Engineering Commons^™

Establishment And Characterization Of An Animal Model Of Distraction Spinal Cord Injury, Jennifer Elisabeth Stearns Bell

Bioengineering Dissertations - Archive

Scoliosis corrective surgery requires the application of multidirectional stress forces to the spinal cord, including those of distraction, in addition to the application of fixation rods for correction of the curved spine deformity. If excessive, spine distraction may result in the development of new neurologic deficits, some as severe as permanent paralysis. Intraoperative monitoring is used to alert the surgeon to possible complications; however, the complex nature of spinal cord injury (SCI) involves a primary mechanical insult to the tissue and/or vasculature that may go undetected by monitoring. This is followed by the activation of widespread secondary injury mechanisms. The …

Diffuse Optical Tomography To Study The Ischemic Stroke In Rat Models, Zi-Jing Lin

Bioengineering Dissertations - Archive

Stroke, including ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke, is the major leading cause of death in the United States. More than 80 percent of stroke patients are diagnosed with ischemic stroke, which usually results from blockage of artery in the brain by thrombosis or arterial embolism. Animal Models, which permit powerful genetic and molecular approaches, provide an essential tool to study and understand the basic processes and potential therapeutic interventions for this disease. Significant efforts have been made to closely mimic the changes that occur in humans during and after stroke using animal models. Recent development on near infrared (NIR) diffuse …

The Pivotal Role Of Fibrocytes On Foreign Body Reactions, David William Baker

Bioengineering Dissertations - Archive

Fibrocytes are circulating connective tissue precursor cells that were first described in 1994 by Bucala et al. as mediators of the innate immune response [1]. Recently the notion of a fibrocyte has not only gained widespread acceptance, but these cells have been identified to participate in a number of disease and pathologic states including aberrant wound repair, fibrosis of organs, cardiovascular disease, and even normal aging. Despite these advancements, little was known about the response of these dynamic cells to biomaterial implants and foreign body reactions. The main focus of my thesis work has therefore focused on investigating fibrocyte-mediate responses, …

Noninvasive Assessment Of Tumor Hypoxia Using Oxygen Sensitive Mri In Prostate Tumor Models, Rashmi Reddy Pabhathi Reddy

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

A variety of solid tumors reveal oxygen deficiency as a result of rapid growth and insufficient tumor angiogenesis. Hypoxia in solid tumors appears to speed up malignant progression and metastatic potential of primary tumors thus leading to resistance against anticancer drugs and decreased response to radiotherapy.Of various in vivo non-invasive techniques to assess tumor hypoxia, oxygen-sensitive MRI (BOLD and TOLD) is an attractive and reliable option. Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) and Tissue Oxygen Level Dependent (TOLD) MRI offer potential insight into tumor hypoxia. BOLD (Blood Oxygen Level Dependant) contrast MRI which measures R2* (1/T2*) is sensitive to endogenous paramagnetic …

Development Of Non-Invasive Methods For Imaging Inflammatory Response, Yi-Ting Tsai

Bioengineering Dissertations - Archive

Persistent inflammatory cell reactions are responsible for the pathogenesis of a variety of inflammatory diseases. Although many non-invasive imaging methods have been used in the clinics to monitor the extent of inflammatory responses, almost all of them are based on indirect detection of inflammation-associated anatomical or structure changes of tissues and organs. To fill the gap, our laboratory has focused research efforts on detecting different processes of inflammatory responses. Our results can be summarized in the sequence of inflammatory responses - edema formation, inflammatory cell recruitment, inflammatory product release, and cell death. Shortly after medical device implantation or injury, edema …

Kinetics Analyses Of Interactions Between Oncogenic And Tumor Suppressor Proteins By Quantitative High Resolution Microscopy Methods, Shu-Fen Tseng

Bioengineering Dissertations - Archive

DAB2IP is correlated to the risk of aggressive prostate cancer and loss of DAB2IP not only leads to epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), but also makes cells radioresistant. These observations support the notion that improved knowledge of DAB2IP involvement in cellular pathways could be of help to cancer therapy. The goal of this work was to enable the study of how DAB2IP and some of its known key molecular partners interact in the cell by a combination of molecular biology techniques and recently reported quantitative fluorescence microscopy methods. The first part of this work was dedicated on investigating the interaction of DAB2IP …

How Atomic Level Interactions Drive Membrane Fusion: Insights From Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Navendu Bhatnagar

Wayne State University Dissertations

This project is focused on identifying the role of key players in the membrane fusion process at the atomic level with the use of molecular dynamics simulations. Membrane fusion of apposed bilayers is one of the most fundamental and frequently occurring biological phenomena in living organisms. It is an essential step in several cellular processes such as neuronal exocytosis, sperm fusion with oocytes and intracellular fusion of organelles to name a few. Membrane fusion is a frequent process in a living organism but is still not fully understood at the atomic level in terms of the role of various factors …

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.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells As Targeted Cell Vehicles To Deliver Drug-Loaded Nanoparticles For Cancer Therapy, Kytai Truong Nguyen

Bioengineering Faculty Publications - Archive

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Model To Simulate The Single-Limb Stance Phase Of Walking To Determine The Limits Of Stability, Clifford Lee Hancock

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

Falls during walking are the primary cause of injuries for older persons and present a high associated cost to society due to the resulting treatment. Hence, the control of balance while moving is an essential issue especially amongst the elderly population. Better understanding of why and how these falls occur could lead to better fall prevention methods, therapies, or devices. These changes could effectively decrease overall emergency room visits, create more room in hospitals for other demands, and decrease medical costs for fall-related disabilities and deaths amongst patients overall. This study attempted to develop an inverted pendulum model of the …

Microfluidic Device For Determining Preferential Cell Migration Toward Extracellular Matrix Proteins, Neil Hall

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

Extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins interact with cells in bodily microenvironments by influencing their essential cellular processes in growth, survival, migration and repair after injury. In this study, a novel microfluidic device was developed to study preferential interactions of cells with multiple extracellular matrix proteins simultaneously in an unbiased manner. The implementation of PDITC-treated glass and a controlled laminar flow of multiple separated, soluble proteins was used to create an unbiased microenvironment in which ECM proteins are adsorbed on the glass surface in a manner that simultaneously exposes cells to multiple proteins, and allows them to migrate or outgrow toward the …

Recombinant Expression, Purification And Kinetic Characterization Of F₄₂₀-Cofactor Dependent Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase From Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Tijani Osumah

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

The FGD (F₄₂₀-dependent Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) enzyme is an F₄₂₀ Cofactor (7,8-didemethyl-8-hydroxy-5-deazariboflavin) dependent enzyme found in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB). TB is still a prominent cause of illness and death worldwide. Because FGD is not found in humans, makes it a good target for drug development. By understanding the hydride transfer mechanism of the FGD in detail, we can aid in the improvement of drug targeting and development for the treatment of TB. FGD catalyzes the conversion of glucose-6-phosphate to 6-phosophogluconolactone. This project focuses on the purification and kinetic characterization of recombinant FGD using steady-state and pre-steady …

Biomarkers For Brain Disorders Electrochemically Detected By Broderick Probe Microelectrodes/Biosensors, Waqas Saleem, Patricia A. Broderick

Publications and Research

Here, we present results from two independent studies carried out using Neuromolecular Imaging (NMI) with miniature BRODERICK PROBE® biosensors. In the first study, we imaged neurotransmitters and neurochemicals in human epilepsy patients intraoperatively during early and late neurodegeneration. In the second study, we imaged neurotransmitters and neurochemicals in an experimental murine model using animals with and without neurodegeneration caused by Parkinson’s disease (PD). We compared our results derived from animals with lesioned group (PD) with non-lesioned group (non-PD), using the same in vivo NMI paradigm. NMI biotechnology enabled neurotransmitters, neuropeptides and neurochemical imaging of dopamine (DA), serotonin (5-HT), homovanillic acid …

Cervical Spine Tolerance And Response In Compressive Loading Modes Including Combined Compression And Lateral Bending, Daniel Toomey

Wayne State University Dissertations

Injuries in motor vehicle accidents continue to be a serious and costly societal problem. Automotive safety researchers have observed noticeable lateral bending of the anthropomorphic test device (ATD) neck prior to or in conjunction with head impact with the vehicle roof in rollover crash tests. Since there is scant data available about the effects of lateral bending on overall compressive tolerance of the human cervical spine, it is unknown if the presence of lateral bending is important to consider during impacts with the apex of the head. Compressive injury tolerance has historically been reported by identifying the axial force at …

Use Of Focused Ultrasound For Transcranial Sonothrombolysis, Golnaz Ahadi

Wayne State University Dissertations

Worldwide, stroke is the second most common cause of death. Ischemic stroke remains accountable for the majority of the 20 million devastating stroke events occurring globally each year. Use of transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS) for sonothrombolysis is a new research field for ischemic stroke treatment. If shown to be effective, FUS sonothrombolysis could become a widely available treatment option for the majority of the stroke sufferers that do not qualify or do not have access to current thrombolytic treatment options, such as tPA or neurointerventional methods.

The current study was an in vitro transcranial FUS headsystem investigation for the potential …

Diagnosis Of Systemic Inflammation Using Transendothelial Electrical Resistance And Low-Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic Materials, William L. Mercke

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Systemic inflammation involves a complex array of cytokines that can result in organ dysfunction. Mortality remains high despite the vast amount of research conducted to find an effective biomarker. The cause of systemic inflammation can be broad and non-specific; therefore, this research investigates using transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) measurements to better define systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS)/sepsis within a patient. Results show a difference in TEER measurements between healthy individuals and SIRS-rated patients. This research also displays correlations between TEER measurements and biomarkers currently studied with systemic inflammation (tumor necrosis factor-α, C- reactive protein, procalcitonin). Furthermore, this research also presents …

Nanomaterials For Photo-Based Diagnostic And Therapeutic Applications, Baohong Yuan, Jyothi Unnikrishna Menon, Khanh Vu, Parth V. Jadeja, Kytai Truong Nguyen, Pranjali P. Tambe

Bioengineering Faculty Publications - Archive

Photo-based diagnosis and treatment methods are gaining prominence due to increased spatial imaging resolution, minimally invasive modalities involved as well as localized treatment. Recently, nanoparticles (NPs) have been developed and used in photo-based therapeutic applications. While some nanomaterials have inherent photo-based imaging capabilities, others including polymeric NPs act as nanocarriers to deliver various fluorescent dyes or photosensitizers for photoimaging and therapeutic applications. These applications can vary from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and optical imaging to photothermal therapy (PTT) and chemotherapy. Materials commonly used for development of photo-based NPs ranges from metal-based (gold, silver and silica) to polymer- based (chitosan, dextran, …

Multi-Level Parallelism For Incompressible Flow Computations On Gpu Clusters, Dana A. Jacobsen, Inanc Senocak

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We investigate multi-level parallelism on GPU clusters with MPI-CUDA and hybrid MPI-OpenMP-CUDA parallel implementations, in which all computations are done on the GPU using CUDA. We explore efficiency and scalability of incompressible flow computations using up to 256 GPUs on a problem with approximately 17.2 billion cells. Our work addresses some of the unique issues faced when merging fine-grain parallelism on the GPU using CUDA with coarse-grain parallelism that use either MPI or MPI-OpenMP for communications. We present three different strategies to overlap computations with communications, and systematically assess their impact on parallel performance on two different GPU clusters. Our …

New Microarray Image Segmentation Using Segmentation Based Contours Method, Yuan Cheng

Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of the research developed in this dissertation is to develop a more accurate segmentation method for Affymetrix microarray images. The Affymetrix microarray biotechnologies have become increasingly important in the biomedical research field. Affymetrix microarray images are widely used in disease diagnostics and disease control. They are capable of monitoring the expression levels of thousands of genes simultaneously. Hence, scientists can get a deep understanding on genomic regulation, interaction and expression by using such tools.

We also introduce a novel Affymetrix microarray image simulation model and how the Affymetrix microarray image is simulated by using this model. This simulation …

Microfluidic Devices Applied On Enriching Post –Translational Modified Proteins For Proteomics, Hui Xia

Doctoral Dissertations

In this work, microfluidic devices were developed for enriching post-translational modified proteins. Post-translational modifications (PTM) of proteins play essential roles in cellular physiology and disease. The identification of protein substrates and detection of modification site helps understand PTM-mediated regulation in essential biological pathways and functions in various diseases. However, PTM proteins are typically present only at trace levels, making them difficult to identify in mass spectrometry based proteomics. This work study is about the design, fabrication and testing of the microfluidic device for the enrichment of abundant amount of PTMs. Carbonylated protein is used as a representative PTM to illustrate …

Ultrasonication Assisted Layer-By-Layer Technology For The Preparation Of Multi-Functional Anticancer Drugs Paclitaxel And Lapatinib, Xingcai Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, ultrasonication assisted Layer-by-Layer (LbL) technology for the preparation of multifunctional poorly water-soluble anticancer drug nanoparticles, paclitaxel and lapatinib, has been developed. Many FDA approved drugs are very low soluble in water; therefore, it is very difficult to load and control their release and targeting efficiently, which greatly confines their application. The development of this method will pave the way for the development and application of those low soluble anticancer drugs.

In the first part of this dissertation, the first approach for powerful ultrasonication, the top-down approach (sonicating bulk drug crystals in polyelectrolyte solution), was successfully applied for …

Engineering Microenvironments To Modulate Calcium Information Processing In Neuronal Cells, Kinsey Cotton Kelly

Doctoral Dissertations

Tissue engineered microenvironments were constructed to test the effects glial cells have on calcium information processing, and to mimic conditions in vivo for tumor invasion and residual cancer after resection of tumor. Submaximal, nM, glutamate (GLU) stimuli were applied to the engineered environments, and the resulting calcium dynamic behavior of neuronal cells was measured to help predict and interpret chaotic systems in the experimental realm. Calcium is a key signaling ion which signals through the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor on the neuronal membrane. GLU binding to the NMDA receptor (NMDAR) causes a large and dynamic increase in neuronal intracellular calcium. …

Cpg And Interleukin-15 Synergize To Enhance Ifn-Gamma Production By Activated Cd8(+) T Cells, Dustin Cobb, Sigi Guo, Ronald B. Smeltz

Bioelectrics Publications

Interleukin-15 (IL-15) regulates the development and maintenance of memory CD8(+) T cells. Paradoxically, we previously reported that IL-15 could enhance CD8(+) T-cell responses to IL-12, a proinflammatory cytokine required for optimal priming of effector CD8(+) T cells. To expand the physiological relevance of these findings, we tested IL-15 for its ability to enhance T-cell responses to bacterial CpG. Expectedly, CpG enhanced the production of IFN-gamma by CD8(+) T cells polyclonally activated with anti-CD3. However, addition of IL-15 to CpG-stimulated cultures led to a striking increase in IFN-gamma production. The effect of CpG and IL-15 was also evident with CD8(+) T …

Atomic Force Microscopy Characterization Of Collagen ‘Nanostraws’ In Human Costal Cartilage, Michael W. Stacey, Diganta Dutta, Anthony Asmar, H. Elsayed-Ali, R. Kelly Jr., A. Beskok

Bioelectrics Publications

Costal cartilage, a type of hyaline cartilage that bridges the bony ribs and sternum, is relatively understudied compared to the load bearing cartilages. Deformities of costal cartilage can result in deformation of the chest wall, where the sternum is largely pushed toward or away from the spine, pectus excavatum and pectus carinatum, respectively, with each condition having significant clinical impact. In the absence of extensive literature describing morphological features of costal cartilage, we characterized a sample from the costal margin immunohistologically and through atomic force microscopy. We had previously observed the presence of collagen ‘nanostraws’ running the length of costal …

Primary Pathways Of Intracellular Ca2+ Mobilization By Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Field, Iurii Semenov, Shu Xiao, Andrei G. Pakhomov

Bioelectrics Publications

Permeabilization of cell membranous structures by nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) triggers transient rise of cytosolic Ca²⁺ concentration ([Ca²⁺]_i), which determines multifarious downstream effects. By using fast ratiometric Ca²⁺ imaging with Fura-2, we quantified the external Ca²⁺ uptake, compared it with Ca²⁺ release from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and analyzed the interplay of these processes. We utilized CHO cells which lack voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channels, so that the nsPEF-induced [Ca²⁺]_i changes could be attributed primarily to electroporation. We found that a single 60-ns pulse caused fast [Ca2+]_i increase …

Response To "Sodium Current Inhibition By Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Field (Nspef) - Fact Or Artifact?" By Verkerk Et Al, Andrei G. Pakhomov

Bioelectrics Publications

It was nice to learn that our studies of nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) effects on membrane currents [Nesin et al., 2012; Nesin and Pakhomov, 2012] gained the attention of scientists outside the immediate field of bioelectromagnetics.

Systems Biology Of The Functional And Dysfunctional Endothelium, Jennifer Frueh, Nataly Maimari, Takayuki Homma, Sandra M. Bovens, Ryan M. Pedrigi, Leila Towhidi, Rob Krams

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

This review provides an overview of the effect of blood flow on endothelial cell (EC) signalling pathways, applying microarray technologies to cultured cells, and in vivo studies of normal and atherosclerotic animals. It is found that in cultured ECs, 5–10% of genes are up- or down-regulated in response to fluid flow, whereas only 3–6% of genes are regulated by varying levels of fluid flow. Of all genes, 90%are regulated by the steady part of fluid flow and 10% by pulsatile components. The associated gene profiles show high variability from experiment to experiment depending on experimental conditions, and importantly, the bioinformatical …

Distal Placement Of An End-To-Side Bypass Graft Anastomosis: A 3d Computational Study, John Di Cicco, Ayodeji Demuren

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

A three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics study of shear rates around distal end-to-side anastomoses has been conducted. Three 51% and three 75% cross-sectional area-reduced 6 mm cylinders were modeled each with a bypass cylinder attached at a 30-degree angle at different placements distal to the constriction. Steady, incompressible, Newtonian blood flow was assumed, and the full Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, turbulent kinetic energy, and specific dissipation rate equations were solved on a locally structured multiblock mesh with hexahedral elements. Consequently, distal placement of an end-to-side bypass graft anastomosis was found to have an influence on the shear rate magnitudes. For the …

Evaluation Of Interpolation Effects On Upsampling And Accuracy Of Cost Functions-Based Optimized Automatic Image Registration, Amir Pasha Mahmoudzadeh, Nasser H. Kashou

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Interpolation has become a default operation in image processing and medical imaging and is one of the important factors in the success of an intensity-based registration method. Interpolation is needed if the fractional unit of motion is not matched and located on the high resolution (HR) grid. The purpose of this work is to present a systematic evaluation of eight standard interpolation techniques (trilinear, nearest neighbor, cubic Lagrangian, quintic Lagrangian, hepatic Lagrangian, windowed Sinc, B-spline 3rd order, and B-spline 4th order) and to compare the effect of cost functions (least squares (LS), normalized mutual information (NMI), normalized cross correlation (NCC), …

Imaging Iron Content In Patients With Multiple Sclerosis Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Charbel Abdo Habib

Wayne State University Dissertations

The importance of iron in maintaining normal physiological processes in the human body has been well emphasized in the literature. However, "when iron behaves badly", its abnormal presence might lead to a spectrum of pathologies depending on what function has been altered. In the brain, for instance, abnormal iron content is thought to be associated with neurodegenerative diseases. In this dissertation, we study iron involvement in one of the most debilitating neurological diseases, multiple sclerosis (MS), using in vivo magnetic resonance imaging. We first test the sensitivity and specificity of the MR method used, known as susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) …