptive Memory Immune Mechanisms That Prevent Recurrence, Brittany P. Lassiter, Siqi Guo, Stephen J. Beebe

Bioelectrics Publications

Nano-pulse stimulation (NPS), previously called nsPEFs, induced a vaccine-like effect after ablation of orthotopic N1-S1 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), protecting rats from subsequent challenges with N1-S1 cells. To determine immunity, immune cell phenotypes were analyzed in naïve, treated and protected rats. NPS provides a positive, post-ablation immuno-therapeutic outcome by alleviating immunosuppressive T regulatory cells (Treg) in the tumor microenvironment (TME), allowing dendritic cell influx and inducing dynamic changes in natural killer cells (NKs), NKT-cells and T-lymphocytes in blood, spleen and liver. NPS induced specific increases in NKs and NKT-cells expressing CD8 and activation receptors CD314-NKG2D and CD161 (NK1.1) in the TME …

Tumor Cell Death After Electrotransfer Of Plasmid Dna Is Associated With Cytosolic Dna Sensor Upregulation, Katarina Znidar, Masa Bosnjak, Nina Semenova, Olga N. Pakhomova, Loree Heller, Maja Cemazar

Bioelectrics Publications

Cytosolic DNA sensors are a subgroup of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and are activated by the abnormal presence of the DNA in the cytosol. Their activation leads to the upregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines and can also induce cell death. The presence of cytosolic DNA sensors and inflammatory cytokines in TS/A murine mammary adenocarcinoma and WEHI 164 fibrosarcoma cells was demonstrated using real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). After electrotransfer of plasmid DNA (pDNA) using two pulse protocols, the upregulation of DNA-depended activator of interferon regulatory factor or Z-DNA binding …

Nano-Pulse Stimulation For The Treatment Of Pancreatic Cancer And The Changes In Immune Profile, Sigi Guo, Niculina I. Burcus, James Hornef, Yu Jing, Chunqi Jiang, Richard Heller, Stephen J. Beebe

Bioelectrics Publications

A Pancreatic cancer is a notorious malignant neoplasm with an extremely poor prognosis. Current standard of care is rarely effective against late-stage pancreatic cancer. In this study, we assessed nanopulse stimulation (NPS) as a local treatment for pancreatic cancer in a syngeneic mouse Pan02 pancreatic cancer model and characterized corresponding changes in the immune profile. A single NPS treatment either achieved complete tumor regression or prolonged overall survival in animals with partial tumor regression. While this is very encouraging, we also explored if this local ablation effect could also result in immune stimulation, as was observed when NPS led to …

Review Of Emerging Approaches In Non- Or Minimally Invasive Glucose Monitoring And Their Application To Physiological Human Body Fluids, Sunghoon Jang, Chen Xu

Publications and Research

The frequent blood glucose monitoring by the diabetics and physicians is a very essential step in the management of the diabetes because this devastating disease can lead the patients to blindness, kidney disease, nervous & circulatory system disease, limb amputations, stroke and cardiovascular disease (CVD). There have been numerous attempts to develop viable painless non- or minimally invasive blood glucose monitoring techniques over the last five decades in order to replace all existing methods of home blood glucose monitoring require drawing a blood sample by piercing the skin. This review describes the principles of two main emerging general technologies such …

Objectively Measuring Effects Of Electro-Acupuncture In Parkinsonian Rhesus Monkeys, Rui Zhang, Anders H. Andersen, Peter A. Hardy, Eric Forman, April Evans, Yi Ai, Jin Yue, Guihua Yue, Don M. Gash, Richard Grondin, Zhiming Zhang

Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy Center Faculty Publications

Acupuncture has increasingly been used as an alternative therapy for treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, the efficacy of acupunture for PD still remains unclear. The present study was designed to objectively and safely monitor anti-parkinsonian effects of electroacupuncture (EA) and brain activity in nonhuman primates modeling human PD. Six middle-aged rhesus monkeys were extensively studied by a computerized behavioral testing battery and by pharmacological MRI (phMRI) scans with specific dopaminergic drug stimulations. All animals were evaluated for behavior and phMRI responses under normal, parkinsonian, parkinsonian with EA treatment and parkinsonian after EA treatment conditions. Stable parkinsonian features were observed …