Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Development Of A Fish Robot Equipped With Novel 3d-Printed Soft Bending Actuators, Steven Steele, Jorge Diaz Rodriguez, Sharun Sripathy, Turaj Ashuri, Saleh Gharaie, Yusun Chang, Amir Ali Amiri Moghadam

Symposium of Student Scholars

This paper reports on design and fabrication of a novel soft fish robot. Application of soft actuators for the fish tail will generates continuum bending motion which resembles the natural motion of the fish. However, most soft actuator mechanisms are complex and have low efficiency. Thus, to address this issue we have developed a 3D printed soft bending actuator which can be actuated with an electromotor. The basic design idea of the soft bending actuator is explained, and iteration of the design showed to create the desired motion for the soft tail. The soft actuator has been successfully integrated with …

Portable Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy For Non-Invasive And Quantitative Assessment Of The Parathyroid Glands Viability During Surgery, Mark Romine, Linh Luong, Alex Moazzen, Katie Cho, Paul Lee

Symposium of Student Scholars

Portable Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy for Non-invasive and Quantitative Assessment of the Parathyroid Glands Viability During Surgery

Mark Romine, Linh Luong, Alex Moazzen, Katie Cho and Paul Lee

The parathyroid glands (PTGs) are responsible for the regulation of calcium levels in the blood by secreting a parathyroid hormone. This parathyroid hormone then regulates the body’s absorption, storage, and secretion of calcium, which can directly affect the way muscles and nerves operate. PTGs are often at risk of damage, or accidental removal during thyroid surgeries, because it is challenging to identify PTGs and to determine their viability. Current methods of visual inspections …

Wireless, Handheld Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy To Quantify Tissue Microvascular Hemodynamics, Linh Luong, Alex Moazzen, Mark Romine, Katie Cho, Paul Lee

Symposium of Student Scholars

Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) is a non-invasive optical method to characterize tissue optical properties for disease diagnosis and health monitoring. Two optical fibers are often used in a DRS system: one to deliver light to the tissue and the other to gather diffuse reflectance spectra, which provide quantitative details about the structure and composition of the tissue. The conventional DRS system, however, is expensive, bulky, and composed of fragile optical fibers and multiple electrical connections. Here we propose to build a wireless, handheld, and fiber-less diffuse optical spectroscopy system. Unfortunately, the diffusion approximation utilized for data analysis of the conventional …

Spatiotemporal Prediction Of Microstructure Evolution With Predictive Recurrent Neural Network, Amir Abbas Kazemzadeh Farizhandi, Mahmood Mamivand

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Prediction of microstructure evolution during material processing is essential to control the material properties. Simulation tools for microstructure evolution prediction based on physical concepts are computationally expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, they are not practical when either there is an urgent need for microstructure morphology during the process or there is a need to generate big microstructure datasets. Essentially, microstructure evolution prediction is a spatiotemporal sequence prediction problem, where the prediction of material microstructure is difficult due to different process histories and chemistry. We propose a Predictive Recurrent Neural Network (PredRNN) model for the microstructure prediction, which extends the inner-layer transition …

3d Reconstruction Of Syndactylized Hand In Autodesk Recap Photo With Arduino, Caleb E. Scheideger

ONU Student Research Colloquium

Syndactyly is one of the most common congenital malformations of the hand and is a result of a failed separation of adjacent digits. These digits are common among congenital limb malformations that affect 1 out of 2,000-3,000 people at birth. A reconstructive surgery would be needed to separate the digital skin, reconstruct the web space between fingers, and cover the separated digits with soft tissues. Finding the optimal shape and size for a dorsal flap in the web commissure reconstruction is important to avoid web creep. Conducting a numerical study with known mechanical properties, such as Young’s Modulus of the …

Recent Advances In Antimicrobial Peptide Hydrogels, Aryanna Copling, Maxwell Akantibila, Raaha Kumaresan, Gilbert Fleischer, Dennise Cortes, Rahul S Tripathi, Valerie J. Carabetta, Sebastian Vega

Cooper Medical School of Rowan University Departmental Research

Advances in the number and type of available biomaterials have improved medical devices such as catheters, stents, pacemakers, prosthetic joints, and orthopedic devices. The introduction of a foreign material into the body comes with a risk of microbial colonization and subsequent infection. Infections of surgically implanted devices often lead to device failure, which leads to increased patient morbidity and mortality. The overuse and improper use of antimicrobials has led to an alarming rise and spread of drug-resistant infections. To overcome the problem of drug-resistant infections, novel antimicrobial biomaterials are increasingly being researched and developed. Hydrogels are a class of 3D …

Enhancement Of Deep Learning Protein Structure Prediction, Ruoming Shen

Modeling, Simulation and Visualization Student Capstone Conference

Protein modeling is a rapidly expanding field with valuable applications in the pharmaceutical industry. Accurate protein structure prediction facilitates drug design, as extensive knowledge about the atomic structure of a given protein enables scientists to target that protein in the human body. However, protein structure identification in certain types of protein images remains challenging, with medium resolution cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) protein density maps particularly difficult to analyze. Recent advancements in computational methods, namely deep learning, have improved protein modeling. To maximize its accuracy, a deep learning model requires copious amounts of up-to-date training data.

This project explores DeepSSETracer, a …

Counterventions: A Reparative Reflection On Interventionist Hci, Rua Mae Williams, Louanne E. Boyd, Juan E. Gilbert

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Research in HCI applied to clinical interventions relies on normative assumptions about which bodies and minds are healthy, valuable, and desirable. To disrupt this normalizing drive in HCI, we define a “counterventional approach” to intervention technology design informed by critical scholarship and community perspectives. This approach is meant to unsettle normative assumptions of intervention as urgent, necessary, and curative. We begin with a historical overview of intervention in HCI and its critics. Then, through reparative readings of past HCI projects in autism intervention, we illustrate the emergent principles of a counterventional approach and how it may manifest research outcomes that …

Utilizing Robust Design To Optimize Composite Bioadhesive For Promoting Dermal Wound Repair, Rattapol Pinnaratip, Zhongtian Zhang, Ariana Smies, Pegah Kord Forooshani, Xiaoqing Tang, Rupak Rajachar, Bruce Lee

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Catechol-modified bioadhesives generate hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) during the process of curing. A robust design experiment was utilized to tune the H2O2 release profile and adhesive performance of a catechol-modified polyethylene glycol (PEG) containing silica particles (SiP). An L9 orthogonal array was used to determine the relative contributions of four factors (the PEG architecture, PEG concentration, phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) concentration, and SiP concentration) at three factor levels to the performance of the composite adhesive. The PEG architecture and SiP wt% contributed the most to the variation in the results associated with the H2O2 release profile, as both factors affected the crosslinking …

Image Analysis Methodology For Evaluating Coating Uniformity Of Drug-Coated Angioplasty Balloons, Allison Dobson Zieschang

LSU Master's Theses

Percutaneous transluminal balloon angioplasty (PTA) is a surgical procedure to treat peripheral artery disease, but restenosis causes suboptimal outcomes in many patients. Drug-coated angioplasty balloons (DCBs) were developed to reduce the risk of restenosis by delivering anti-proliferative drugs to the lesion. The efficacy of DCBs depends on factors like drug loading and drug release rate, both of which are directly impacted by the coating uniformity. This thesis evaluates the uniformity of DBCs using fluorescence microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), qualitative analysis, and an image processing algorithm. Uniformity was quantified by three measurements: histogram standard deviation, histogram percentage of coverage, and …

Optimizing Treatment Of Cytomegalovirus, Alisa Dabb

Student Research Symposium

The current treatment to Cytomegalovirus, ganciclovir, kills neutrophils, a type of cell in the immune system. In an effort to reduce the concentration of ganciclovir, quercetin and poloxamer 188 have been added in treatment in a cellular and mouse model. This treatment has been successful, but can be further optimized by reworking the ratio of quercetin to poloxamer 188 and by adding vitamin c to prevent oxidation.

Murine Hearing Abr/Dpoae Assessments In Cmv-Infected Mouse Pups Receiving Peritoneal Antivirals Of Gcv, Quercetin+P188, Or A Combination. Controls Include Infected And Untreated And Non-Infected And Treated. Second Dataset Of Antiviral Assay In A Murine Stria Vascularis (Sv) Monolayer Cell Culture, David Britt, Albert Park

Browse all Datasets

Ganciclovir (GCV) has been shown to be an effective antiviral for the treatment of congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) induced sensorineural hearing loss. However, dose-dependent adverse effects (e.g. neutropenia) require strict, burdensome monitoring, limiting GCV use in some patients. Quercetin is a flavonoid with antioxidant properties that has demonstrated antiviral therapy against CMV. Although more benign than GCV, quercetin has limited therapeutic value due to its poor solubility. We previously reported that GCV improves hearing thresholds in a murine model of cCMV. We also noted that solubilizing quercetin with poloxamer 188 (P188) and combining with GCV therapy amplified CMV inhibition in murine …

Understanding The Role Of A Putative Type I Polyketide Synthase In Chlorflavonin Biosynthesis, Ammar Mussaji

Student Research Symposium

Flavonoids are an important class of plant secondary metabolites with a variety of biological functions in the development processes of hosts. These molecules have also shown health-benefiting properties such as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. As such, they are commonly used as pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. In plants, flavonoids are assembled through a type III polyketide synthase (PKS) and associated tailoring enzymes such as hydroxylase and glycosyltransferase. Some filamentous fungi also produce flavonoids, such as chlorflavonin from Aspergillus candidus. Chlorflavonin is a novel halogenated flavonoid found in nature reported to possess antifungal and anti-tuberculosis activity. Unlike plants, the biosynthetic process of flavonoids …

Glycosylation Of Anti-Tb Agent Chlorflavonin For Combating Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Jie Ren

Student Research Symposium

More than two billion people were infected by the bacterial pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in 2020. However, during the past 50 years, the first-line (isoniazid, delamanid, and rifampicin) and second-line (capreomycin, streptomycin, and cycloserine) therapies have remained unchanged with disadvantages such as long treatment periods and severe side effects. The slow development of anti-TB drugs cannot combat the fast development of drug resistant M. tuberculosis strains from multidrug-resistant (MDR) into extensively drug resistant (XDR), which further hinders the World Health Organization’s goal to end the global TB pandemic by the year 2035. Flavonoids are a type of natural product with …

Microcanonical Thermodynamics Of Small Ideal Gas Systems, David S. Corti, Donya Ohadi, Ricardo Fariello, Mark J. Uline

Faculty Publications

We consider the thermal, mechanical, and chemical contact of two subsystems composed of ideal gases, both of which are not in the thermodynamic limit. After contact, the combined system is isolated, and the entropy is determined through the use of its standard connection to the phase space density (PSD), where only those microstates at a given energy value are counted. The various intensive properties of these small systems that follow from a derivative of the PSD, such as the temperature, pressure, and chemical potential (evaluated via a backward difference), while equal when the two subsystems are in equilibrium are nevertheless …

Mitochondrial Complex Iii Bypass Complex I To Induce Ros In Gpr17 Signaling Activation In Gbm, Sana Kari, Jeyalakshmi Kandhavelu, Akshaya Murugesan, Ramesh Thiyagarajan, Srivatsan Kidambi, Meenakshisundaram Kandhavelu

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

Guanine nucleotide binding protein (G protein) coupled receptor 17 (GPR17) plays crucial role in Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cell signaling and is primarily associated with reactive oxidative species (ROS) production and cell death. However, the underlying mechanisms by which GPR17 regulates ROS level and mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) complexes are still unknown. Here, we investigate the novel link between the GPR17 receptor and ETC complex I and III in regulating level of intracellular ROS (ROSi) in GBM using pharmacological inhibitors and gene expression profiling. Incubation of 1321N1 GBM cells with ETC I inhibitor and GPR17 agonist decreased the ROS level, …

Engineered Production Of Bioactive Polyphenolic O-Glycosides, Jie Ren, Caleb Don Barton, Jixun Zhan

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

Polyphenolic compounds (such as quercetin and resveratrol) possess potential medicinal values due to their various bioactivities, but poor water solubility hinders their health benefits to humankind. Glycosylation is a well-known post-modification method to biosynthesize natural product glycosides with improved hydrophilicity. Glycosylation has profound effects on decreasing toxicity, increasing bioavailability and stability, together with changing bioactivity of polyphenolic compounds. Therefore, polyphenolic glycosides can be used as food additives, therapeutics, and nutraceuticals. Engineered biosynthesis provides an environmentally friendly and cost-effective approach to generate polyphenolic glycosides through the use of various glycosyltransferases (GTs) and sugar biosynthetic enzymes. GTs transfer the sugar moieties from …

Hydrogen Bonding Versus Halogen Bonding: Spectroscopic Investigation Of Gas-Phase Complexes Involving Bromide And Chloromethanes, Hayden T. Robinson, Christian T. Haakansson, Timothy R. Corkish, Peter D. Watson, Allan J. Mckinley, Duncan A. Wild

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Hydrogen bonding and halogen bonding are important non-covalent interactions that are known to occur in large molecular systems, such as in proteins and crystal structures. Although these interactions are important on a large scale, studying hydrogen and halogen bonding in small, gas-phase chemical species allows for the binding strengths to be determined and compared at a fundamental level. In this study, anion photoelectron spectra are presented for the gas-phase complexes involving bromide and the four chloromethanes, CH3Cl, CH2Cl2, CHCl3, and CCl4. The stabilisation energy and electron binding energy associated with each complex are determined experimentally, and the spectra are rationalised …

Beirut Arab University - Faculty Of Engineering - Newsletter Issue 0, Faculty Of Engineering, Beirut Arab University

Engineering Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Transcriptome Profiling Of A Synergistic Volumetric Muscle Loss Repair Strategy, Kevin Roberts, John Taehwan Kim, Jacob Schluns, Grady Dunlap, Jamie Hestekin, Jeffery Wolchok

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Volumetric muscle loss overwhelms skeletal muscle’s ordinarily capable regenerative machinery, resulting in severe functional deficits that have defied clinical repair strategies. In this manuscript we pair the early in vivo functional response induced by differing volumetric muscle loss tissue engineering repair strategies that are broadly representative of those explored by the field (scaffold alone, cells alone, or scaffold + cells) to the transcriptomic response induced by each intervention. We demonstrate that an implant strategy comprising allogeneic decellularized skeletal muscle scaffolds seeded with autologous minced muscle cellular paste (scaffold + cells) mediates a pattern of increased expression for several genes known …