Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Engineered Exosomes For The Multimodal Imaging Directed Photo-Immunotherapy Of Colorectal Cancer, Deepak S. Chauhan, Meena Jaggi, Subhash C. Chauhan, Murali M. Yallapu

Research Symposium

Background: Rio Grande Valley experience severe cancer health disparity. A novel therapeutic modality may serve as better therapeutic option. Nanohybrids endowed with multifunctionality, longer circulation time, large surface area have emerged as an active preference for cancer research. However, rising concern of nanomaterials toxicity and scalability issues has slowed their translation to clinics. Exosomes (Exo) are endogenous endocytic origin 40-100 nm vesicles found in various body fluids, which in comparison to synthetic nanoparticles, are biodegradable, highly biocompatible as well as immunocompatible in nature. Although bulk isolation of exosomes from human body fluids is still a problem and engineering of exosomes …

Comparison Of Cone Mosaic Metrics From Images Acquired With The Spectralis High Magnification Module And Adaptive Optics Scanning Light Ophthalmoscopy, Niamh Wynne, Heather Heitkotter, Erica N. Woertz, Robert F. Cooper, Joseph Carroll

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose: To compare cone mosaic metrics derived from adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) images with those derived from Heidelberg Engineering SPECTRALIS High Magnification Module (HMM) images.

Methods: Participants with contiguous cone mosaics had HMM imaging performed at locations superior and temporal to the fovea. These images were registered and averaged offline and then aligned to split-detection AOSLO images; 200 × 200-µm regions of interest were extracted from both modalities. Cones were semi-automatically identified by two graders to provide estimates of cone density and spacing.

Results: Thirty participants with contiguous cone mosaics were imaged (10 males, 20 females; age range, …

Biomedical Applications Of Lanthanide Nanomaterials, For Imaging, Sensing And Therapy, Qize Zhang, Stephen O'Brien, Jan Grimm

Publications and Research

The application of nanomaterials made of rare earth elements within biomedical sciences continues to make significant progress. The rare earth elements, also called the lanthanides, play an essential role in modern life through materials and electronics. As we learn more about their utility, function, and underlying physics, we can contemplate extending their applications to biomedicine. This particularly applies to diagnosis and radiation therapy due to their relatively unique features, such as an ultra-wide Stokes shift in the luminescence, variable magnetism and potentially tunable properties, due to the library of lanthanides available and their multivalent oxidation state chemistry. The ability to …

The Aquatic Particle Number Quandry, Alexander B. Bochdansky, Huanqing Huang, Maureen H. Conte

OES Faculty Publications

Optical surveys of aquatic particles and their particle size spectra have become important tools in studies of light propagation in water, classification of water masses, and the dynamics of trophic interactions affecting particle aggregation and flux. Here, we demonstrate that typical settings used in image analysis vastly underestimate particle numbers due to the particle – gel continuum. Applying a wide range of threshold values to change the sensitivity of our detection system, we show that macrogels cannot be separated from more dense particles, and that a true particle number per volume cannot be ascertained; only relative numbers in relation to …

Injectable Ct/Mri Contrast Agent For Gastrointestinal Tumor Tracking, Luna Zhang

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Gastrointestinal cancers remain to be of the most common and deadly cancers worldwide. Early detection and treatments are crucial for reducing mortality and improving patient outcome. Radiation therapy is a non-invasive localized tumor treatment method, and utilizes radiation to kill the cancerous cells and shrink tumors at specific sites. Precise localization at the target tumor site is therefore important before radiation therapy, especially for gastrointestinal tumor sites located in the moving bowel. Currently, invasive endoscopies along with ink tattoos are used for identifying tumor location, which often require sedation and bring much discomfort. Imaging tests, including CT and MRI, play …

Quantifying Blood Flow Patterns In The Pediatric Heart Using Blood Speckle Imaging, Harrison Dean

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) is the most common type of congenital disease worldwide. Echocardiography using Doppler ultrasound is typically used to diagnose and monitor CHD; however, it is angle-dependent in nature and as a result is limited in its ability to accurately evaluate ventricular function. Blood Speckle Imaging (BSI) is a novel, angle-independent imaging modality that provides detailed blood flow information and visualization within a given area using speckle-tracking. In this study, velocity-field information obtained from BSI was used to calculate flow parameters such as kinetic energy (KE) and circulation using a custom created MATLAB program. BSI was performed on …

Exploring Imaging Technology In The Diagnosis And Treatment Of Pediatric Medically Refractory Epilepsy With Intracranial Electroencephalography And Post-Surgical Evaluations, Nasheha Baset

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

Abstract Exploring Imaging Technology in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Pediatric Medically Refractory Epilepsy with Intracranial Electroencephalography and Post-Surgical Evaluations Nasheha Baset, MS The University of Texas at Arlington, May 2021 Supervising Professor: Dr. Christos Papadelis Epilepsy is a disorder that commonly causes seizures due to abnormal neurological activity, which can disrupt daily life. Of all patients with epilepsy, 60% suffer from focal epilepsy. Approximately 15% of these cases are considered to be drug resistant, or refractory, as the patient is not responsive to a combination of two or more anti-epileptic drugs (AED). Traditionally, approaches to treatment of medically refractory …

Nanoscale Material Interaction With Multicellular 3d Cancer Culture, Emilie Darrigues

Theses and Dissertations

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most common form of pancreatic cancer, it is difficult to diagnose, often recurs, has high resistance to chemotherapies, and can be marked by advanced metastatic stages. There is an urgent need to fill the knowledge on nanoparticle penetration, diffusion, and cellular interaction in the context of adaptive PDAC tumor microenvironment to allow the development of new imaging and therapeutic supports. Traditionally, cancer-treating nanoparticles have been engineered and tested on 2D cell cultures, but several studies indicate that this in vitro model does not mimic tumor features closely enough. In contrast, 3D culture models offer …

A Simple, Realistic Walled Phantom For Intravascular And Intracardiac Applications., Hareem Nisar, John Moore, Roberta Piazza, Efthymios Maneas, Elvis C S Chen, Terry M Peters

Robarts Imaging Publications

PURPOSE: This work aims to develop a simple, anatomically and haptically realistic vascular phantom, compatible with intravascular and intracardiac ultrasound. The low-cost, dual-layered phantom bridges the gap between traditional wall-only and wall-less phantoms by showing both the vessel wall and surrounding tissue in ultrasound imaging. This phantom can better assist clinical tool training, testing of intravascular devices, blood flow studies, and validation of algorithms for intravascular and intracardiac surgical systems.

METHODS: Polyvinyl alcohol cryogel (PVA-c) incorporating a scattering agent was used to obtain vessel and tissue-mimicking materials. Our specific design targeted the inferior vena cava and renal bifurcations which were …

Near Simultaneous Laser Scanning Confocal And Atomic Force Microscopy (Conpokal) On Live Cells, Joree N. Sandin, Surya P. Aryal, Thomas E. Wilkop, Christopher I. Richards, Martha E. Grady

Physiology Faculty Publications

Techniques available for micro- and nano-scale mechanical characterization have exploded in the last few decades. From further development of the scanning and transmission electron microscope, to the invention of atomic force microscopy, and advances in fluorescent imaging, there have been substantial gains in technologies that enable the study of small materials. Conpokal is a portmanteau that combines confocal microscopy with atomic force microscopy (AFM), where a probe "pokes" the surface. Although each technique is extremely effective for the qualitative and/or quantitative image collection on their own, Conpokal provides the capability to test with blended fluorescence imaging and mechanical characterization. Designed …

System Reliability Analysis Of The Scoliosis Disorder., Fatemeh Nouri, Seyed Hooman Ghasemi, Ji Yun Lee

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Departmental Research

BACKGROUND: Scoliosis is a spine abnormal deviation, which is an idiopathic disorder among children and adolescents. As a matter of the fact, distribution of loads on the patient's spine and load-carrying capacity of the vertebral column are both random variables. Therefore, the probabilistic approach may consider as a sophisticated method to deal with this problem.

METHOD: Reliability analysis is a probabilistic-based approach to consider the uncertainties of load and resistance of the vertebral column. The main contribution of this paper is to compare the reliability level of a normal and scoliosis spinal. To do so, the numerical analyses associated with …

C-Molecules: Molecular-Guided Surgery With Fluorescence Imaging, Riley Karp, Joshua Gutow, William Wolfe-Mcguire

ENGS 89/90 Reports

Surgeries may cost lives if performed inadequately, which is why tools such as fluorescence guided surgery exist to improve surgical outcomes. Fluorescence guided surgery (FGS) is the practice of injecting patients with a fluorescent molecule that, in combination with highly sensitive cameras, allows surgeons to clearly identify complex biological structures. While beneficial in procedures such as endoscopy and gallbladder surgery, this technique is most notable for its role in complex cancer surgeries where misidentifying the boundaries of a tumor can have deadly consequences. Although FGS has the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment, highly sensitive imaging systems are necessary to identify …

Development Of High-Speed Photoacoustic Imaging Technology And Its Applications In Biomedical Research, Yun He

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Photoacoustic (PA) tomography (PAT) is a novel imaging modality that combines the fine lateral resolution from optical imaging and the deep penetration from ultrasonic imaging, and provides rich optical-absorption–based images. PAT has been widely used in extracting structural and functional information from both ex vivo tissue samples to in vivo animals and humans with different length scales by imaging various endogenous and exogenous contrasts at the ultraviolet to infrared spectrum. For example, hemoglobin in red blood cells is of particular interest in PAT since it is one of the dominant absorbers in tissue at the visible wavelength.The main focus of …

In Vivo Metabolic And Vascular Response To Hypoxia In Twist Knockdown Murine Breast Cancer, Brandon Sturgill

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Twist transcription factor is often overexpressed in aggressive tumors. Although needed in early embryonic development for organogenesis, Twist is known to induce an epithelial to mesenchymal transition in cells. In cancer, epithelial to mesenchymal transitions can lead to increased motility and invasiveness. It has also been linked to metabolic reprogramming and increased metastatic risk. Furthermore, metabolic preferences can increase proliferation, enhance metastatic potential, and influence the site of metastasis. We hypothesize that Twist directly affects the metabolism of cancer cells. We expect to see in vivo what we have seen in vitro; Twist overexpression should promote a shift away from …

Vector Flow Imaging In Pediatric Cardiology - Extracting And Validating Data, Mason Belue

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the field of bedside cardiac diagnostic imaging, Doppler Ultrasound (DU) is the gold standard for diagnosing heart conditions. The largest benefit of DU is its ability to noninvasively image cardiac flow and allow the estimation of blood velocity and quantification of anatomical disease. However, to get correct velocity estimation, the position of the transducer in relation to the flow field needs to be known. This is the problem of angle/direction dependency and limits DUs accuracy when imaging in areas where perfect alignment or exact position of the transducer in relation to flow field is not possible or known, such …

Modeling And Validation Of Tissue Optical Properties In The Photon Transport Regime, Katelyn Heath

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Early detection of changes in epithelial cells, such as the development of neoplastic formations seen in epithelial dysplasia, can indicate regions of the epithelial tissue that are at a high risk for cancerous formation. Using concepts from diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, a Monte Carlo model was developed to predict the reflectance measured by a detector at a small source-detector separation on a microendoscope. The Monte Carlo results were then used to calculate a mathematical relationship between the reflectance and distance that can be used to determine optical properties in a tissue sample. This model was validated with liquid phantoms of specified …

Optical Vortex And Poincaré Analysis For Biophysical Dynamics, Anindya Majumdar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Coherent light - such as that from a laser - on interaction with biological tissues, undergoes scattering. This scattered light undergoes interference and the resultant field has randomly added phases and amplitudes. This random interference pattern is known as speckles, and has been the subject of multiple applications, including imaging techniques. These speckle fields inherently contain optical vortices, or phase singularities. These are locations where the intensity (or amplitude) of the interference pattern is zero, and the phase is undefined.

In the research presented in this dissertation, dynamic speckle patterns were obtained through computer simulations as well as laboratory setups …

In Vivo Brainstem Imaging In Alzheimer’S Disease: Potential For Biomarker Development, David J. Braun, Linda J. Van Eldik

Neuroscience Faculty Publications

The dearth of effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the largest public health issues worldwide, costing hundreds of billions of dollars per year. From a therapeutic standpoint, research efforts to date have met with strikingly little clinical success. One major issue is that trials begin after substantial pathological change has occurred, and it is increasingly clear that the most effective treatment regimens will need to be administered earlier in the disease process. In order to identify individuals within the long preclinical phase of AD who are likely to progress to dementia, improvements are required in biomarker development. …

Fluorescence Guided Tumor Imaging: Foundations For Translational Applications, Jessica P. Miller

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Optical imaging for medical applications is a growing field, and it has the potential to improve medical outcomes through its increased sensitivity and specificity, lower cost, and small instrumentation footprint as compared to other imaging modalities. The method holds great promise, ranging from direct clinical use as a diagnostic or therapeutic tool, to pre-clinical applications for increased understanding of pathology. Additionally, optical imaging uses non-ionizing radiation which is safe for patients, so it can be used for repeated imaging procedures to monitor therapy, guide treatment, and provide real-time feedback. The versatile features of fluorescence-based optical imaging make it suited for …

Experimental And Model-Based Terahertz Imaging And Spectroscopy For Mice, Human, And Phantom Breast Cancer Tissues, Tyler Bowman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this work is to investigate terahertz technology for assessing the surgical margins of breast tumors through electromagnetic modeling and terahertz experiments. The measurements were conducted using a pulsed terahertz system that provides time and frequency domain signals. Three types of breast tissues were investigated in this work. The first was formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues from human infiltrating ductal and lobular carcinomas. The second was human tumors excised within 24-hours of lumpectomy or mastectomy surgeries. The third was xenograft and transgenic mice breast cancer tumors grown in a controlled laboratory environment to achieve more data for statistical analysis.

Experimental …

Development Of Low Frequency Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Methods And Instrumentation For Biological Applications, Laura A. Buchanan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

EPR is a powerful biophysical tool that can be used to measure tumor physiology. With the addition of magnetic field gradients, the spectral properties of paramagnetic species can be mapped. To facilitate EPR imaging, methods and instrumentation at frequencies between 250 MHz and 1 GHz were developed.

At low spin concentrations, the rapid scan background signal is often many times larger than the EPR signal of interest. To help remove the background contribution, a data acquisition procedure that takes advantage of a cross-loop resonator and bipolar power supplies was developed at 250 MHz. In this procedure, two scans are collected. …

Chelator-Free Radiolabeling Of Serrs Nanoparticles For Whole-Body Pet And Intraoperative Raman Imaging, Matthew A. Wall, Travis Shaffer, Stefan Harmsen, Darjus-Felix Tschaharganeh, Chun-Hao Huang, Scott W. Lowe, Charles Michael Drain, Moritz F. Kircher

Publications and Research

A single contrast agent that offers whole-body non-invasive imaging along with the superior sensitivity and spatial resolution of surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS) imaging would allow both pre-operative mapping and intraoperative imaging and thus be highly desirable. We hypothesized that labeling our recently reported ultrabright SERRS nanoparticles with a suitable radiotracer would enable pre-operative identification of regions of interest with whole body imaging that can be rapidly corroborated with a Raman imaging device or handheld Raman scanner in order to provide high precision guidance during surgical procedures. Here we present a straightforward new method that produces radiolabeled SERRS nanoparticles for …

Developing An Imaging Biomarker To Detect Aberrant Brain Connectivity In Individual Patients, Esther Cox

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Resting state functional MRI (rsfMRI) has been proven to be a valuable tool in clinical applications such as pre-surgical mapping, but there is not yet a functional and usable algorithm that can be used by physicians in a clinical setting to evaluate an individual patient for diseases and aberrant brain connectivity. If a physician wants to evaluate a patient in this way, the rsfMRI data must be looked at “by hand,” i.e. the physician must manually evaluate the data and identify the functional ICN’s and whether they are normal or aberrant. An algorithm that would automate this process and supplement …

A Structural And Functional Analysis Of Human Brain Mri With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Arjun A. Watane

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) affects 5-10% of children worldwide. Its effects are mainly behavioral, manifesting in symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. If not monitored and treated, ADHD may adversely affect a child's health, education, and social life. Furthermore, the neurological disorder is currently diagnosed through interviews and opinions of teachers, parents, and physicians. Because this is a subjective method of identifying ADHD, it is easily prone to error and misdiagnosis. Therefore, there is a clear need to develop an objective diagnostic method for ADHD.

The focus of this study is to explore the use of machine language …

Photoreceptor Inner Segment Morphology In Best Vitelliform Macular Dystrophy, Drew Scoles, Yusufu N. Sulai, Robert F. Cooper, Brian P. Higgins, Ryan D. Johnson, Joseph Carroll, Alfredo Dubra, Kimberly E. Stepien

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

PURPOSE

To characterize outer retina structure in best vitelliform macular dystrophy (BVMD) and to determine the effect of macular lesions on overlying and adjacent photoreceptors.

METHODS

Five individuals with BVMD were followed prospectively with spectral domain optical coherence tomography and confocal and nonconfocal split-detector adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO). The AOSLO cone photoreceptor mosaic images were obtained within and around retinal lesions. Cone density was measured inside and outside lesions. In 2 subjects, densities were compared with published measurements acquired ∼2.5 years before. One subject was imaged 3 times over a 5-month period.

RESULTS

The AOSLO imaging demonstrated that …

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, …

Machine Learning Methods For Medical And Biological Image Computing, Rongjian Li

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Medical and biological imaging technologies provide valuable visualization information of structure and function for an organ from the level of individual molecules to the whole object. Brain is the most complex organ in body, and it increasingly attracts intense research attentions with the rapid development of medical and bio-logical imaging technologies. A massive amount of high-dimensional brain imaging data being generated makes the design of computational methods for efficient analysis on those images highly demanded. The current study of computational methods using hand-crafted features does not scale with the increasing number of brain images, hindering the pace of scientific discoveries …

Proof That Can Travel - Documented Clonality Report For Regulatory Submission, Ian Taylor, Paul Miller

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Clonality is a key element of cell line development and is an important component of a regulatory submission. Indeed for BLA, the clonality of MCB is mandatory. Historically, the regulator has insisted upon 2 rounds of cloning for developing a cell line and assurance of monoclonality based on statistical outgrowth measurements. Recent improvements in high resolution whole well imaging of cells in microplates, enables the creation of indisputable image-based evidence for the growth of a colony from a single cell. This evidence eliminates a round of sub-cloning and results in several months of cell line development time being saved. However, …

Increasing 18f-Fdg Pet/Ct Capabilities In Radiotherapy For Lung And Esophageal Cancer Via Image Feature Analysis, Jasmine Alexandria Oliver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is an imaging modality that has become increasingly beneficial in Radiotherapy by improving treatment planning (1). PET reveals tumor volumes that are not well visualized on computed tomography CT or MRI, recognizes metastatic disease, and assesses radiotherapy treatment (1). It also reveals areas of the tumor that are more radiosensitive allowing for dose painting - a non-homogenous dose treatment across the tumor (1). However, PET is not without limitations. The quantitative unit of PET images, the Standardized Uptake Value (SUV), is affected by many factors such as reconstruction algorithm, patient weight, and tracer uptake time (2). …

Europium(Ii)-Containing Complexes For Responsive Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Levi Alexander Ekanger

Wayne State University Dissertations

The research projects described in this dissertation are focused on studying the oxidation of EuII-containing complexes within the context of responsive MRI. Prior to this research, EuII had not been explored within the context of oxidation-responsive MRI nor had the use of this ion been reported in vivo. The results of these studies enable predictions about the oxidation-responsive behavior of EuII-containing complexes in vitro and in vivo.

The EuII-containing cryptate 1.33 was used to evaluate EuII-based positive contrast enhancement after intravenous, intraperitoneal, and subcutaneous injections. The transitory behavior of the positive contrast enhancement correlated with reported levels of oxygenation and …