Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Towards Targeted Delivery To Cns Neurons By Conquering The Bbb, David G.A. Bengford

Bioengineering Master's Theses

Brain cancer treatments have long been restricted by the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Semi-permeable in the most selective way, this barrier may be crossed by one of three methods: membrane integrity disruption, passive transport, or active transport. The third option offers the opportunity for many medically relevant cargoes, such as proteins and nucleic acids, to be shuttled into the brain. The concept of a therapeutic “Trojan horse” builds on this capability by employing engineered nanovesicles—in this work, engineered exosomes—whose surfaces are studded with ligands functioning as the keys to crossing the BBB. Exosomes are a powerful methodology for this approach because …

Immuno-Anti-Infective Drug Design Using Bioai, Cathy Chen, Vivian Zhang

Bioengineering Senior Theses

According to the World Health Organization, antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today. A growing number of infections, like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, are becoming harder to treat as the antibiotics used to treat them become less effective. As a result, the primary concern for infections in the hospital setting is due to the S. aureus’s growing resistance to antibiotics. Therefore, in response to this global health threat, our project focuses on furthering the research in developing a drug that S. aureus will not develop resistance to. In this paper, we assess …

Shear Detection Of Microencapsulated Cells For Monoclonal Antibody Production Scaleup, Kendall Defelippi, Dwight Johnson

Bioengineering Senior Theses

Scale the reported hydrodynamic shear values in industrial bioreactors for monoclonal antibody production to the shear stress measured in our custom microneedle prototype by extruding microencapsulated CHO cells. A correlation between the number of extrusion loops to reduction in cell viability enables a scalable screening method for bioprocessing efficiency.

Engineering Hydrogels For Delivery Of Therapeutic Proteins, Francesca Briggs, Daryn Browne

Bioengineering Senior Theses

In this project, we investigate how innate hydrogel properties can be leveraged for controlled protein drug release platforms. Therapeutic proteins have many valuable applications within the medical field, however, professionals often face many obstacles with obtaining controlled drug release. This paper analyzes how the manipulation of hydrogel properties can improve protein drug release rates. We started these investigations by varying hydrogel concentrations since we saw that this affects the release of small molecules. Additionally, we wanted to see what the addition of a second hydrogel network would do to protein release rates. These experiments concluded that raising polymer concentrations and …

Poly(Adr-Ribose) Polymerase 14-Specific Inhibitor For Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Clarissa Silvers, Colin Sim

Bioengineering Senior Theses

Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerases, PARPs, are comprised of a family of 17 human enzymes that share a conserved catalytic domain that transfers ADP-ribose from nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) to target proteins. While significant proteomic-based efforts in the field have uncovered a host of potential targets for each of the various active PARP enzymes, an outstanding question remains as to what extent proximal versus distal interactions with the protein substrates govern target selection. In this work, we describe the use of tandem mass spectrometry to identify specific residues that are auto-modified in both PARP14 and PARP15 as well as their preferred modification …

Wearable Health Sensor, George Kouretas, Kelley Mccarroll

Bioengineering Senior Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted several populations, partially due to the lack of access to basic health care amenities, and emphasized the need for continuous telehealth monitoring of relevant biometric vitals. This need is further emphasized through research that has suggested that simple biometric vitals, including heart rate (HR), blood oxygen saturation rate (SpO2), and temperature, are relevant biomarkers for early disease diagnosis. The project aims to address this need through the design wearable health platform that uses novel, non-invasive techniques to monitor biometrics with the eventual goal to provide user insights into current health status and identify early …

Air Wear, Ani M. Svadjian, Ada A. Tadeo, Deepthi Ravuru

General Engineering

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals have experienced an overwhelming increase in patients needing respiratory assistance. Our client identified the need for a sustainable, affordable, and portable outpatient device that will provide supplemental oxygen and assisted breathing to speed up the patient recovery process. Our team accomplished to design a device that contains a more sustainable oxygen supply method, has a longer functional duration, is safer and ergonomic, as well as compact.

Comparison Of Performance Of Self-Expanding And Balloon-Expandable Transcatheter Aortic Valves, Hoda Hatoum, Milad Samaee, Janarthanan Sathananthan, Stephanie Sellers, Maximilian Kuetting, Scott M. Lilly, Abdul R. Ihdayhid, Philipp Blanke, Jonathon Leipsic, Vinod H. Thourani, Lakshmi Prasad Dasi

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Objective: To evaluate the flow dynamics of self-expanding and balloon-expandable transcatheter aortic valves pertaining to turbulence and pressure recovery. Transcatheter aortic valves are characterized by different designs that have different valve performance and outcomes. Methods: Assessment of transcatheter aortic valves was performed using self-expanding devices (26-mm Evolut [Medtronic], 23-mm Allegra [New Valve Technologies], and small Acurate neo [Boston Scientific]) and a balloon-expandable device (23-mm Sapien 3 [Edwards Lifesciences]). Particle image velocimetry assessed the flow downstream. A Millar catheter was used for pressure recovery calculation. Velocity, Reynolds shear stresses, viscous shear stress, and pressure gradients were calculated. Results: The maximal velocity …

Variations In Surgeon-Applied Loads During Passive Range Of Motion Following Total Knee Replacement With Relevance To Computational Modeling, Cj Bakle Ii

All Theses

Total knee replacement (TKR) is generally considered a successful treatment for musculoskeletal disorders of the knee. However, as many as 20% of patients report some dissatisfaction in their physical function after TKR. And approximately 50% of early revisions needed to address conditions related to component alignment and soft tissue tension to stabilize the knee. During TKR, surgeons manually perform passive range of motion (ROM) assessments to gain feedback perceived as tension in ligaments and other soft tissues. Such assessments are highly subjective and rely on the surgeon's perception of soft tissue tension rather than quantitative objective means. The variability in …

Self-Balancing Bicycle Device, Charles Cole, Raffy Lorenzo, Neil Boyal

Biomedical Engineering

The sponsor, Justin Shaw, is currently developing a bicycle for an athlete who has lost movement in their legs. This athlete can no longer experience the unmatched feeling of naturally banking a bicycle at corners. The Self-Balancing Bike Device Team will create a device that can self-balance an electric recumbent bicycle at low speeds while being almost undetectable while turning. This document will outline the team’s background research into self-balancing vehicles, define the needs that must be solved, and delineate a schedule for future milestones.

Rod Bend Approximator For Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery, Amanda Hansell, Anise Ghandchi, Shervin Moghimi

Biomedical Engineering

This Final Report will go over the project deliverables and future steps in the making of a rod bending approximator tool by the Cal Poly Senior Design team for the client SeaSpine. The latest designs and research done regarding minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is covered including the impediments with the current methods. SeaSpine presented the need to our team for an approximating tool within the MIS procedure. Our team began project planning through task generation and schedule development. Once the product definition was fully understood, competition was evaluated and engineering specifications were created for the project. A conceptual design was …

Staphylococcus Aureus Sortase A Protein Applications And Methods: (1) Drug Discovery In Anti-Infectious Agents; (2) A Biotechnique Analysis For Indication Sortase A Protein Purification Methods; (3) In Vivo Protein Ligation For Discovery Of Novel Protein Engineering Methods:, Melina Huang Xia

Bioengineering Master's Theses

It has been understood that during Gram-positive bacterial infection, the bacterial cells interact with host mammalian cells via the virulence factors whose anchorage onto the bacterial surface are mainly catalysed by Sortase A[2]. Emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, especially the Gram-positive bacteria, has rendered the rise of many antibiotic resistant bacteria, resulting in rise of infection cases that bypass traditional first-line antibiotics treatments. It is crucial for the public health that scientists and researchers discover an alternative treatment for the bacterial infection that targets the underlying pathogenic mechanism that are responsible for the increased virulence of such bacteria without contributing …

Novel Neurostimulation-Based Haptic Feedback Platform For Grasp Interactions With Virtual Objects, Aliyah K. Shell, Andres E. Pena, James J. Abbas, Ranu Jung

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Haptic perception is a vital part of the human experience that enriches our engagement with the world, but the ability to provide haptic information in virtual reality (VR) environments is limited. Neurostimulation-based sensory feedback has the potential to enhance the immersive experience within VR environments by supplying relevant and intuitive haptic feedback related to interactions with virtual objects. Such feedback may contribute to an increase in the sense of presence and realism in VR and may contribute to the improvement of virtual reality simulations for future VR applications. This work developed and evaluated xTouch, a neuro-haptic platform that extends the …

Multicolor Fluorescence Guided Surgery For Head And Neck Cancer, Dani Szafran-Reeder

University Honors Theses

This project aims to take a novel, NIR nerve-specific fluorophore LGW05-75⁴ and test its compatibility with a tumor-targeting affibody molecule, ABY-029⁶ that has been labeled with IRDye800CW. The overall goal is to show that these two molecules can be co-administered to show the nerves and tumor cells in real-time to better assist surgeons in a full resection while avoiding iatrogenic nerve damage.

Wire Cutting Saw For Spinal Fusion Surgery, Connor Kilzer Kilzer, Kayla Hong, Kyle Himmelein

Biomedical Engineering

The purpose of this project was to design and prototype a spinal facetectomy tool which will minimize the risk of spinal nerve damage and standardize this procedure for all surgeons. This Final Report for Alphatec describes the scope of the project, the process to get to the final prototype of the device, along with a project timeline for the team. A background of current devices and their issues is included to illustrate the need for a new spinal facetectomy device. Within the scope of the project includes a list of customer requirements for the device and the process of translating …

Eagle Medical Tray Denesting & Debris Removal Process, Nicholas Allen Ungefug, Noah Chavez, Susana Shu-Lin Okhuysen, Michael Augustine Pennington

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Eagle Medical Incorporated is a contract medical device packaging and sterilization company. The company purchases thermoformed medical packaging trays, which maintain the sterility of medical devices, from various manufacturers. To ensure packaging quality and to prevent cleanroom contamination, Eagle Medical inspects and sterilizes each blister tray that they order. This process is an essential non-value-added activity that creates a bottleneck. Cleanroom employees must stop packaging medical devices and attend to the processing of blister trays and packaging solutions. The blister trays arrive at Eagle’s facility in nested stacks. Vibration and movement during shipping further compresses the stacks, which makes separation …

Porcine Liver Injury Model To Assess Tantalum-Containing Bioactive Glass Powders For Hemostasis, Malvika Nagrath, Danielle Bince, Corwyn Rowsell, Deanna Polintan, Joao Rezende-Neto, Mark R. Towler

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study evaluates compositions of tantalum-containing mesoporous bioactive glass (Ta-MBG) powders using a porcine fatal liver injury model. The powders based on (80-x)SiO₂-15CaO-5P₂O₅-xTa₂O₅ compositions with x = 0 (0Ta/Ta-free), 1 (1Ta), and 5 (5Ta) mol% were made using a sol–gel process. A class IV hemorrhage condition was simulated on the animals; hemodynamic data and biochemical analysis confirmed the life-threatening condition. Ta-MBGs were able to stop the bleeding within 10 min of their application while the bleeds in the absence of any intervention or in the presence of a commercial agent, AristaTM …

Functional Analysis Of The Cortical Transcriptome And Proteome Reveal Neurogenesis, Inflammation, And Cell Death After Repeated Traumatic Brain Injury In Vivo, Celeste Dunn, Lais A. Ferreira, Sara M. Venier, Syed F. Ali, Jeffery Wolchok, Kartik Balachandran

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The pathological effects of repeated traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are largely unknown. To gain a detailed understanding of the cortical tissue acute biological response after one or two TBIs, we utilized RNA-sequencing and protein mass spectrometry techniques. Using our previously validated C57Bl/6 weight-drop model, we administered one or two TBIs of a mild or moderate severity. Double injury conditions were spaced 7 days apart, and cortical tissue was isolated 24 h after final injury. Analysis was carried out through functional gene annotation, utilizing Gene Ontology, for both the proteome and transcriptome. Major themes across the four different conditions include: neurogenesis; …

Therapeutic Payload Delivery To The Myocardium: Evolving Strategies And Obstacles, Tarek Shazly, Arianna Smith, Mark J. Uline, Francis G. Spinale

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Modeling And Simulating Brain Damage From Football Helmet Impacts, Tate Russell Fonville

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The objective of this research was to present a model for brain damage to investigate the head’s response to mechanical loadings. A Finite Element (FE) head and brain mesh used throughout this dissertation was constructed from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan data of one of the authors and validated in previous research. A computational modal analysis was first conducted on the whole head and an isolated brain to identify the resonant frequencies, mode shapes, and locations. A physics-based Internal State Variable (ISV) constitutive model for polymers was modified to include damage in the form of pore growth. The brain damage …

Hepatic Artery Flow, Inspired Oxygen, And Hemoglobin Determine Liver Tissue Saturation Measured With Visible Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (Vis-Drs) In An In Vivo Swine Model, Stylianos Voulgarelis, Faraneh Fathi, Bing Yu, Barbara Palkovic, Nikolaos A. Chatzizacharias, Kenneth P. Allen, Astrid G. Stucke

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Background

Prompt diagnosis of vascular compromise following pediatric liver transplantation and restoration of oxygen delivery to the liver improves organ survival. vis-DRS allows for real-time measurement of liver tissue saturation.

Methods

The current study used vis-DRS to determine changes in liver saturation during clinically relevant conditions of reduced oxygen delivery. In an in vivo swine model (n = 15), we determined liver tissue saturation (S_tO₂) during stepwise reduction in hepatic artery flow, different inspiratory oxygen fraction (FiO₂), and increasing hemodilution. A custom vis-DRS probe was placed directly on the organ.

Results

Liver tissue …

Improving The Performance And Evaluation Of Computer-Assisted Semen Analysis, Ji-Won Choi

Dissertations

Semen analysis is performed routinely in fertility clinics to analyze the quality of semen and sperm cells of male patients. The analysis is typically performed by trained technicians or by Computer-Assisted Semen Analysis (CASA) systems. Manual semen analysis performed by technicians is subjective, time-consuming, and laborious, and yet most fertility clinics perform semen analysis in this manner. CASA systems, which are designed to perform the same tasks automatically, have a considerable market share, yet many studies still express concerns about their accuracy and consistency. In this dissertation, the focus is on detection, tracking, and classification of sperm cells in semen …

Assessing Structural And Functional Brain Alterations And Work-Related Fatigue In Non-Hyposmic And Hyposmic Covid-19 Survivors, Rakibul Hafiz

Dissertations

In the year 2019, life began to change at the advent of a global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus. Mask mandates and mass vaccinations have mitigated the effects significantly, yet cases keep rising with new variants, especially, in densely populated countries, like India. Recent neuroimaging evidence shows the virus can attack the central nervous system (CNS). However, exactly which brain regions undergo structural and functional changes remain largely unknown. Many patients experience 'loss of/reduced sense of smell' (i.e., hyposmic) and an alarming number of survivors develop persistent symptoms ('long-COVID') for several months after initial infection. Fatigue is the most …

The Interconnection Of The Vestibular And Oculomotor Systems Analyzed In Healthy Young Adults By Examining Postural Sway, Cassandra Martin

Theses

In order to study the human brain in a non-invasive way, the vestibular and oculomotor systems have been analyzed simultaneously. To achieve this, an eye movement and balance assessment was conducted for 29 (23 male; 21.6 ± 3.8 years) healthy participants with no history of concussions, brain injuries, vertigo, migraines, brain surgeries, eye surgeries, or amblyopia. The tasks consisted of eyes open, eyes closed, horizontal saccades, vertical saccades, vergence jumps, horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR), and vertical VOR. Each task was completed in two stances: feet shoulder width apart and feet together. Distance, velocity, sway area, center of pressure (COP) frequency, …

Design Of Self-Assembled Peptides For Wound Healing, Ka-Kyung Kim

Dissertations

According to the CDC, 15% of diabetic patients develop diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) and approximately 170,000 patients undergo non-traumatic amputation annually. DFU is a major complication of diabetes caused by non-healing full-thickness wounds through the dermis. The current treatments include blood sugar control, frequent debridement, offloading, moist wound care, infection treatment, and amputation. To achieve wound closure of DFU, appropriate wound care and antibiotic therapy are essential. Topical regimens include hydrocolloids, alginates, foam, silver-impregnated dressings, and hydrogels. Wound healing is a complex and dynamic interplay between the immune system, keratinocytes, and dermal cells (in case of cutaneous wound). Angiogenesis has …

A Bioactive Composite Scaffold Containing Zinc For Bone Tissue Engineering, Jennifer W. Moy

Dissertations

Non-union bone fractures occur during 5-10% of all bone fractures where the fracture is incapable of healing despite current surgical interventions with the use of bone grafts and graft substitutes. As an alternative, studies utilize growth factors and other biomolecules to differentiate mesenchymal stem cells into osteoblasts to aid in bone formation in vitro and in vivo studies. Zinc has known insulin-mimetic properties and are incorporated into multiple tissue engineering approaches to aid in osteogenesis, bone formation, and vascularization. In this work, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were evaluated for the effect of zinc on osteogenesis. The supplementation of zinc in …

Degradation Mechanisms Of Zinc-Air Batteries Used In Hearing Aid, Kelly Hunt, Mallorty Bates, Gerard Klint Simon, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Hearing aid devices are powered by the oxidation of zinc that occurs within zinc-air batteries. Zinc-air batteries have an average discharge time of 7 days. Therefore, hearing-aid devices need frequent battery replacement. In this paper, degradation mechanisms of zinc-air batteries investigated where a competition mechanism between zinc passivation and dendritic formation dictates the battery life. This research included exposure time from none to 9 days and to document dendritic growth with time. Scanning electron microscope images were taken to quantify the damage growth as well energy dispersive X-ray tests were conducted to comment on the composition changes. The results confirmed …

Comparison Of Aero Engine Component Lifing Methods, Ashley Whitney-Rawls, Paul Copp, Jace Carter, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Failure of critical engine components such as compressor, fan, and turbine disks during flight can cause the loss of the engine, aircraft, or even life. To reduce the risk of this failure during flight, different methodologies and tools have been developed to determine the safe operating life of these critical disk components. The two most widely used lifing methods, safe-life and damage tolerance, are inherently conservative, retiring all components when a predetermined operating limit is reached. Both methods retire components with theoretical useful life remaining. Additional lifing methods can be used to reduce this conservatism and extend the life of …

Recent Advances In Bone Research 2022 Edition, Jean-Philippe Berteau, Laurent Pujo-Menjouet

Publications and Research

More and more scientific and engineering applications in bone research make pivotal advances in treating patients with orthopedics issues. Hence, bone research in the 21st century combines, inter alia, biology, chemistry, mathematics, and mechanics with complementary characteristics that help a holistic approach to bone-related pathologies. Nowadays, it is hard to connect new evidence when jargoning and money remain two significant obstacles to sharing knowledge. “Recent Advances In Bone Research” is a free book – no money involved at any stage - that combines the most recent efforts in bone research from several experts with different backgrounds, every expert seeks to …

Active Testing Of Executive Functions: Toward More Efficient And Equitable Individual Behavioral Modeling, Mariluz Rojo Domingo

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Inferences about executive functions are commonly drawn through serial administration of various individual assessments that often take a long time to complete and cannot capture complex trends across multiple variables. In an attempt to improve upon current methods used to estimate latent brain constructs, this thesis makes two primary contributions to the field of behavioral modeling. First, it brings attention to sequential designs for more efficient diagnostic testing of fluctuations in executive functions with respect to a baseline level. It was shown that a sequential framework was successfully capable of detecting significant differences in cognitive performance more rapidly than conventional …