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Full-Text Articles in Biochemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Integrating Galectin-3 Into A Computational Model Of Cardiac Fibrosis Progression, Adam Pieratt
Integrating Galectin-3 Into A Computational Model Of Cardiac Fibrosis Progression, Adam Pieratt
Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses
Cardiac fibrosis, a large contributor to heart failure, is the excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix in response to stress or injury. There are no approved treatments for cardiac fibrosis, and targeting specific species involved creates complex problems for drug development, so a computational model of the cardiac fibroblast signaling network can be used to observe the interactions involved in the progression of cardiac fibrosis. In this paper, a new protein called galectin-3 is integrated into this existing model, and connections are established to expand the coverage of the network. The additions are described, simulated using Netflux biological system simulation software, …
Mimicking The Arterial Microenvironment With Peg-Pc To Investigate The Roles Of Physicochemical Stimuli In Smc Phenotype And Behavior, William G. Herrick
Mimicking The Arterial Microenvironment With Peg-Pc To Investigate The Roles Of Physicochemical Stimuli In Smc Phenotype And Behavior, William G. Herrick
Doctoral Dissertations
The goal of this dissertation was to parse the roles of physical, mechanical and chemical cues in the phenotype plasticity of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in atherosclerosis. We first developed and characterized a novel synthetic hydrogel with desirable traits for studying mechanotransduction in vitro. This hydrogel, PEG-PC, is a co-polymer of poly(ethylene glycol) and phosphorylcholine with an incredible range of Young’s moduli (~1 kPa - 9 MPa) that enables reproduction of nearly any tissue stiffness, exceptional optical and anti-fouling properties, and support for covalent attachment of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. To our knowledge, this combination of mechanical range, low …