Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Retrospective Analysis Of Implemented Project Management Within A Small-Scale Student Engineering Project: Beng Fountain Wars Team Case Study, Holli E. Jenkins

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This honors thesis provides a retrospective analysis of how the 2025 inaugural University of Arkansas’s ASABE Fountain Wars Student Team could be improved through project management. Project commitment, early stakeholder influence, rich communication, and a detailed project plan are all attributes of successful projects, and the team’s strengths and weaknesses within these categories were determined through a team poll. After the poll was conducted, three methodologies, Agile, Hybrid, and Waterfall, were assessed to determine how they would effectively address the team’s weaknesses. A weighted objectives table was created to compare each methodology’s effectiveness across the management categories. The analysis revealed …

The Developing Role Of Ai In Modern Engineering Research, Rianna Pais

The Cardinal Edge

No abstract provided.

Monitoring Eye Movements To Assess The Impact Of Sensory Feedback On Cognitive Workload During Myoelectric Prosthetic Hand Use, Naomi Tchoungang, Hailey Dirrigl, Justin Asbee

2026 Research Poster Competition

Modern prosthetic hands allow users to grasp and manipulate objects, but many users must constantly watch the device to complete even simple tasks. This heavy reliance on vision increases cognitive effort, slows movement, and makes prosthetic use feel less natural. An important question in prosthetics research is whether providing sensory feedback (enabling users to feel what the prosthetic hand is doing) can reduce this cognitive load and improve performance. In this study, sensory feedback refers to a system that provides clear tactile cues to the user upon contact between the prosthetic hand and an object, helping replace information normally felt …

Assessing Mesenchymal Stem Cell Phenotype After Heparan Sulfate Supplementation, Isani Patel

2026 Research Poster Competition

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that damages the protective coating of nerves, often causing lasting neurological symptoms. Current treatments slow disease activity but rarely repair existing damage. In response to this, a novel treatment option has emerged: mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy. MSCs are cells found in different adult tissues like bone marrow, and they have the potential to release repair-supporting signals and moderate inflammation. Nevertheless, results in a clinical setting have been inconsistent due to variations in cell potency. As a potential strategy to enhance MSC therapeutic potential, the addition of heparan sulfate, a naturally occurring signaling molecule, …

Cardiovascular Monitoring For Maternal Health Using Wearable Devices, Daniela Alejandra Vasquez

2026 Research Poster Competition

Cardiovascular disease represents the leading cause of pregnancy-related mortality in the United States, accounting for over 30% of maternal deaths, with preeclampsia and hypertensive disorders contributing significantly to this burden. In Arkansas, maternal mortality rates reach 41.9 deaths per 100,000 live births. Current prenatal care relies on intermittent office-based blood pressure measurements conducted during 12-14 clinical visits, may not capture critical cardiovascular changes in a timely manner. Preeclampsia is characterized by new-onset hypertension after 20 weeks of gestation, affects 3-7% of pregnancies, and requires early detection to enable timely intervention. The limited accessibility of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in rural …

Uav-Based Sensor Integration For In-Situ Lake Water Quality Monitoring, Alec Campbell

2026 Research Poster Competition

Current water quality assessment methods rely heavily on manual sampling and laboratory analysis, which are time-consuming and difficult to perform in remote or hazardous environments. In surface water monitoring, spatial and temporal resolution is often constrained by labor, access, and logistical limitations of manual sampling programs. This research aims to develop a drone-based system for real-time, in situ lake water quality monitoring. To address these challenges, the project focuses on integrating multiple water quality sensors, including oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), turbidity, and a multispectral spectrometer, into a compact, UAV-compatible design capable of collecting spatially referenced data. Methods: …

Enhancing Prosthetic Hand Training Through A Virtual Reality–Based Framework Integrated With The Coapt Control System., Iruoghene Ojoh

2026 Research Poster Competition

Enhancing Prosthetic Hand Training Through a Virtual Reality–Based Framework  Integrated with the Coapt Control System. Ojoh, I.1,2, Shell, A.1,  Asbee, J.1, Aguilar, D.1 ,Abbas, J.1,2,   1Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR;  2Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR  Introduction: Advances in upper-limb prosthetic hardware have greatly improved strength, durability, and mechanical performance; however, achieving intuitive control of EMG-based myoelectric prosthetic hands remains a significant challenge for individuals with trans-radial amputations. These devices rely on electromyography (EMG) signals generated by residual forearm muscles, which require consistent and well-coordinated muscle activation. Many users experience difficulty …

Monitoring Streambank Morphology Using Iphone Lidar Technology, Lily C. Stitt

2026 Research Poster Competition

Monitoring stream morphology is crucial for maintaining the health and safety of fluvial environments, particularly as these naturally dynamic systems are shifted out of equilibrium due to climate and land-use change. Quantifying these changes in stream geometry is useful for infrastructure design, water quality assessment, water resource management, and stream restoration, among other applications. Traditional stream surveying methods contain limitations that inhibit affordable and accessible stream surveying needed for evaluating fluvial systems with high accuracy and large data samples. In recent years, several advancements have been made in the use of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology as an alternative …

Comparison Of Milling Cutting Forces In Synthetic And Biological Cancellous Bone, Matthew Christopher Hartwell

Masters Theses

In many orthopedic and dental interventions, the cutting and removal of bone is necessary. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that the tools used during these procedures are designed and tested with biological bone or a bone surrogate material that machines the same way as biological bone. To avoid the cost, hazard, and inconsistency of biological cadaveric bone or animal models, many biological engineering firms use bone surrogate material made of glass fiber filled epoxy and polyurethane foam. Although these materials may mimic the elongation of cortical and cancellous bone, respectively, the match of machinability of the bone is …

Cellular Mechanisms Of Spinal Motoneuron Hypoexcitability Underlying Dynapenia In Aging, Ibrahim Abdul Halim

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Age-related weakness remains poorly understood as the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. While synaptic input and muscular changes have been investigated with age, intrinsic motoneuron excitability alterations are often overlooked. This thesis provides the first direct assessment of intrinsic excitability and ion channel properties of spinal α-MNs from male and female mice across three ages: young, middle aged, and old. Our findings reveal a decline in intrinsic excitability of motoneurons with age in both sexes. Mechanistic analysis shows sex specific differences: female motoneurons exhibit increased dendritic size, hyperpolarized RMP, and SK channel overactivation, whereas males show only SK overactivation with age. …

Enhanced Diagnostics And Surveillance Of Enteroviruses Including Serotypes Associated With Acute Flaccid Myelitis, Denise Lynette Kramer

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Prior to 2014, Enterovirus D68 infections typically caused symptoms resembling the common cold. From 2014-2018, D68 was associated with an increase in acute flaccid myelitis. However, since 2020, neurological complications have all but disappeared. We selected 1076 respiratory specimens previously determined to be positive for rhinovirus or enterovirus from Department of Defense members and their beneficiaries collected globally from October 2018 through January 2024 and underwent sequencing. Of these specimens, 93.7% were identified as rhinoviruses, while 6.3% were enteroviruses, including 30 enterovirus D68. We utilized the Nextstrain bioinformatic pipeline to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationship of these 30 D68 viruses. Twenty-two …

Vagus Nerve Stimulation Ameliorates Cognitive Impairment Caused By Hypoxia, Birendra Sharma

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Hypoxia disrupts brain function due to the high demand for oxygen, leading to significant cognitive impairments. While vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been shown to enhance cognition, its ability to counteract hypoxia-induced deficits remains unclear. In this study, male Sprague–Dawley rats were assigned to sham, hypoxia, or VNS + hypoxia groups, with VNS delivered during hypoxia (8% oxygen) using biphasic pulses (100 μs, 30 Hz, 0.8 mA). Cognitive performance was evaluated using multiple behavioral paradigms, and hippocampal tissue was analyzed for neurotrophin expression through quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry. Among the behavioral measures, hypoxia specifically impaired performance on the passive avoidance …

The Role Of Trpm7 In Mouse Development And Immune Cell Function, Jananie Rockwood

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Transient receptor melastatin 7 (TRPM7) functions both as an ion channel and a protein kinase. TRPM7 has been implicated in Mg2+ homeostasis, embryogenesis, cardiac automaticity, and immunity. The purpose of this research was to deepen our understanding of TRPM7 channel and kinase functions. To this end, we used two transgenic mouse models: the TRPM7 gain-of-function (GOF) and TRPM7 kinase-dead (KD) mice to address the consequences of increased channel activity and kinase inactivation, respectively. Global deletion of TRPM7 or the kinase domain alone are embryonic lethal, therefore, we used the TRPM7 GOF mouse to investigate germline transmission. We examined embryo development …

Induced Reduction Of N-Glycosylation Leads To Heart Failure, Anthony M. Young

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Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and contributes to the increasing global prevalence of heart failure (HF). N-glycosylation is a common co-/post-translational modification where branching oligosaccharides are bound to the extracellular domain of membrane proteins. This creates a diverse range of glycan structures and requires the coordination of hundreds of regulated genes. Inherited mutations in glycan synthesis frequently present with cardiomyopathies leading to HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Additionally, gene expression studies of HFrEF patients have shown altered expression of glycosylation-related genes, including alpha-1,3-mannosyl-glycoproten 2-beta-N acetlyglucosaminyltransferase (Mgat1). This gene encodes N-acetylglucosaminyl transferase 1 (GlcNAcT1) which is required …

The Impact Of Ahr And Hs1.2 Enhancer Genetic Variations On Igh Expression And Antibody Production In Human B Cells, Mili Santosh Bhakta-Yadav

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Antibody production is an essential component of the immune response against pathogens. The immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) gene codes for the heavy chain of antibodies. The IgH constant regions Cμ, Cδ, Cγ1-4, Cα1-2, and Cε encode the five major classes of antibodies, i.e., IgM, IgD, IgG1-4, IgA1-2, and IgE, respectively. The transcription of the IgH gene and class switch from IgM to other isotypes is regulated by two 3’ IgH regulatory regions (3’IgHRRs), each of which is a cluster of three enhancer regions (hs3, hs1.2 and hs4). The genetic variations in the hs1.2 enhancer have been identified; a ~53 bp …

Jovial Family Farm Facilitates Intergenerational Learning Opportunities Through Urban Farming, Maera Williams

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Maera Williams is a sophomore in Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University. She joined the Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) Urban Farming team as a freshman and now serves as project manager of ten undergraduate students collaborating with Jovial Family Farm to design and develop three indoor hydroponics systems for a laboratory space on their property in Broad Ripple, IN. Jovial Family Farm is a nonprofit organization founded by Drs. Bobbie and Brian Jellison with the mission to provide senior citizens, their families, and their communities with meaningful engagement opportunities on an intergenerational scale through urban agricultural activities. …

Development Of A High-Throughput Screening Platform To Profile Gene Delivery And Transcriptional Control In Macrophages, Alexis Ivy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Macrophages are an important cell type in the body responsible for orchestrating the inflammatory response and return to homeostasis. Macrophages are often implicated in a multitude of disease pathologies including delayed wound healing, excessive fibrosis, autoimmune disease, and immunosuppression within the tumor microenvironment. Although macrophages have been targeted for therapeutic applications, success in utilizing them has remained elusive due to their relative ease of phenotype switching between inflammatory and anti-inflammatory. The challenge that remains is developing clinically relevant delivery vehicles that can target macrophages without causing a phenotypic switch counter-productive to the desired response. This is especially important when targeting …

What Is Biological Engineering? – A Magazine, Morgan Christensen

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Biological Engineering is one of the less commonly known fields of engineering and can be challenging to describe to someone outside the discipline. The most common question I've been asked during my undergraduate career is "What is biological engineering?". My answer has changed throughout my time at Utah State University as I've had more experiences within the discipline. This project focuses on answering this question in the format of a magazine to help bridge the gap between those in the discipline and a general audience. By using a magazine as the format, the content must be organized and written in …

Sports Science: An Entrepreneurial Venture, Nicole J. Jones

Senior Honors Projects

In sports science, ensuring maximum athlete safety and optimizing data utilization are pivotal yet leave room for further work. My project, Unbeaten SafeWare, addresses these critical issues by focusing on two primary concerns: preventing heat-related and cardiac illnesses, which are significant causes of athlete fatalities, and enhancing the transparency and utility of sports data. This initiative involves developing a shirt integrated with sensors to monitor vital signs and an athlete management system to handle data input, storage, analysis, and accessibility for athletes.

The project has advanced through the efforts of a multidisciplinary team, which includes biomedical engineering undergraduates, two faculty …

Spectrophotometric Device For Early Malaria Detection, Adrian Wasylewski, Christopher Faber, Victor Lin

Honors Thesis

Malaria remains a significant global health challenge, with millions of cases reported annually, particularly in resource-limited regions. Timely and accurate diagnosis is crucial for effective treatment and disease management. Unfortunately, there are still significant challenges in existing testing procedures, which are often expensive, inaccurate, or impractical for mass testing. While spectrophotometry has been proposed as a detection tool for other tropical diseases such as dengue fever, no prototype has been made for any disease, including malaria. This report addresses this gap by presenting a spectrophotometric-based malaria detection tool that achieves high sensitivity at a low cost. The inclusion of a …

Development Of 3d Printed Anatomically Equivalent Thermoplastic Polyurethane Conduits For Peripheral Nerve Regeneration, Allen Zennifer M

Theses and Dissertations

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an emerging tool for creating patient-specific tissue constructs analogous to the native tissue microarchitecture. In this study, anatomically equivalent 3D nerve conduits were developed using thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) by combining reverse engineering and material extrusion (i.e., fused deposition modelling) technique.

Printing parameters were optimized to fabricate nerve-equivalent TPU constructs. The TPU constructs printed with different infill densities supported the adhesion, proliferation, and gene expression of neuronal cells. Subcutaneous implantation of the TPU constructs for three months in rats showed neovascularization with negligible local tissue inflammatory reactions and was classified as a non-irritant biomaterial as per ISO …

Assessing The Relationship Between Contralateral Limb Synergy And Rock Climbing Efficiency, Jeromy Miramontes

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Rock climbing is a total body sport testing the mental and physical capabilities of athletes. Efficiency of movement can improve the ability of climbers to perform at a higher capacity and reduce the risk of injury. Data on the relationship between the continuous relative phase (CRP) of contralateral joint rotations and time to completion of a bouldering move are ways to assess rock climbing. This study aimed to assess this relationship, as well as the geometric entropy (GE) of the center of mass displacement when completing the bouldering move, and the metabolic efficiency over 4 min of bouldering. The study …

Evaluation And Modulation Of The Circadian Clock In Human Keratinocytes And Epidermal Skin, William Harold Cvammen Iv

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The circadian clock is a fundamental biological mechanism that regulates various physiological processes, including DNA repair, to synchronize with the day-night cycle. In human skin, exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light poses a significant challenge, inducing DNA damage that must be efficiently repaired to maintain genomic integrity and prevent carcinogenesis. This study delved into the complex interplay between the circadian clock, UV light exposure, DNA repair, and modulation of circadian transcriptional machinery in human skin. Initially, we examined the transcriptomic profile of the circadian clock in humans through in silico-based approaches and in vivo studies, revealing that core clock gene expression …

Potential Role Of Ttt Complex In Regulating Dna Replication Checkpoint In The Fission Yeast Schizosaccharomyces Pombe, Sankhadip Bhadra

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DNA replication can be perturbed by various agents that slow or stall the replication forks, causing replication stress. If undetected, stressed forks may collapse, causing mutagenic DNA damage or cell death. In response to replication stress and DNA damage, the eukaryotic cell activates the DNA replication checkpoint (DRC) and DNA damage checkpoint (DDC) pathways to promote DNA synthesis, repair, and cell survival. The two cell cycle checkpoint pathways are controlled by the protein sensor kinases Rad3 (hATR/scMec1) and Tel1 (hATM/scTel1) in fission yeast, although Tel1 plays a minimal role in checkpoint functions. Rad3 and Tel1 belong to a family of …

Novel Approaches To Treatment Of Hyperexcitability In Skeletal Muscle, Phillip Vance Walker Ii

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Myotonia Congenita (MC) is a rare, inherited ion channelopathy caused by a loss-of-function mutation in the CLCN1 gene. The resulting downregulation of the skeletal muscle chloride channel (ClC-1) results in hyperexcitable skeletal muscle fibers that fire action potentials involuntarily. Patients with MC suffer from debilitating stiffness due to myotonia, described clinically as delayed muscle relaxation following voluntary contraction. Skeletal muscle is a unique system we use in this study to advance our understanding of the pathophysiology underlying MC, and other channelopathies characterized by hyperexcitable cells (i.e., forms of epilepsy and cardiac arrhythmia). Furthermore, re-assessing what makes anti-myotonic drugs such as …

A Novel In-Vitro Approach To Investigate The Molecular Interaction Between Inhaled Particles And The Human Pulmonary Surfactant System, Bryan Mayville

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The deployment of military personnel to austere environments poses significant pulmonary health risks from inhalation of particulates including sand, dust, pollution, and heavy machinery exhaust. When particles are less than 10 µm in diameter, they can penetrate deep within the alveoli and embed within the protective lung surfactant monolayer. Here, absorption of surfactant lipids to the particle surface disrupts the essential monolayer configuration needed to reduce surface tension and prevent atelectasis, thus leading to disease. Currently, there are no in vitro surfactant-producing lung cell models capable of studying the effects of inhaled particles on the human pulmonary surfactant system. A549 …

Insights Into Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis: Novel Mechanisms And Treatments, Christopher Dupont

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Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis (hyperKPP) is an inherited channelopathy that leads to incapacitating episodes marked by severe skeletal muscle weakness or total paralysis, often accompanied by muscular stiffness (myotonia). The periods of muscle dysfunction are thought to be caused by the elevation in extracellular potassium (K). This autosomal dominant disorder is associated with mutations in the skeletal muscle voltage-gated sodium channel (Nav1.4). A multitude of inciting factors have been documented, including rest post-exertion, a potassium-rich diet, exposure to cold temperatures, psychological stressors, and fatigue. Given the variability of the triggers and the debilitating manifestation of symptoms, individuals afflicted by hyperKPP have …

Comparative Analysis Of Motoneuronal C-Bouton Structural Alterations In Als And Aging, Shelby Nicole Ward

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Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by motor neuron (MN) death resulting in paralysis and eventually death. ALS has greater prevalence in older populations sharing characteristics with aging like muscle weakness and MN type specific degeneration. MNs innervate skeletal muscles and control muscle contraction through their excitability which is altered in both conditions. C-Boutons are a cholinergic, excitatory synaptic input to MNs and have been studied in ALS and aging but have produced inconsistent findings and undesired gaps. We used immunohistochemistry to label mouse lumbar spinal cord and separate MN types. 60x imaging and automated analysis was …

Sex-Driven Alterations In Aging Alpha Motoneurons: Exploring Size, Type, Density, And Kv2.1 Channel Expression, Kalin R. Gerber

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This research explores how motor neurons (MNs) and Kv2.1 clustering change with age, emphasizing sex differences and MN subtypes. We found that MN density decreases with age in both sexes, while soma size increases in male mice. FF MNs were the most affected, and old weak mice had smaller MNs than their stronger counterparts, underscoring FF MN vulnerability. Baseline studies revealed that FF and FI MNs have larger Kv2.1 clusters compared to FR and S MNs. Female mice had smaller, denser Kv2.1 clusters than male mice, suggesting less clustering in females. With age, Kv2.1 clusters grew larger but became less …

Integrative Machine Learning Approaches For Enhanced Classification Of Genomic Sequences: A Next-Generation Sequencing Perspective, Sujatha Alla, Nagesh Bheesetty, Sai Gireesh Komaragiri, Prasanthi Chidipudi, Joshit Mohanty, Sathish Kumar Chintala, Jubin Thomas, Jayapal Vummadi, Hemanth Volikatla, Navin Kamuni

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The advent of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) techniques has revolutionized genomic research by enabling the rapid sequencing of DNA and RNA. This data can be used for various applications, including genome sequencing, transcriptome profiling, metagenomics, and epigenetics studies. For this study, DNA classifier dataset was extracted from UCI repository of machine learning databases. This vast amount of genomic data necessitates the development of sophisticated machine learning (ML) models for effective classification and analysis. This study presents a comprehensive comparison of various ML models, including Support Vector Machines (SVM), Random Forests (RF), and Neural Networks (NNs), approaches, in classifying genomic data. We …