Biochemical and Biomolecular Engineering Commons^™

Characterization Of Molecular Communication Based On Cell Metabolism Through Mutual Information And Flux Balance Analysis, Zahmeeth Sayed Sakkaff

Department of Computer Science and Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Synthetic biology is providing novel tools to engineer cells and access the basis of their molecular information processing, including their communication channels based on chemical reactions and molecule exchange. Molecular communication is a discipline in communication engineering that studies these types of communications and ways to exploit them for novel purposes, such as the development of ubiquitous and heterogeneous communication networks to interconnect biological cells with nano and biotechnology-enabled devices, i.e., the Internet of Bio-Nano Things. One major problem in realizing these goals stands in the development of reliable techniques to control the engineered cells and their behavior from the …

Alginate Hydrogels As Three-Dimensional Scaffolds For In Vitro Culture Models Of Growth Plate Cartilage Development And Porcine Embryo Elongation, Taylor D. Laughlin

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

The establishment of in vitro culture models utilizes tissue engineering principles to design functional mimics of in vivo environments in vitro. Advantages for the use of in vitro culture models include ethical alleviation of animal models for therapeutic testing, cost efficiency, and a greater ability to study specific mechanisms via a systematic, ground-up approach to development. In this thesis, alginate hydrogels are utilized in the development of in vitro culture models of porcine embryo elongation and growth plate cartilage development. First, the effect of scaffold and modifications to the scaffold were explored in both projects. In order to modulate …

Sustained Cell Differentiation Of 2d H9 Human Embryonic Stem Cells Into Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Hannah M. Christian

UCARE Research Products

This experiment consisted of the controlled differentiation of H9 embryonic stem cells to mesenchymal stem cells. Though this experiment was repeated twice and improvement was seen in these repetitions, the cells were only able to be partially differentiated. However, the morphology of the differentiated cells is similar to those of healthy adult mesenchymal stem cells.

The progression of the differentiation can be seen in the microscope slide photos below. Throughout the differentiation, there occurred a decrease in cell survival and reduction of cell growth, but an increase in mesenchymal stem cell morphology. Throughout the last week of the differentiation, very …