Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Characterizing Stiffness Dynamics Of Normal And Malignant Breast Spheroids Using Brillouin Microscopy, Razanne Rafat Zaghloul, Karlin Hilai, Chenjun Shi, Jitao Zhang

Medical Student Research Symposium

Background: Breast cancer progression and metastasis are closely linked to alterations in the mechanical properties of tumor cells and their microenvironment. Softer, more deformable cells are often associated with higher metastatic potential. While atomic force microscopy (AFM) is the current gold standard for mechanical characterization, it is limited to surface measurements and can damage 3D cultures. It remains unclear how the mechanical properties evolve over time in normal versus malignant spheroids. This study utilizes Brillouin light-scattering microscopy, a non-contact and label-free optical technique, to assess stiffness changes in normal and malignant breast epithelial spheroids over time. Understanding these mechanical signatures …

Mechanisms Of Ventricular Catheter Obstruction, Mohamed Khalil Attie Ms, Christopher Roberts Ms, Carolyn Harris Phd

Medical Student Research Symposium

Background: Hydrocephalus is treated primarily with ventriculoperitoneal shunts, which fail over time mainly due to proximal ventricular catheter (VC) obstruction of the drainage holes. Prior computational fluid dynamics (CFD) studies based on idealized geometries have suggested that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) preferentially enters distal holes due to lower resistance, thereby increasing the risk of obstruction at those locations. However, these models do not incorporate explanted VC data, patient-specific anatomy, or differences in catheter architecture.

Methods: To evaluate whether flow distribution matches failure sites, we compared obstruction patterns from 30 explanted catheters with CFD simulations of four commercial VC designs. For every …

Determining The Wound Closure Capabilities Of A Biological Engineered Blood Vessel For Hd Access, Brianna Regan, Alex Dumitru, Mai Lam

Medical Student Research Symposium

End stage renal disease (ESRD) is a prominent chronic condition with dialysis as a primary treatment option. Dialysis necessitates implementation of an access point, with the gold standard being an AV fistula which possesses multiple shortcomings. Alternative access points, namely synthetic grafts, do not allow wound healing characteristics. This work aims to explore how a tissue engineered vascular graft (TEVG) may be able to address these issues by allowing a long-term access point for HD that can close puncture wounds.

The effects of growth factors on our cells were tested preliminarily by means of a scratch assay on plates of …

Investigating The Role Of Knee Damping In Reducing Joint Forces During Walking And Its Implications For Osteoarthritis Patients, Samantha Briggs

Wayne State University Theses

Arthritis is a leading cause of activity limitation and chronic pain worldwide. Particularly in cases of knee osteoarthritis, mobility impairments are largely due to pain at the arthritic joint. During normal gait, forces across the knee joint peak during the weight acceptance and early midstance phases. Hence, providing damping at the knee joint during this period of the gait cycle may be effective in decreasing the joint forces and pain experienced by osteoarthritis patients while walking. To examine the role of knee damping in reducing joint forces, an eddy current braking device was automated to provide targeted resistance at the …

Interpatient Differences In Neural Recruitment Patterns During Pudendal Nerve Stimulation – A Computational Investigation, Amolak S. Jhand, Luis C. Ruiz, Nystha Baishya, Ehsan Mirzakhalili, Gaurang Shah, Priyanka Gupta, Tim M. Bruns, Scott F. Lempka

Medical Student Research Symposium

Bladder dysfunction impairs the quality of life for millions of individuals around the world. Common causes of bladder dysfunction include aging, trauma, and neurological disorders. Due to inadequacies in conventional treatments, neuromodulation therapies to address bladder dysfunction, such as sacral nerve stimulation, have emerged. However, patient needs still remain unmet. Pudendal nerve stimulation (PNS) has recently gained clinical interest as a promising treatment for bladder dysfunction. While PNS has been extensively investigated in preclinical settings, there is a gap in our understanding of the mechanisms of action and efficacy of PNS as limited studies of PNS have been performed on …

Characterizing Human Schwann Cell Behavior Using Hyaluronic Acid Material Properties, Christine Hampton

Wayne State University Theses

Schwann cells are the principal glia in the peripheral nervous system, supporting normal peripheral nerve function, particularly in the myelination of motor and sensory axons of the peripheral nerves. Disruptions in normal Schwann cell function such as injury and disease can lead to decreased motor function, sensory capability, and neuropathic pain. Efforts to treat this do not always have consistent or favorable outcomes, so there has been an increased interest in developing tissue engineering solutions to address these problems. Studies have been conducted on various cell types to characterize the cellular response to material properties such as topography and material …

Silk Fibroin - Hyaluronic Acid Nanofibers For Peripheral Nerve Regeneration, Madeline Rose Badrak

Wayne State University Theses

Peripheral neuropathy is common and is a major source of pain that can lead to debilitating loss of function. Healing often requires medical intervention through autologous nerve grafts. However, autografting is not always successful and can lead to increased debilitation through donor site morbidity. Tissue engineering seeks to improve nerve injury treatment though the use of nerve conduits. Conduits made from functional biomaterials can be implanted into a nerve injury site encouraging and controlling axonal regrowth without causing additional harm to the patient. Both silk fibroin (SF) and hyaluronic acid (HA) have proven successful in the field of neural tissue …

Differentiating Axonal From Demyelinating Neuropathies Using Multiparametric Quantitative Mri Of Peripheral Nerves, Jacob D. Baraz, Stephanie Xuan, Sadaf Saba, Xue Yang, Ryan Castoro, Yang Xuan, Alison Roth, Richard D. Dortch, Jun Li, Yongsheng Chen

Medical Student Research Symposium

Objectives: To develop a multiparametric quantitative MRI (qMRI) method to track pathological changes in the peripheral neuropathies.

Background: Irrespective of the causes or types of polyneuropathies, peripheral nerves are mainly afflicted by two kinds of pathologies – axonal loss and demyelination. It is critical to differentiate between the two as treatments are different for the two conditions. While nerve conduction studies (NCS) have been used to differentiate the two pathologies in the distal nerves, there are no tools to probe the pathologies in the proximal peripheral nerves. This is particularly needed when distal nerves become non-responsive in NCS.

Methods: We …

Evaluation Of A Portable Gynecological Examination Table On Increasing Access To Cervical Cancer Screenings, Brennan Burrows, Giuliana Motta, Vibhasri Davuluri, Urvee Deo, Aman Tahir, Brindha Rajakumar, Jacob Blumenstein, Eliza Steinberg, Mariam Tobia, Asmita Tuladhar, Abigail Ahn

Medical Student Research Symposium

Introduction: Cervical cancer is a preventable disease affecting millions of women worldwide, with higher prevalence and mortality in developing countries. One explanation of this disparity is due to reduced access to screenings, especially in rural communities where mobile health clinics are limited by what medical equipment they can bring. To address these barriers, an engineering team called Project MESA (Making Examinations Safe and Accessible) designed a gynecological examination table that is portable, lightweight, and easily sanitizable.

Objective: This study aims to (1) evaluate whether the implementation of this device improves the clinician’s ability to perform pap smears as opposed to …

Investigation Of Biomechanical Thresholds Of Mild To Severe Brain Injury Using An Anisotropic Visco-Hyperelastic Finite Element Head Model: Model Development And Simulation Of Impact Injury And Blast Injury, Ding Lyu

Wayne State University Dissertations

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a significant cause of death and disability in the United States, with approximately 2.5 million emergency department visits, 288,000 hospitalizations, and 56,800 deaths reported to be related to TBI. The majority of TBIs are caused by blunt impacts resulting from falls and motor vehicle crashes. The head injury criterion is the only standard used to assess the safety related to vehicles, personal protective gear, and sports equipment. A new brain injury criterion assessing rotation velocity effect was recently proposed by the US government. Unfortunately, it derivation from animal data scaled to a computer model of …

Development Of A Vascularized Osteogenic Implant Using Fused Glycosaminoglycan-Chitosan Microcapsules, Charles Michael Gabrion

Wayne State University Theses

Osteoarthritis remains a poorly treatable outcome of traumatic cartilage injury as cartilage is unable to self-repair. Unfortunately, roughly 10% of all adults in the United States have been diagnosed with osteoarthritis although the true fraction is likely at least 30%. While the main focus of osteoarthritis research has been on treating damage to the cartilage, osteoarthritis will also lead to damage to the adjacent trabecular bone due to wear via shearing down of the tissue’s surface. Considering this, in conjuncture with transplanted cartilages’ inability to integrate into the native tissue, unlike the surrounding bone, the significance of a combined osteochondral …

Cardio-Net: A Matlab-Based Software For The Display And Diagnostic Utilization Of Vectorcardiograms, Ali H. Mannaa, Domenico Gatti

Medical Student Research Symposium

Background: The 12-lead technique is the standard in ECG, however alternate cardiography modalities such as vectorcardiography (VCG) exist . While the VCG modality offers unique clinical metrics and certain advantages over ECG, it is hardly utilized due to it being more difficult to obtain than ECG. Here we introduce Cardio-Net, a MATLAB-based software that uses standard 12-lead ECG data to generate and visualize VCGs. Furthermore, we demonstrate the diagnostic potential of VCG by utilizing a recurrent neural network (RNN) to accurately classify vectorcardiograms.

Methods: MATLAB version 2019b and the following toolboxes were used for data processing: Deep learning, …

Segmentation Of Intracranial Structures From Noncontrast Ct Images With Deep Learning, Evan Porter

Wayne State University Dissertations

Presented in this work is an investigation of the application of artificially intelligent algorithms, namely deep learning, to generate segmentations for the application in functional avoidance radiotherapy treatment planning. Specific applications of deep learning for functional avoidance include generating hippocampus segmentations from computed tomography (CT) images and generating synthetic pulmonary perfusion images from four-dimensional CT (4DCT).A single institution dataset of 390 patients treated with Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery was created. From these patients, the hippocampus was manually segmented on the high-resolution MR image and used for the development of the data processing methodology and model testing. It was determined that …

Automated, Robust Radiomics Biomarker Modeling For Glioblastoma, Eric Nathan Carver

Wayne State University Dissertations

Individualized medicine is possible due to the discovery that a patient’s gene expression can serve as a bio-marker and provide prognostic clinical knowledge. The genetic revolution increased interest in the field of “-omics” which investigates differing classifications of patient characteristics to increase clinician knowledge, which directly improves patient care. Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive brain cancer and very difficult to treat, resulting in a 15 month median survival. Researchers have discovered several patient specific markers, specifically IDH1 and MGMT methylation, which energized further research for GBM patient specific markers. A relatively new subfield of ‘-omics’ is Radiomics; which aims …

Photoacoustic Imaging For Image-Guided Interventions, Samuel John

Wayne State University Dissertations

Image-guided surgeries and therapeutic procedures utilize imaging modalities to enhance the surgeon’s capability of visualizing and guiding the medical instruments within the body. One such application is the endovenous laser ablation (EVLA), which utilizes an ultrasound (US)-guided catheter carrying high power continuous wave (CW) energy for treating varicose veins. Varicose veins, a condition defined by venous insufficiency, affects nearly 40 million people in the United States annually. In EVLA procedures, US limitations including angular dependency, poor contrast-to-noise ratio, poor signal-to-noise ratio, and artifacts limit the ability of the surgeon to detect the catheter tip within the vein. Furthermore, the absence …

The Advanced Applications For Optical Coherence Tomography In Skin Imaging, Qiuyun Xu

Wayne State University Dissertations

Optical coherence tomography (OCT), based on the principle of interferometry, is a fast and non-invasive imaging modality, which has been approved by FDA for dermatologic applications. OCT has high spatial resolution up to micrometer scale compared to traditional ultrasound imaging. In addition, OCT can provide real-time cross-sectional images with 1 to 2 mm penetration depth, which makes it an ideal imaging technique to assess the skin micro-morphology and pathology without any tissue removal. Many studies have investigated the possibilities of using OCT to evaluate dermatologic conditions, such as skin cancer, dermatitis, psoriasis, and skin damages. Hence, OCT has tremendous potential …

Multiparametric Quantitative Acoustic Imaging Of Cervical Remodeling During Pregnancy, Yan Yan

Wayne State University Dissertations

The uterine cervix plays a central role in the maintenance of pregnancy and the process of parturition. Untimely cervical ripening in early gestation predisposes to preterm labor and delivery, the leading cause of infant mortality worldwide. The current approach to evaluate the status of the cervix relies on digital and sonographic examination, which indicates the morphological changes of the cervix (cervical length). Therefore, assessing cervix tissue composition changes may provide more sensitive evaluations about cervix status beyond cervical length. Photoacoustic (PA) imaging is a relatively new, non-invasive ultrasound (US) based technology that captures acoustic signals emitted by tissue components in …

Assessing Midbrain Abnormalities In Parkinson’S Disease Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Kiarash Ghassaban

Wayne State University Dissertations

Diagnosing early-stage Parkinson’s disease (PD) and its manifestations is still a clinical challenge. Previous imaging studies using iron, neuromelanin (NM) and the Nigrosome-1 (N1) measures in the substantia nigra (SN) by themselves have been unable to provide sufficiently high diagnostic performance for these methods to be adopted clinically. In this dissertation, we start by studying idiopathic PD patients at their intermediate stages of the disease to evaluate the role of global and regional iron in the major deep gray matter nuclei. Then, we only focus on the NM complex in the midbrain and how neuronal loss interact with iron overload …

Investigation Of Physiochemical Properties And Biocompatibility Of Amourphos Calcium Polyphosphate Hydrogel Doped With Antibiotics And Injectable Polymeric Dicalcium Phosphate Dihydrate Bone Cement, Yasaman Chehreghanianzabi

Wayne State University Dissertations

Amorphous calcium polyphosphate (ACPP) is an inorganic polymer ceramic. Here we use a simple method of preparing ACPP hydrogel in the presence of excess volume of water. Essentially, water availability to polyphosphate chains accelerates water molecule ingress and microstructural transformation of ACPP hydrogels. Antibiotic delivery capacity of ACPP hydrogel increases by the specific mixing and molding method, where the VCM has higher antibiotic encapsulation efficiency with the small burst release for the compressed discs. In part of this study, we investigate impact of ACPP hydrogel replacement by monomeric calcium phosphate on the quality of final product (dicalcium phosphate dihydrates (DCPD) …

Development Of Photoacoustic Tomographic Systems For Brain Hemorrhage Detection, Karl Kratkiewicz

Wayne State University Dissertations

Preterm neonates (age) and/or with low birth weight (

Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is an imaging modality which derives its contrast from differences in optical absorption coefficients of tissue through laser irradiation and acoustic detection. Therefore, PAI derives its signal directly from optical absorbers such as blood; the critical component in a hemorrhage. We discuss operation and processing methods of our Verasonics Vantage system. We then investigate thermal safety of PAI in mouse model for various laser pulse repetitions rates and illumination duration. We then develop two photoacoustic tomographic systems for eventual translation to clinic for hemorrhage detection. One system being …

Spatiotemporal Release Of Growth Factors In A Biomaterial-Focused Organotypic Spinal Cord Injury Model, Elizabeth Mays

Wayne State University Dissertations

Over 17,000 people per year in the United States sustain a spinal cord injury (SCI) for which there is no gold standard of care and life-long complications. SCI is a complex wound environment with various growth factors (GFs), cellular activity, and scar formation at various timepoints. For example, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is released immediately to protect local support cells, namely oligodendrocytes (OLs). Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has peak expression at 2-3 days in mice and 5-7 days in humans, and aids axonal growth across the injury site. Incidentally this is around the same time as M1 macrophage …

In Vitro Atherosclerosis Disease Model Via The Ring Stacking Method, Cameron Brandon Pinnock

Wayne State University Dissertations

Creation of an in vitro atherosclerotic disease model using the novel Ring Stacking Method. Singular self-assembling tissue rings made up smooth muscle cells and fibrin hydrogel are stacked on one another to create a tissue engineered vessel. These biologically engineered blood vessels are then seeded with endothelial cells via combined static rotational and dynamic bioreactor in order to create a functional intima layer. Early stage atherosclerosis was induced via the addition of oxidized low-density lipoproteins (ox-LDL) to the fibrin hydrogel that creates the media layer of the engineered vessel. After the creation of the intima layer the engineered vessel was …

Development Of A Novel Cardiac Ischemia-Reperfusion Model In The Axolotl, Jeremy Tolentino Llaniguez

Wayne State University Dissertations

The Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics data for mortality from diseases of the heart show the age-adjusted death rate has fallen from almost 600 deaths in the 1950s to just over 190 deaths per 100,000 U.S. residents today. With the recognized limitations of pharmacotherapy of myocardial infarction (MI), cell-based therapies have been undergoing rapid development and clinical testing. However, there is still no consensus about cell types, delivery routes, dosing and treatment schedules and pretreatment conditioning of cells prior to administration. Furthermore, a fundamental question remains unanswered about the reasons for the poor capacity for myocardial …

Incorporating Cardiac Substructures Into Radiation Therapy For Improved Cardiac Sparing, Eric Daniel Morris

Wayne State University Dissertations

Growing evidence suggests that radiation therapy (RT) doses to the heart and cardiac substructures (CS) are strongly linked to cardiac toxicities, though only the heart is considered clinically. This work aimed to utilize the superior soft-tissue contrast of magnetic resonance (MR) to segment CS, quantify uncertainties in their position, assess their effect on treatment planning and an MR-guided environment.

Automatic substructure segmentation of 12 CS was completed using a novel hybrid MR/computed tomography (CT) atlas method and was improved upon using a 3-dimensional neural network (U-Net) from deep learning. Intra-fraction motion due to respiration was then quantified. The inter-fraction setup …

Computational Analysis Of Oxidative Stress In Endothelial Dysfunction: Insights On The Role Of Tetrahydrobiopterin, Ascorbate And Glutathione, Sheetal Kedar Panday

Wayne State University Dissertations

Oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction are reported in the cardiovascular and neurovascular diseases. Oxidative stress is caused due to an increase in the generation of reactive oxygen (ROS) and nitrogen species (RNS) and incapacity of antioxidant systems to eliminate ROS and RNS. Endothelial dysfunction is characterized by a reduction in nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability. NO is constitutively produced by enzyme endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). A reduction in tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), which is an essential cofactor of eNOS, can lead to eNOS uncoupling. There is complex interplay between the ROS/RNS and antioxidant system underlying pathophysiologies of vascular diseases, however our quantitative …

Evaluation Of Far-Side Occupant Safety Based On Numerical Modeling, Syed Akhtar Imam

Wayne State University Dissertations

The objective of this study was to augment the knowledge of the far-side occupant injury biomechanics in side impact vehicle crashes. Most research studies conducted to investigate the far-side occupant injuries are through the field crash data for a better understanding of human impact responses, injury mechanisms, and injury tolerance levels. The data obtained from field data is also used in the development of injury mitigation technologies, such as safety belts, airbags, etc. A field data represents the injury outcome of an automotive crash, but it doesn’t leave behind enough information for in-depth knowledge. The use of cadaver is the …

Development Of Rat Head Finite Element Model And Tissue Level Biomechanical Threshold For Traumatic Axonal Injury, Runzhou Zhou

Wayne State University Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is caused by local tissue deformation at the time of trauma, leading to neurological dysfunction. In the United States alone, 2.87 million people sustain a TBI each year, of which one-fifth results in death. Traumatic axonal injury (TAI) is a well-recognized consequence of every fatal head injury and more than 85% of vehicular crash-related blunt head injuries. The most common and important pathologic feature of TBIs are multifocal changes to axons in the white matter produced by rapid head acceleration/deceleration during a traumatic event with consequent local shear/tension on neural tissue and axons contributing to secondary …

Titanium Nitride Nanotube Electrodes Used In Neural Signal Recording Application And Neurotransmitter Detection, Gui Chen

Wayne State University Dissertations

Electrode probes are devices widely used for stimulating and recording neural cell signals in the neuroscience field, which can convert the ion potential generated by electrochemical activities into an electronic potential that can be measured by the external instrument systems. A stable neural interface that effectively communicates with the nervous system via electrode is much important for the robust recording and the long-term monitoring of the activity of the neural signals. These probes are designed to minimize tissue damage for superior signal quality. Each probe’s mechanical, geometric, and electrical characteristics are precise and highly reproducible for consistent, high-quality results. There …

Communication Of Deaf People Based On Myoware Muscle Sensor, Mohamad Ataya

Research Opportunities for Engineering Undergraduates (ROEU) Program 2018-19

The current project aims to create a product that enhances communication of deaf people. The developed product has the following features:

• a muscle sensor that transcribes sign language into actual letters

• a voice detector that translates speech into actual words

• the ability to receive and send emergency alerts.

Optimization Of Underbody Blast Energy-Attenuating Seat Mechanisms Using Modified Madymo Hybrid Iii And Human Body Models, Kelly Erin Bryan Bosch

Wayne State University Dissertations

Energy attenuating (EA) blast seats, although not new to the market, have not been fully characterized with respect to energy attenuation capability and the resulting effects on occupant protection. EA seats utilize stroking mechanisms to absorb energy and reduce the vertical forces imparted on the occupant’s pelvis and lower spine complex. Although a variety of EA seats are available on the market, the fundamental question behind how to optimize the force and deflection rates of the EA mechanisms to effectively reduce occupant injury has not yet been answered. Using modeling and simulation techniques, this research developed a tool to determine …