Biological Engineering Commons^™

Real-Time Monitoring Of Cell Death Progress Using Capacitance Spectroscopy, Suyang Wu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Biologics, including the monoclonal antibody (mAb), has experienced rapid development in the last decade. However, the price of biologics is often prohibitively high because of the low process efficiency. Delaying the inevitable cell death improves the productivity of upstream bioprocessing, whose success relies on monitoring the cell death onset that indicates the timing for preventive actions.

This study proposes to develop a real-time monitoring model that quantifies the dying cell percentage in lab-scale bioreactors using capacitance spectroscopy. The capacitance spectroscopy contains cell death-related information due to various physical properties changes during the cell death process, e.g., cytoplasmic conductivity change. The …

Plasmonically-Enhanced Dna-Rna Hybrid-Based Bioassay For Amplification-Free Quantification Of Sars-Cov-2, Yuxiong Liu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COIVD-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a highly infectious respiratory illness. Within just a few months, it spread around the whole world and became a global pandemic. Real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) works as a gold standard method diagnosing COVID-19 with high sensitivity and specificity. But due to the programs of RT-PCR, it usually takes more than 24 hours to get the results while specialized devices are also required. False-negative results can happen as well using RT-PCR which increase the risk of spreading coronavirus. To promote quicker detection of COVID-19, …

Design Of Plastic Contaminant Eliminator In Seed Cotton, Joshua H. Tandio

Theses and Dissertations

Plastic contamination in cotton is a problem in cotton industry and researchers have worked on this problem with different approaches. This thesis documents the design of mechanical and electronic real-time systems for detecting and removing plastic contaminants. The mechanical system was designed to expose plastic embedded inside the seed cotton to the sensor and to separate plastic contaminated cotton from the process stream. The detection system consisted of an embedded computer interfaced with a USB camera and Neural Network (NN) software running in it. Two NN models were tested, a transfer learning model and a built-from-scratch original model. The original …

Hydrology And Water Quality Analysis In The Big Black River Watershed, Mississippi, Moniba Shabbir

Theses and Dissertations

Evaluating hydrology and water quality for the Big Black River Watershed in Mississippi was accomplished by using the Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Source (BASINS 4.5), Loading Simulation Program in C++ (LSPC), and Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP) models. The watershed model calibration was originally accomplished by using historical data collected from U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The watershed model was calibrated using data from 2000 through 2018 in order to quantify stream flow and point source discharges under a variety of hydrologic conditions. The model predicted response of hydrology was consistent with the observed data range. The …

Effectiveness Of Cannabidiol And Resveratrol Against Diesel Exhaust Particle-Induced Lung Cell Cytotoxicity, Emily Brothersen

Fall Student Research Symposium 2021

Environmental air pollution poses a significant health risk to individuals across the world. Diesel exhaust particles (DEPs), a major component of air pollution, have been shown to cause lung damage leading to cancer, respiratory infections, and premature death. Antioxidants, such as resveratrol, have previously demonstrated protective properties against DEP-induced cytotoxicity and reactive oxygen species. Cannabinoids extracted from hemp species have also been found to have powerful antioxidant properties, though these properties have not been thoroughly explored. In this study, A549 human lung carcinoma cells were used as a cellular model to determine the effectiveness of cannabinoids’ antioxidant properties against DEP-induced …

A Survey Of Stainless Steel In Medical And Surgical Application, Noah Slack, Clint Balch

ME 4133/6133 Mechanical Metallurgy

Stainless steels can be separated into four families based on the microstructure of the material: Austenitic, Ferritic, Martensitic, and Duplex. Each family provides a specific set of advantages and disadvantages, and material selection should be based on the specific application the material will be used for. For this study, the processing, microstructure, and performance of the four families of stainless steels will be compared in the context of medical device applications. The most important factors in medical device materials are biocompatibility, surface properties, mechanical properties and life span/corrosion resistance. This study will focus on medical devices that will be permanently …

Development And Characterization Of A Decellularized Neuroinhibitory Scaffold Containing Matrix Bound Nanovesicles, Logan Piening

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Chronic low back pain (LBP) is a leading cause of disability but treatments for LBP are limited. Degeneration of the intervertebral disc leads to loss of neuroinhibitory sulfated glycosaminoglycans (sGAGs) which allows nerves from dorsal root ganglia (DRG) to grow into the core of the disc, leading to pain. Current treatments for LBP involve drugs that do not target the source of the pain and lack long term efficacy or use invasive surgeries with high complication rates. Treatment with a decellularized tissue scaffold that contains neuroinhibitory components may inhibit nerve growth and prevent disc-associated LBP. Here, a decellularized nucleus pulposus …

Toward Lignin Valorization: Development Of Rhodococcus Opacus Pd630 As A Chassis For Triacylglycerol (Tag) Production From Recalcitrant Aromatic Feedstocks, Rhiannon R. Carr

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The advent of the industrial era was precipitated by the discovery of fossil fuels, and ushered in unprecedented changes for humanity included but not limited to the development of rapid transit and communications, improvements to food distribution and preservation, the mass production of goods, and a radical rearrangement of communities from relatively small enclaves to metropolises. With all the benefits, however, come considerable costs, especially to the global environment. Greenhouse gas emissions, built up over centuries of unregulated combustion, have precipitated a rate of global temperature change unparalleled in the 4.5 billion-year history of this planet. In order to preserve …

Greenhouse Tomatoes: Process Simulation, Juan Gabriel Marin Jr.

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Growing population demand and challenges brought on by climate change have spurred the need for more resilient fruit and vegetable supply chains. One agricultural technology of significant interest is the use of greenhouses for food production. Greenhouses create a stable and adaptable environment for crops such as tomatoes to grow year-round. Fresh tomatoes are the second most consumed vegetable per capita in U.S. diets, currently averaging 20.7 pounds. The growing consumption of fresh tomatoes has been the result of increasing cultural diversity in the United States.

To meet the growing demand, Venlo-type greenhouses have been frequently used by growers. It …

Evapotranspiration In Mid-South Rice Production, Colby Wade Reavis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rice provides much needed sustenance to a large portion of the global population, particularly in the developing world. With stress placed on food production systems under the reality of climate change and an increasing global population, rice production systems require solutions to a number of issues, including a limited water supply. As producers explore new strategies for conserving local water resources to continue to maintain yields, new irrigation strategies and technologies are being developed and validated for use at commercial production scales. Alternate wetting and drying (AWD) is an irrigation practice that provides water savings through the capture of rainfall …

Effect Of Hydrogen Peroxide On Algae And Microcystin In Control And Lake Waters, Tatiana Castillo Hernandez

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Cyanobacteria are photo-autotrophic organisms with a worldwide distribution, which can result in Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) producing toxins. One of the most common strains of cyanobacteria is Microcystis, which produces the most abundant cyanotoxin, microcystin. In this study, we analyzed the effect of H₂O₂ on algae and microcystin using both lake and reagent grade water. The first objective was to determine the effect of H₂O₂ on algae and cyanobacteria in lake water that was nutrient enriched. The second objective was to detect the effect of H₂O₂ at oxidizing microcystin in …

Visualizing Bacteriophage Evolution Through Sequence And Structural Phylogeny Of Lysin A And Terminase Proteins: An Analysis Of Protein Structure Across Phage Clusters, Maansi Asthana, Alyssa Easton, Julia Mollenhauer, Sean Renwick, Anita Golpalrathnam

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

Understanding how genes evolve and persist is a critical part of viral genomics. Bacteriophages can provide unique insight about viral evolution because of their abundance and largely unexplored history. Traditionally, phylogenetic trees have used DNA sequence comparison to visualize evolutionary paths between organisms. However, DNA sequence similarity does not reflect key alterations to protein structure and therefore how the protein performs its function. Phylogenetic trees based on predicted protein structure could provide an alternative lens through which to view evolutionary paths. From each of the 10 largest clusters included in the Actinobacteriophage Database, three mycobacteriophage genomes were selected. Lysin A …

A Single Cell Pair Mechanical Interrogation Platform To Study Cell–Cell Adhesion Mechanics, Amir Monemianesfahani

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Cell-cell adhesion complexes are macromolecular adhesive organelles that integrate cells into tissues. Perturbations of the cell-cell adhesion structure or relatedmechanotransduction pathways lead to pathological conditions such as skin and heart diseases, arthritis, and cancer. Mechanical stretching has been used to stimulate the mechanotransduction process originating from the cell-cell adhesion and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) complexes. The current techniques, however, have limitations on their ability to measure the cell-cell adhesion force directly and quantitatively. These methods use a monolayer of cells, which makes it impossible to quantify the forces within a single cell-cell adhesion complex. Other methods using single cells or cell …

Methods Development, Design Analysis, And Testing Of Novel Centrifugal Devices For Mammalian Cell Culture Harvest, W. Aaron Dryden

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Thermo Fisher Scientific is developing a centrifugal device to be used in the biopharmaceutical industry. The novel technology was used to remove cells from cell cultures, which produce drugs and medical treatments. The harvest process of removing cells is the first step towards product purification and is an important unit operation for ensuring high product yield. Since the device is a novel technology, methods to test and evaluate the performance of the centrifuge needed to be developed.

Successful testing methods were developed in this work and were implemented on over 30 different centrifuge designs. Amongst these many designs, different operating …

Efficient Polyhydroxyalkanoate Production By Rhodopseudomonas Palustris From Lignocellulosic Biomass, Brandi Brown

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biopolymers produced by bacteria with the potential to replace conventional plastics. However, the relatively high production costs of PHAs are keeping them from market acceptance, with approximately half of the production costs derived from the feedstock. Thus, engineering a microbe for PHA production from cheaper and renewable carbon sources is necessary to promote the valorization of PHAs. Lignocellulosic biomass is considered to be one of the most economic carbon sources in the world, and is thus an attractive candidate for cheaper production of bioplastics. Rhodopseudomonas palustris CGA009 is a metabolically robust bacterium capable of catabolizing lignin breakdown …

Evaluation Of Cell Concentration And Viability By Impedance Spectroscopy On Microfluidic Devices, Jason Eades

LSU Master's Theses

This document describes two distinct platforms that implement electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) within microfluidic devices for rapid, label-free cell analysis. Each study provides proof-of-concept evaluations of these devices for cell counting and viability analysis applications to mitigate some of the challenges associated with conventional methods. Chapter one includes background information on each version of EIS selected and motivations for the studies conducted. Chapter two describes the design and fabrication of a modular, reusable microfluidic device. Additionally, the methodology for and results from the application of this platform for the measurement of zebrafish sperm cell concentrations are presented. Chapter three describes …

Nanomaterial-Based Biosensors For Detection Of Salmonella Typhimurium And Avian Influenza Virus H5n1 In Poultry, Xinge Xi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research focused on developing biosensing method and biosensing device for rapid detection of pathogens in poultry: Salmonella Typhimurium and avian influenza virus H5N1. The first part of the dissertation reports an original research on the development of a portable biosensing device for Salmonella detection. The device was designed and constructed based on a previously developed optical biosensing method, using immuno-magnetic nanoparticles to specifically capture target bacteria, and immuno-quantum dot beads to label the target bacteria for fluorescence detection. All the actions of sample mixing, magnetic separation, and fluorescence detection were controlled automatically in a disposable microfluidic chip in the …

A Portable Point-Of-Care Device Using Joule Heating And Latent Energy Storage For The Temperature Regulation Of Isothermal Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests, Aubrey Lynn Schultz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Accurate and early diagnosis of infectious diseases extremely important. Rapid diagnosis allows for effective treatment and increases the chance for recovery without complications. Additionally, the ability to test the populace frequently, swiftly, and affordably significantly aids in containing wide-scale outbreaks. In terms of specificity and sensitivity, nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) are one of the best options for diagnosing infectious diseases. Isothermal NAATS present a unique opportunity to create diagnostic tests deployed at a Point-of-Care (POC) level. Specifically, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) have the potential to deliver reliable POC diagnostics in low-resource settings. When designing …

Modeling The Effect Of Igg Subclasses And Specificity In The Translocation Of Monoclonal Antibodies Across The Placental Barrier, Sayuri Tais Miyamoto Magnabosco

ENGS 88 Honors Thesis (AB Students)

Infections are responsible for over half a million neonatal deaths every year (Lawn et al., 2014). Thus, there is huge interest in leveraging maternal immunization against infectious diseases to grant fetal protection during its development through the vertical transferring of IgG antibodies, the only Ig subclass that can significantly cross the placental barrier. Studies about vertical immunization rely on in-vitro models to extrapolate physiological conditions of the human placenta. The BeWo Transwell model (Bode et al., 2006) presents itself as a reliable model to mimic the transplacental transport mechanism of antibodies (Ellinger et al., 1999; Poulsen et al., 2009) …

The Impact Of Myoblast Transplantation On Collateral Capillary Arteriogenesis And Macrophage Phenotype, Christine Hue Do

Biomedical Engineering

Gangrene, pain, loss of limb function, amputation, and death are only few of the grievous consequences associated with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), a vascular disease caused by an obstruction that narrows the blood vessels. Since some patients have collateral vessels that can re-route blood to its downstream destination, much focus has been spotlighted upon discovering the mechanism of this process, termed arteriogenesis, as well as cell therapies to increase arterial diameter of collateral vessels. Since some patients do not have native pre-existing collateral vessels, another method to re-route blood is through arterialized collateral capillaries (ACC), which is the conversion of …

Reu Site: Stem For Plant Health, David W. Britt

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Tuning Radiation And Microgravity Exposure For Human Brain Organoids, Bailey Mcfarland

Utah Space Grant Consortium

The environment of space, specifically radiation and microgravity, poses a substantial threat to astronauts' brain health. Understanding the damage mechanism and therefore paving the way to finding potential remedies is critical to protect astronauts during space flight. Current models are insufficient at representing the human brain, and insufficient research has been conducted on the effect of radiation and microgravity on the higher structures of the human brain. This ongoing research aims to use brain organoids, a tissue-engineered model that recapitulates the human brain's anatomy and structure and investigate the effects of radiation and microgravity on the brain. At the current …

Developing Aligned Nerve Scaffolds In A 3d Type-I Collagen Gel, Gabriel David

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Despite significant progress in the field of peripheral nerve repair, clinical success is still limited, leaving millions to suffer from peripheral neuropathy with billions spent every year for treatment. Nerve repair methods that are capable of maximizing the regenerative properties of peripheral nerves are greatly desired in the field of medical science. This research aims to fill the gap between modern methods and the future of nerve repair by creating type-I collagen scaffolds with aligned degradation pores that will assist and nurture nerves growing through them. This is achieved by incorporating adipose stem cells into type-I collagen hydrogels and aligning …

Evaluating The Effects Of Wood Source On The Physicochemical Properties Of Crosslinked Cellulose Nanocrystals, Helena Tchoungang Nkeumen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cellulose is an abundant and naturally occurring biopolymer that has been used by humans for food, shelter, and clothing for about two centuries now. Highly crystalline nanoparticles derived from cellulose, called cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), show great potential to meet the rising need for sustainable and nontoxic materials for biomedical applications. However, multiple biomedical applications of CNCs, such as those involving their use in tissue engineering scaffolds, require CNC-based structures to be stable in aqueous environments, a property that native CNCs do not possess due to their inherent hydrophilicity. Chemical crosslinking of CNCs addresses this issue by providing aqueous stability to …

Design Of Control Logic And The Human-Machine Interface For A Demonstration Plant Growth Chamber Implemented On A Programmable Logic Controller, Rachael Koehler

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This honors thesis covers the planning, development, and implementation of system controls and human-machine interface (HMI) for a demonstration plant growth chamber. The work is a continuation of an ongoing project to be used as an educational and recruiting tool manifesting the skills acquired from the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at the University of Arkansas’ College of Engineering. This work includes emergency controls, overall design interface, and controls for both the aeration and lighting subsystems of the growth chamber. Overall design interface controls established included development of two user modes, Administrator and Visitor. The Administrator user will have full …

Performance And Economics Of Solar Inverters And Module Level Power Electronics In A 1 Mw Photovoltaic System, Maxwell Criswell

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Photovoltaic solar panels convert sunlight to electricity in the form of direct current; therefore, a necessary component of every photovoltaic system is an inverter to convert the electricity to usable alternating current. There are various commercially available inverter technologies manufactured today such as microinverters, string inverters, and central inverters, as well as module level power electronic devices such as DC optimizers that are capable of improving system performance in string and central inverter systems. This thesis compares the performance and economics of five different inverter and module level power electronic systems through model simulation using Helioscope software. The five alternatives …

Biomethanation And Alkaline Wet Air Oxidation Of Water Hyacinth (Pontederia Crassipes) From Ozama River, Dominican Republic, Yessica A. Castro

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Obtaining valuable products from environmental remediation waste is a sustainable approach that contributes to the ecological well-being of developing countries. In the present work, the feasibility of the water hyacinth anaerobic digestion as a post-weed management practice in the Ozama River (Dominican Republic) was demonstrated. The estimated energy required for harvesting was lower than that produced during digestion. The biomethanation of water hyacinth was improved by Alkaline Wet Air Oxidation (AWAO), a thermochemical pretreatment process that almost doubled the methane production rate and increased the yield by 24% when conducted at high temperatures. At lower temperatures, the methane yield of …

Design Of An Undergraduate Laboratory Experiment Utilizing A Stirred-Tank, Jacketed Bioreactor, Brennen Middleton

Honors Theses

Bioreactors are utilized in many industries, such as the food, alternative fuel, and pharmaceutical industries, to design and manufacture products. Unlike the similar chemical batch reactors utilized in many chemical processing facilities, bioreactor utilization requires engineers to consider a wider range of operating conditions and parameters. This results in a more complex reaction system and controls network. Due to this, it is imperative for chemical and biomedical engineering students to not only understand the theory surrounding these reactor systems, but also understand how to properly design and perform operating procedures with these systems. Thus, it was determined to create an …

Preclinical Development Of Single Walled Carbon Nanotube-Based Optical Biosensors, Eric M. Hofferber

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

High resolution, long-term monitoring of key biological analytes would improve patient outcomes by providing earlier detection of disease states and improved efficacy of treatment. One class of biosensors that have gained much attention in recent years are optical biosensors. Optical probes are attractive biosensors due to their noninvasive nature of detection, as certain light can pass through tissue, water, and blood. Single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) are a specific type of optical biosensor that fluoresce in the near infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum and offer unparalleled spatial and temporal resolution. SWNT have been applied as biosensors in vitro, …

Project Alien, Rebecca Mccallin, Madelyn Hoying, Alex Evans, Matthew Nestler, Karli Rae Sutton, Garett Craig, Lucia Secaia Del Cid, Alexander Guy, Rachel Fernandez, Amanda Trusiak, Paige Aley, Ingabire Gakwerere, Nina Dorfner, Maria Mosbacher, Mary Flavin, Selvin Hernandez, Audrey Steen, Benjamin Kazimer

Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium

Project ALIEN is a comprehensive plan to send humans to Mars to look for life on the Martian surface while exploring the viability and adaptability of terrestrial microbes in Martian atmospheric conditions. ALIEN will use a ballistic capture trajectory to get to Mars and stay in aerostationary orbit for a 30-day surface mission, during which two surface crewmembers will perform a variety of experiments to achieve the mission’s goals of Martian microbial discovery within brines of the Gale Crater and terrestrial microbe adaptability and viability to Martian conditions. Experimentation is based on the presumption that Martian microbes are metabolically similar …