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Hydrogel

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Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Biological Engineering

Development Of Glutathione-Responsive Disulfide-Containing Poly(Beta-Amino Esters) With Varied Hydrophilicity And Acrylate Functionality, Anastasiia Aronova Jan 2024

Development Of Glutathione-Responsive Disulfide-Containing Poly(Beta-Amino Esters) With Varied Hydrophilicity And Acrylate Functionality, Anastasiia Aronova

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Smart biomaterials are becoming promising for therapeutic deliveries due to their ability to respond to changes in the environment. Redox-responsive hydrogels are a promising type of smart polymer that can swell and degrade according to cellular oxidative stress levels. Glutathione, abundant in cells, is crucial in redox-responsive biomaterials, serving as a key reactive molecule. This study explored the degradation kinetics of glutathione-responsive poly(β-amino ester) (PBAE) polymers created through a single-step Michael addition. We examined how disulfide content influences the degradation kinetics of these PBAE networks. Additionally, we investigated how the hydrophilicity and functionality of acrylate affect the degradation of disulfide-containing …


Air-Jet Bioprinting Of Stem Cell-Encapsulated Alginate Micro-Droplets For Organoid Biomanufacturing, Mirabella B. Stump Dec 2023

Air-Jet Bioprinting Of Stem Cell-Encapsulated Alginate Micro-Droplets For Organoid Biomanufacturing, Mirabella B. Stump

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Biomanufactured 3D-organoids show promise for modeling and treating various conditions, particularly insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (type-1 diabetes). Pancreatic islet organoids serve as sustainable sources of insulin-producing β-cells, potentially restoring insulin regulation in patients and providing a long-term solution for diabetes. Hydrogel droplet printing is an emerging technique in regenerative medicine due to its advantageous tunability and biocompatibility; however, challenges of consistency, quality control, and scalability persist. To address these issues, we developed a novel air-jetting based droplet bioprinting system for the generation of monodispersed alginate micro-droplets. The objective of this project was to incorporate human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) into …


3-Dimensional Muscle Constructs: Using Hydrogels In Order To Model The Effects Of Exercise In Disease Conditions, Mark Mchargue Jan 2023

3-Dimensional Muscle Constructs: Using Hydrogels In Order To Model The Effects Of Exercise In Disease Conditions, Mark Mchargue

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Currently, there is no standard in vitro model for studying the effects of mechanical stimulation on muscle in type II diabetes. Existing models primarily utilize electrical stimulation, which does not fully recapitulate the effects of exercise. In this thesis, we create a standardized in vitro model of murine muscle that can recapitulate the benefits seen in exercise when mechanically stimulated. Moreover, we show that a type II diabetes environment has similar effects on the muscle in vitro as well as in vivo.


Development And Characterization Of A Decellularized Neuroinhibitory Scaffold Containing Matrix Bound Nanovesicles, Logan Piening Dec 2021

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 …


Injectable Gelatin-Silk Fibroin Composite Hydrogels For In Situ Cell Encapsulation, Ryann D. Boudreau Jan 2021

Injectable Gelatin-Silk Fibroin Composite Hydrogels For In Situ Cell Encapsulation, Ryann D. Boudreau

Honors Theses and Capstones

Hydrogels are widely used tools for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Characterized as biofunctional, water-based polymer matrices with tunable mechanical properties, hydrogels have promising but limited applications in biomedical engineering, due to poor and static matrix strength. Here we plan to rectify this issue by introducing a new hydrogel made from a composite of gelatin and silk fibroin crosslinked by microbial transglutaminase (mTG) instantly and beta sheet formation gradually, respectively. This interpenetrating network (IPN) shows enhanced mechanical stiffness and strength compared to gelatin hydrogels, and is capable of encapsulating human cells with high viability demonstrated by the encapsulation of human …


Design And Development Of Two Component Hydrogel Ejector For Three-Dimensional Cell Growth, Thomas Dunkle, Jessica Deschamps, Connie Dam May 2015

Design And Development Of Two Component Hydrogel Ejector For Three-Dimensional Cell Growth, Thomas Dunkle, Jessica Deschamps, Connie Dam

Honors Scholar Theses

Hydrogels are useful in wound healing, drug delivery, and tissue engineering applications, but the available methods of injecting them quickly and noninvasively are limited. The medical industry does not yet have access to an all-purpose device that can quickly synthesize hydrogels of different shapes and sizes. Many synthesis procedures that have been developed result in the formation of amorphous hydrogels. While generally useful, amorphous hydrogels exhibit limited capability in tissue engineering applications, especially due to their viscous properties. This endeavor aims to modulate the appropriate gelation parameters, optimize the injection process, and create a prototype that allows for the extrusion …


Automating The Process Of Fabricating Uniform-Sized Cell Spheroids For Three-Dimensional Bioprinting, Ganesh Sosale Jan 2015

Automating The Process Of Fabricating Uniform-Sized Cell Spheroids For Three-Dimensional Bioprinting, Ganesh Sosale

Theses and Dissertations

Although researchers have been able to print small, simple, and avascular tissues, they have been unsuccessful in creating large, complex and vascularized organs. Printing large and complex three-dimensional tissues or organs involves utilizing a large quantity of cellular spheroids and layer-by-layer addition of spheroids. In this study, an in-house cell spheroid fabrication system was developed to produce cell spheroids with human liver cells (hepG2), human endothelial cells (hEC), human neural stem cells (hNSC), and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). It offers the ability of fabricating uniform-sized spheroids repeatedly, which is essential when large and complex structures need to be produced. …


Application Of Limited Mixing In The Hele–Shaw Geometry In Fabrication Of Janus Hydrogels, Md Mahmudur Rahman Apr 2014

Application Of Limited Mixing In The Hele–Shaw Geometry In Fabrication Of Janus Hydrogels, Md Mahmudur Rahman

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

It is widely accepted that cells behave differently responding to the stiffness of their extracellular matrix (ECM). Such observations were made by culturing cells on hydrogel substrates of tunable stiffness. However, it was recently proposed that cells may sense how strongly they are tethered to ECM, not the local stiffness of ECM. To investigate both hypotheses, we developed a method to fabricate Janus polyacrylamide (PAAM) gels. We squeeze two drops of different concentrations in the Hele-Shaw geometry to generate radial Stokes flow. When the drops coalesce, limited mixing occurs at the interface due to the narrow confinement, and diffusion normal …


Surface- And Hydrogel-Mediated Delivery Of Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles, Angela K. Pannier, Tatiana Segura Jan 2013

Surface- And Hydrogel-Mediated Delivery Of Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles, Angela K. Pannier, Tatiana Segura

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Gene expression within a cell population can be directly altered through gene delivery approaches. Traditionally for nonviral delivery, plasmids or siRNA molecules, encoding or targeting the gene of interest, are packaged within nanoparticles. These nanoparticles are then delivered to the media surrounding cells seeded onto tissue culture plastic; this technique is termed bolus delivery. Although bolus delivery is widely utilized to screen for efficient delivery vehicles and to study gene function in vitro, this delivery strategy may not result in efficient gene transfer for all cell types or may not identify those delivery vehicles that will be efficient in vivo. …