Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Meta-Analysis Of Studies On Cpr: A Better Route To New Practice Guidelines, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Working Papers

Quantitative synthesis of research results multiple small clinical trials using the statistical techniques of meta-analysis yields conclusions in excellent agreement with large randomized “mega-trails”. The present paper introduces a simple yet powerful method of meta-analysis for combining results of any published studies of a proposed treatment compared with a suitable control. These may include pre-clinical or clinical models generating either continuous or dichotomous data.

Increased Risk Of Children For Subtle Closed Head Injury From Soccer Heading, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Valveless Pumping: The Reflected Pulse Wave Hypothesis, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Mathematical Analysis Of Feedback Targets Of Bmp Signaling In Drosophila Embryonic Development, Yan Luo

Open Access Theses

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) drive a range of cellular processes especially in the early stages of embryonic development. This family of proteins acts as one of the most important extracellular signals in development pattern formation across the animal kingdom. Cells in embryos differentiate into different cell types in response to the concentration level of BMP. This complex process is regulated by multiple regulators that serve to tune the signal response.

Extensive experimental and computational research has been performed to analyze BMP regulation in Drosophila, a widely studied model organism, and has advanced our understanding of animal development. Because of …

Concurrent Detection And Isolation Of Cellular And Molecular Biomarkers, Wanfeng Huang

Open Access Dissertations

Detection of cancer markers such as protein biomolecules and cancer cells in bodily fluids is of great importance in early diagnosis, prognosis as well as evaluation of therapy efficacy. Numerous devices have been developed for detecting either cellular or molecular targets, however there has not yet been a system that can simultaneously detect both cellular and molecular targets effectively. Molecule and cell-based assays are important because each type of target can tell a different story about the state of the disease and the two types of information can potentially be combined and/or compared for more accurate biological or clinical assessments. …

Device Design Factors For Enhancing The Functionality Of Chronic Intracortical Microelectrodes, Heui Chang Lee

Open Access Dissertations

Intracortical microelectrodes are devices used in brain-computer interfaces (BCI) to help regain lost motor, sensory, and cognitive functions of individuals with neurological disorders. However, the long-term performance of microelectrode arrays is hampered by a series of inflammatory tissue responses. The consequence of the inflammatory response is the formation of a dense astroglial sheath around the vicinity of the electrode, impeding the electrical conduction between the electrode and neurons. Furthermore, due to the cascade of neuroinflammatory events, the number of neurons is significantly reduced near the electrode, manifested by decrease in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the yield of electrodes. Over time, …

Laser-Processed Parchment Paper For Fabrication Of Chronic Wound Dressings With Selective Oxygenation, Manuel Ochoa

Open Access Dissertations

Chronic non-healing wounds (e.g., diabetic foot ulcers and bed sores) impact over 6.5 million Americans per year, costs in excess of $25 billion to treat on an annual basis, and are on the rise due to increasing levels of obesity and diabetes compounded by an aging population. A major inhibitor of healing is suboptimal oxygenation of the wound bed. Unlike acute injuries that receive sufficient oxygen via a functional blood vessel network, chronic wounds often suffer from the lack of a proper vascular network; thus being incapable of providing sufficient oxygen for tissue growth. Typical medical treatment of hypoxic chronic …

Dynamic Holography In Semiconductors And Biomedical Optics, Hao Sun

Open Access Dissertations

Three-dimensional scanning and display are rapidly-advancing new technologies with important commercial drivers such as 3D printing and remote imaging for big data applications. Holography is a natural approach to recording and displaying three-dimensional information because it uses phase-sensitive interferometry to record interference patterns when a reference beam encounters coherent light arriving from an object. The 3D information is contained in the values of wave optics. Holography is a broad field that goes beyond recording and displaying. For instance, holographic optical elements, which take advantage of holographic imaging principles, perform the functions of lenses, gratings or mirrors. Holographic interferometry is also …

Characterizing The Effects Of Repetitive Head Trauma In Female Soccer Athletes For Prevention Of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Diana Otero Svaldi

Open Access Dissertations

As participation in women’s soccer continues to grow and the longevity of female athletes’ careers continues to increase, prevention of mTBI in women’s soccer has become a major concern for female athletes as the long-term risks associated with a history of mTBI are well documented. Among women’s sports, soccer exhibits the highest concussion rates, on par with those of men’s football at the collegiate level. Head impact monitoring technology has revealed that “concussive hits” occurring directly before symptomatic injury are not predictive of mTBI, suggesting that the cumulative effect of repetitive head impacts experienced by collision sport athletes should be …

Surface Engineering Of Titanium Alloy To Stimulate The Bone Regeneration, Yubin Meng, Zhenduo Cui, Zhaoyang Li, Xue Li, Jin Zhao, Xubo Yuan, Xianjin Yang

The 8th International Conference on Physical and Numerical Simulation of Materials Processing

No abstract provided.

Fluorescent Materials Design At Nanoscale For Biomedical Photonics In Near Infrared Window, Kohei Soga, Masao Kamimura

The 8th International Conference on Physical and Numerical Simulation of Materials Processing

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Mathematical Model To Estimate Intra-Tumor Oxygen Concentrations Through Multi-Parametric Imaging, Chung-Wein Lee, Keith Stantz, Phd

School of Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Background

Tumor hypoxia is involved in every stage of solid tumor development: formation, progression, metastasis, and apoptosis. Two types of hypoxia exist in tumors—chronic hypoxia and acute hypoxia. Recent studies indicate that the regional hypoxia kinetics is closely linked to metastasis and therapeutic responses, but regional hypoxia kinetics is hard to measure. We propose a novel approach to determine the local pO2 by fusing the parameters obtained from in vivo functional imaging through the use of a modified multivariate Krogh model.

Methods

To test our idea and its potential to translate into an in vivo setting through the use of …

A Proposal For A Wirelessly Powered, Implantable Pressure Sensor And Neural Stimulator For The Control Of Urinary Incontinence, Robert N. Tucker, Christopher J. Quinkert, Pedro P. Irazoqui

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

47 to 53 percent of women over the age of 20 suffer from urinary incontinence, often caused by childbirth-related damage to the pelvic nerve. This uncertainty of when bladder voiding will occur causes social anxiety and can compromise quality of life. This study explores one method to restore the ability to sense the need to urinate and prevent unwanted voiding. We propose a device to measure pressure due to bladder content as the difference between pressure in the bladder and pressure in the abdominal cavity. Integrated circuits, biocompatible packaging, and wireless radiofrequency powering allow for a fully implantable device to …

Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas For Food Applications, Michael V. Lauria, Russell S. Brayfield Ii, Ronald G. Johnson, Allen L. Garner

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Successfully distributing shelf food requires treatment to eliminate microorganisms. Current chemical methods, such as chlorine wash, can alter food quality while only being effective for a limited time. Cold atmospheric pressure plasmas (CAPs) can eradicate the microorganisms responsible for food spoilage and foodborne illness. Optimizing CAP treatments requires understanding the reactive species generated and relating them to eradication efficiency. Recent studies have used optical emission spectroscopy (OES) to determine the species generated in a sealed package that would hold food. In this study,we supplement the OES results with optical absorption spectroscopy (OAS) using the same gases (helium, nitrogen, compressed air, …

Development Of Micro-/Nano-Architectures For Intracellular Sensing Platform, Ryan M. Preston, Dae Seung Wie, Chi Hwan Lee

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Currently available nanotechnologies are capable of creating various nanostructures in controlled dimensions such as particles (0D), wires (1D), membranes (2D), and cubes (3D) by exploiting “top-down” or “bottom-up” methods. However, there exist limitations to systematically construct hierarchical nanostructures with geometric complexities. This study is focused on developing a novel nanofabrication strategy that can rationally produce a set of hierarchical nanostructures configured with precisely engineered facets, tip shapes, and tectonic motifs. We aim to identify a collection of optimal materials, array layouts, basic components, and nanofabrication techniques for the production of hierarchical nanostructures by exploiting device-grade semiconducting silicon materials. To accomplish …

3d Modeling Of Murine Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms: Quantification Of Segmentation And Volumetric Reconstruction, Paula A. Sarmiento, Amelia R. Adelsperger, Craig J. Goergen Ph.D.

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAA) cause 5,900 deaths in the United States each year. Surgical intervention is clinically studied by non-invasive techniques such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. However, three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound imaging has become an inexpensive alternative and useful tool to characterize aneurysms, allowing for reconstruction of the vessel, quantification of hemodynamics through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation, and possible prediction of aortic expansion and rupture. However, current analysis techniques for these images require the use of multiple software platforms for either modeling or simulation, prompting the need for alternatives to improve data processing. This study monitors the …

Bioconjugation Of N-Terminal Functionalized Ca2+/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Ii (Camkii) On Magnetic Beads, Benjamin Moy, Aya Saleh, Tamara L. Kinzer-Ursem

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Protein purification is a fundamental step that commonly precedes structural and functional characterization of proteins. Most of the current protein purification methods are laborious and time consuming due to the multistep nature of the process. Searching for alternative methods that are capable of shortening the purification time and simultaneously enhancing the purity of the purified proteins is therefore needed. The method described in this paper entails surface immobilization of the protein of interest on alkyne-functionalized magnetic beads following selective labeling of the protein’s N-terminus with an azide tag. The utility of this method was tested using Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II …

Lipid Detection In Pig Arteries Using Intravascular Photoacoustic Imaging, Jieying Mai, Yingchun Cao, Ayeeshik Kole, Michael Sturek, Ji-Xin Cheng

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and worldwide. Each year over 370,000 people died from coronary artery disease in America. As the primary form of coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis behaves as lipid-rich plaque development inside an artery wall. Vulnerable plaques are those prone to rupture, which may result in thrombus or even death. Typical hallmarks of a vulnerable plaque include thin fibrous cap, a large lipid-rich necrotic core and inflammatory infiltrate. The identification and accurate detection of these lipid depositions in the arterial wall is crucial in the diagnosis of atherosclerosis. However, none of …

Cellular Model Of Hydrogen Peroxide Release: In Preparation For On-Chip Sensor Measurements, Sarah M. Libring, Hannah R. Kriscovich, James K. Nolan, Siddarth V. Sridharan, Jose F. Rivera, David B. Janes, Jenna L. Rickus

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Hydrogen peroxide is traditionally associated with cellular damage; however, recent studies show that low levels of H₂O₂ are released by cells as part of normal intercellular communication. The mechanisms of hydrogen peroxide transport, uptake and release, and biological effects are not yet well known but have important implications for cancer, stem cells, and aging. Standard H₂O₂ assays cannot make spatially or temporally resolved quantitative measurements at a cellular scale. Previously we developed a microelectrode array (MEA) and calibration methods for quantifying H₂O₂ gradients in space and time. The sensor was validated …

Pathway By Which Vagus Nerve Stimulation Of B Fibers Affects Heart Rate, Kelsey Wasilczuk, Matthew Ward, Pedro Irazoqui

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Heart failure (HF) affects over 5 million adults in the United States. Many HF patients have a high resting heart rate, which is correlated with a high mortality rate. In recent years, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has become an increasingly researched therapy to reduce the resting heart rate of HF patients. However, current dosage given during VNS is increased incrementally at the doctor’s office until side effects present themselves in a patient. In addition, the means by which the therapy works is not completely understood. To better understand the therapy’s mechanisms, the right cervical vagus nerve of several Long Evans …

Nanobubbles Provide Theranostic Relief To Cancer Hypoxia, Christopher M. Long, Pushpak N. Bhandari, Joseph Irudayaraj

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Hypoxia is a common motif among tumors, contributing to metastasis, angiogenesis, cellular epigenetic abnormality, and resistance to cancer therapy. Hypoxia also plays a pivotal role in oncological studies, where it can be used as a principal target for new anti-cancer therapeutic methods. Oxygen nanobubbles were designed in an effort to target the hypoxic tumor regions, thus interrupting the hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) regulatory pathway and inhibiting tumor progression. At less than 100nm, oxygen nanobubbles act as a vehicle for site-specific oxygen delivery, while also serving as an ultrasound contrast agent for advanced imaging purposes. Through in vitro and in vivo studies, …

Fabrication And Evaluation Of Magnetic Micro Actuators For Implantable Self-Clearing Glaucoma Drainage Devices, Haritha Ramadorai, Hyunsu Park, Hyowon Lee

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

According to the World Health Organization, glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world. It currently affects more than 2.7 million people in the United States alone and over 79.6 million people worldwide are estimated to be inflicted by this debilitating disease by 2020. Glaucoma patients are often characterized with elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) and are treated with implantation of glaucoma drainage devices (GDD) to maintain optimum IOP. Although initially effective at delaying glaucoma progression, contemporary GDD often lead to numerous complications and only 50% of implanted devices remain functional after 5 years. Biofouling is seen to …

Bone Tissue Engineering: Scalability And Optimization Of Densified Collagen-Fibril Bone Graft Substitute Materials, John G. Nicholas, Lauren E. Watkins, Sherry L. Voytik-Harbin

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Over 240 million people missing teeth worldwide experience lingering problems such as difficulty speaking and eating, undesirable aesthetics, and resorption of bone supporting neighboring teeth. The gold standard of treatment utilizes grafts to attach a function-restoring implant to supporting bone. Current graft materials suffer from problems including autologous donor site morbidity, long resorption time, incomplete integration with the maxillae or mandible, and structural weakness. Patient-specific, cellularized bone grafts may be a solution to these issues by accelerating and improving the quality of regenerated bone. Recently, encapsulation of mesenchymal stem cells within self-assembling type I collagen oligomer matrices has been shown …

Characterization Of Left-Ventricular Thrombus Formation Using High Frequency Ultrasound, Kelsey A. Bullens, Arvin H. Soepriatna, Pavlos P. Vlachos, Craig J. Goergen

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Heart failure is a leading cause of death in the United States, and cardiac thrombus, a common morbidity associated with heart failure, significantly increases a patient’s risk of embolic events. The objective of this project is to characterize left-ventricular (LV) thrombus development using high frequency ultrasound imaging in a murine model. C57BL/6J wild-type mice (n=6) were injected intraperitoneally with iron dextran five times a week for six weeks to increase oxidative stress in the heart. Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) was subcutaneously injected daily during the second week to initiate stem cell migration and stimulate endothelial cell activation, thus increasing the …

Ball Pressure Correlations With Peak Impact Force And The Potential For Cumulative Mtbi When Heading A Soccer Ball, Nicolas Leiva, Daniel Y. Shyu, Josh Auger, Eric Nauman

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Soccer is a unique sport in which athletes use their heads as tools for gameplay, which may ultimately cause cumulative traumatic brain injuries. Due to rising popularity of soccer in the United States alongside the increased occurrence of CTE and mTBI in other contact sports, there is a growing concern over how to keep the repetitive forces caused by heading, as low as possible. Different variables that can affect the peak force felt when heading a soccer ball can be simulated and compared with in-game data, however, this has never been properly tested before. In the present study two size …

Role Of Sumoylation In Mitochondrial Division In Tetrahymena Thermophila, Ramya Modi, James Forney

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

SUMOylation is a post translation modification that involves the addition of a small protein called SUMO, Small Ubiquitin-like MOdifier to a target protein. It is an important mechanism for the regulation of gene expression, the maintenance of genomic stability and in modifying nuclear proteins. More recently evidence has emerged for its importance in regulating mitochondrial fission and fusion in mammalian cells. This study evaluates the parameters for optimal staining of Tetrahymena thermophila mitochondria using two different dyes and then examines different cell lines with defects in the SUMOylation pathway. The first staining method uses Mitotracker Green, a vital stain that …

Activity Of Protein Kinase A Attached To Magnetic Beads, Kevin P. Lin, Tamara L. Kinzer-Ursem, Mrugesh K. Parasa

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Development of high throughput assays is a crucial step in developing more efficient techniques that aid in many important areas of research today such as drug development or identification of protein structure function relationships. Integration of high throughput assays into more research efforts could drastically decrease the time and cost it takes for a new drug to hit the market. Protein Kinase A (PKA) is an extensively studied protein as it is highly upregulated in cancer and is a hot spot for drug targeting. In this work, azide-tagged PKA is covalently attached to magnetic beads using azide-alkyne cycloaddition, a well-known …

Cartilage Engineering: Optimization Of Media For Chondrogenic Differentiation In Vitro, Evan Surma, Sherry L. Harbin, Hongji Zhang, Stacy Halum

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Lower back pain from intervertebral disc injury affects around 84% of the population at some point in their life, which at its worst may cause total immobilization. This pain can only be temporarily relieved by spinal fusion or intervertebral disc replacement; however, both of these cause loss of natural motion in patients by removing damaged fibrocartilage discs. While these techniques help mitigate pain briefly, no permanent solution exists currently to both relieve pain and preserve natural motion. My work may be a solution by eventually providing patient-specific implants that resemble native tissue in the regeneration process that could be absorbed …

Mechanical Reliability Of Implantable Polyimide-Based Magnetic Microactuators For Biofouling Removal, Christian G. Figueroa-Espada, Qi Yang, Hyowon Lee

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Hydrocephalus is a neurological disorder that typically requires a long-term implantation of a shunt system to manage its symptoms. These shunt systems are notorious for their extremely high failure rate. More than 40% of all implanted shunt systems fail within the first year of implantation. On average, 85% of all hydrocephalus patients with shunt systems undergo at least two shunt-revision surgeries within 10 years of implantation. A large portion of this high failure rate can be attributed to biofouling-related obstructions and infections. Previously, we developed flexible polyimide-based magnetic microactuators to remove obstructions formed on hydrocephalus shunts. To test the long-term …

Using Elastin-Like Polypeptides For Better Retention Of Biofuels, Yu Hong Wang, Ethan T. Hilman, Kevin V. Solomon

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) are synthetic molecules that exhibit an interesting property of inverse temperature phase transition; they exist as soluble monomers at low temperatures and form insoluble aggregates at higher temperatures. The transition temperature depends on the pH, salt concentration, and the amino acid sequence of the ELP. This unique and reversible behavior, along with their high biocompatibility has made them a strategic tool for various biomedical applications. However, their hydrophobic properties also make them a prime candidate for biofuel production. As high levels of many commercially important organic solvents are toxic to the cells that make them, ELPs can …