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Full-Text Articles in Biology and Biomimetic Materials

Electroanalytical Investigations Of Microrna-Conjugated Cerium Oxide Based Nanomaterials For Biomedical Applications, Chaimae El Ghzaoui Jan 2023

Electroanalytical Investigations Of Microrna-Conjugated Cerium Oxide Based Nanomaterials For Biomedical Applications, Chaimae El Ghzaoui

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Diabetes patients are increasingly suffering from wound-healing impairments coupled with other severe medical conditions. High levels of oxidative stress and proinflammatory cytokines are predominant pathologic characteristics of diabetic wounds. Applying microRNA (miRNA) in gene therapy often successfully treats various disorders by generating highly specific bio-responses. Studies revealed that microRNA146a (miR146a), a regulator of inflammation, is downregulated in diabetic wounds. However, miR203 is found to be highly-expressed in diabetic foot ulcers in positive correlation with disease severity. We have synthesized Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CNPs) since they are used in various biomedical applications due to their high enzyme-mimetic activities and reactive oxygen …


Davydov-Split Aggregates Of Cyanine Dyes For Bovine Serum Albumin Detection, Yiping Ma Jan 2022

Davydov-Split Aggregates Of Cyanine Dyes For Bovine Serum Albumin Detection, Yiping Ma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The p-conjugated supramolecular aggregates have gained significant interest in recent years. The cyanine dye aggregates are particularly interesting due to their unique optical and excitonic properties, which cannot be found in individual molecules. Cyanine dyes can form different kinds of aggregates. H-aggregates are formed when dye molecules are packed in a face-to-face fashion, which gives rise to a blue-shift absorption band and strong emission quenching compared to the monomer. J-aggregates are composed of individual dye molecules in a head-to-tail stacking, which leads to a red-shift absorption band and a sharp intense emission band with a small Stoke shift compared with …


Structural Dynamics And Encapsulation Properties Of Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles, Sachit Shah Dec 2021

Structural Dynamics And Encapsulation Properties Of Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles, Sachit Shah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Charged therapeutics such as nucleic acids and proteins can treat a vast range of human diseases that are traditionally undruggable. Their broadness in treating disease is due to their ability to influence cellular function. However, their high charge density and physiological barriers such as enzymatic degradation, hinder the deliverability of these molecules to the sites of disease. Polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) micelles are core-corona nanostructures that can encapsulate charged molecules and offer a platform for delivery. PECs form the core, when two oppositely charged polyelectrolytes are mixed in an aqueous solution, and the micelle corona is a neutral hydrophilic polymer that …


Using Peptide Design To Engineer Polyelectrolyte Complex Biomaterials, Sara Tabandeh Dec 2021

Using Peptide Design To Engineer Polyelectrolyte Complex Biomaterials, Sara Tabandeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The self-assembly of oppositely charged polymers provides a versatile platform to design materials for diverse applications in biology and medicine. Electrostatically-driven phase separation of oppositely charged polymers in aqueous solution gives rise to the formation of a polymer-rich phase called a polyelectrolyte complex (PEC). PECs can be in the form of liquid droplets (complex coacervates) or amorphous solid precipitates. Unlike synthetic polymers, peptides are good candidates for developing tailor-made formulations and structure-property relationships due to their biocompatibility, precise control over sequences, and ability to program hydrogen bonding interactions. However, little is known about the effect of combining additional molecular interactions …


Surface Engineering Of Cerium Oxide Nanocyrstal Dispersions: Colloidal Properties, Ageing Effects, & Electroanalysis, Craig Neal May 2021

Surface Engineering Of Cerium Oxide Nanocyrstal Dispersions: Colloidal Properties, Ageing Effects, & Electroanalysis, Craig Neal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Colloidal materials are highly diverse and present complex physicochemical properties which define their utilities in applications spanning diverse industries. In particular, nano-scale colloids have received tremendous attention due to their unique, specific activities as compared to larger-sized preparations. Within the biomedical sciences, nano-colloids are routinely used as inert carriers of therapeutics and/or diagnostic agents. Beyond this, researchers have developed functional colloids which demonstrate bio-active or diagnostic properties themselves: often related to an optimized, or tuned, surface character. Among these, nanoscale cerium oxide (nanoceria) has shown great promise as a bi-functional, therapeutic material: producing pro- or anti- oxidative chemical response in …


Actin Cytoskeleton Dynamics And Organization Modulated By Macromolecular Crowding, Cation Interaction, And Nanomaterials, Jinho Park Jan 2021

Actin Cytoskeleton Dynamics And Organization Modulated By Macromolecular Crowding, Cation Interaction, And Nanomaterials, Jinho Park

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The assembly of actin, the essential cytoskeleton protein, into filaments and bundles/networks is important in various cellular processes including cell movement and morphogenesis. Actin bundle formation occurs in crowded intracellular environments with the aid of actin-crosslinking proteins. The role of actin-crosslinking proteins such as fascin and a-actinin in bundle formation has been investigated, however, how intracellular environments affect actin crosslinker-induced bundle formation is unknown. In the first two parts of this dissertation, we explore the effects of macromolecular crowding and cation interactions on the organization and mechanics of actin crosslinker-induced bundles. To determine how changing environmental conditions modulate actin bundling, …


Development Of 3d Porous Chitosan-Based Platform For In Vitro Culture, Kailei Xu Jan 2020

Development Of 3d Porous Chitosan-Based Platform For In Vitro Culture, Kailei Xu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures have been widely used in biological research since two-dimensional (2D) cultures have many limitations including alteration of cell morphology, metabolic pathways and gene expression. Therefore, the application of 2D cell cultures in pharmaceutical companies for drug screening causes reproducibility issues in animal studies, which strongly influences the efficiency of drug development. The aim of my studies is to develop 3D cell culture models to better mimic the extracellular matrix (ECM) in tumor microenvironment, not only for deeper understanding of interaction between cells and ECM, but also for the application in drug screening. Three different compositions of …