Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Molecular Dynamics At Constant Pressure: Allowing The System To Control Volume Fluctuations Via A "Shell" Particle, Mark J. Uline, David S. Corti

Faculty Publications

Since most experimental observations are performed at constant temperature and pressure, the isothermal-isobaric (NPT) ensemble has been widely used in molecular simulations. Nevertheless, the NPT ensemble has only recently been placed on a rigorous foundation. The proper formulation of the NPT ensemble requires a "shell" particle to uniquely identify the volume of the system, thereby avoiding the redundant counting of configurations. Here, we review our recent work in incorporating a shell particle into molecular dynamics simulation algorithms to generate the correct NPT ensemble averages. Unlike previous methods, a piston of unknown mass is no longer needed to control the response …

Biomechanics Of Porcine Renal Artery And The Development Of A Replacment Vessel, Mohamed Gabr

Theses and Dissertations

Mechanical characterization of biological soft tissues is essential in the field of biomedical engineering. In this study several loading experiments have been performed to efficiently characterize the passive mechanical response of both native porcine renal arteries and newly developed tissue constructs. The first aim of these studies is to determine whether there is a difference in mechanical response between the main renal artery and its first branch. After fitting the bi-axial data to a Holzapfel-type constitutive model, the results show that there is no statistical difference between the model parameters for renal artery and the first branch. The only significant …

Toward Directing Cell Fate: Carbon Nanotubes As Modulators Of Extracellular And Transporters Of Intracellular Cues, Qingsu Cheng

Theses and Dissertations

The unique properties of CNTs lead CNTs attractive in biological engineering applications. It is expected to use CNT based biomaterials for clinic use in the near future. CNTs can be used to tune cellular fate through bother extracellular pathway and intracellular pathway. CNT based biomaterials has been applied into bone, nerves, and cardiovascular system. There has also been progress in the use of CNTs in controlling cellular alignment, to enhance tissue regeneration, growth factor delivery and gene delivery.

Pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) offer a promising tool in tissue engineering strategies, as their differentiated derivatives can be used to reconstruct most …

Cryptococcus Neoformans Chemotyping By Quantitative Analysis Of H-1 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectra Of Glucuronoxylomannans With A Computer-Simulated Artificial Neural Network, Robert Cherniak, Homayoun Valafar, Laura C. Morris, Faramarz Valafar

Faculty Publications

The complete assignment of the proton chemical shifts obtained by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of de-O-acetylated glucuronoxylomannans (GXMs) from Cryptococcus neoformanspermitted the high-resolution determination of the total structure of any GXM. Six structural motifs based on an α-(1→3)-mannotriose substituted with variable quantities of 2-O-β- and 4-O-β-xylopyranosyl and 2-O-β-glucopyranosyluronic acid were identified. The chemical shifts of only the anomeric protons of the mannosyl residues served as structure reporter groups (SRG) for the identification and quantitation of the six triads present in any GXM. The assigned protons for the mannosyl residues resonated at clearly …