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Simeon Kofman, Master’s Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisors: Liang Oscar Qiang, MD, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy Drexel University College of Medicine
Fred Allen, PhD Teaching Professor Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
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Emma Katherine MacNeil, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisor: Kurtulus Izzetoglu, PhD Associate Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
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Pratishtha Guckhool, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisor: Catherine von Reyn, PhD Assistant Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
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Jillian Clare Saunders, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisors: Catherine von Reyn, PhD Assistant Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Denise Garcia, PhD Associate Professor Department of Biology College of Arts and Sciences Drexel University
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Joy Anita Iaconianni, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisors: Sriram Balasubramanian, PhD Associate Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Anita Singh, PhD Chair of Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor Department of Biomedical Engineering School of Engineering Widener University
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Victor Mishin, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisors: Christopher B. Rodell, PhD Assistant Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University Amy L. Throckmorton, PhD Associate Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
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Virginia Orozco, PhD Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisors: Sriram Balasubramanian, PhD Associate Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Anita Singh, PhD Chair of Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor Department of Biomedical Engineering School of Engineering Widener University
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Alison Kane, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisors: Janarthanan (Janar) Sathananthan, BHB, MBChB, MPH, FRACP Interventional and Structural Cardiologist University of British Columbia (UBC) St Paul’s Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital
Amy Throckmorton, PhD Associate Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
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Benchtop physiological modeling using a flow loop is a necessary requirement for medical device manufacturers both for the development and the commercial approval of devices. Custom models are frequently created to meet these needs regarding specific anatomical and hemodynamic parameters required to the test cardiovascular devices. Since response to aortic regurgitation (AR) in humans cannot be ethically studied, animal models can be used as a surrogate; however, the expense of these models raises a need for a benchtop model capable of mimicking specific responses. This custom model has been designed for an end user to respond appropriately to acute AR while remaining compliant with certain standards governing traditional benchtop testers.
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Kevt’her Hoxha, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisor: Lin Han, PhD Associate Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
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The synovial joint of the knee is essential for shock absorption and joint lubrication during locomotion. For high frequency activities, such as running and jumping, the shock absorption function is governed by the fluid flow-induced poroelasticity of cartilage, in which, the interstitial fluid pressurization arises due to the densely packed, highly negatively charged aggrecan in the cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM). The meniscus acts as a key functional unit of the knee joint, enhancing congruency, providing direct load transmission to cartilage, and increasing joint stability.
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Aakankschit Nandkeolyar, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University Advisor: Hasan Ayaz, PhD Associate Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
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Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune skin disease that affects nearly 2% of the world’s population. It is characterized by the formation of red plaques on the skin. Such plaques can cause irritation and pain to patients, not to mention the plaques are a major source of anxiety related to appearance for patients, making psoriasis a disease with high morbidity. While there are currently no cures for psoriasis, anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals can be used to treat psoriasis by reducing the severity of the symptoms. The efficacy of treatments for psoriasis is measured by improvement in clinical outcomes, the most popular of which is Psoriasis Area Severity Index Score (PASI). These scores are provided by a dermatologist to quantify the severity of psoriasis in a patient. Quantitative Systems Pharmacology (QSP) is a new field in the area of computational disease modeling that allows for quantification and prediction of disease serum biomarkers in virtual patient models. Such prediction can potentially be correlated with clinical outcomes, such as PASI scores, to allow a scientist to predict clinical outcomes in virtual patients. The current study proposes the use of machine learning algorithms to bridge the gap between QSP simulation data for serum biomarkers and clinical outcome measures to predict PASI scores post-treatment to potentially reduce cost and time for clinical trials.
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Kimtee Dahari Ramsagur, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University Advisor: Kurtulus Izzetoglu, PhD Associate Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
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Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) is the ability of cerebral vessels to dilate or constrict in response to vasoactive challenges. CVR has been shown to be an important biomarker for diagnosing and monitoring neurological disorders. Assessment of CVR commonly requires a hypercapnic challenge, which is the elevation of the partial arterial carbon dioxide (CO2) level or end-tidal CO2 level (EtCO2). Current methods used to induce hypercapnia consist of breath holding, fractional inspired CO2, or sequential gas delivery. Limitations of the existing systems are that they are either not portable, require manual operations, take a long time to set-up, or do not induce an accurate and precise hypercapnic stimulus. Therefore, there is a need to develop a personalized, portable, and automated gas delivery system that induces hypercapnia in a controlled manner.
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Raj Patel, MS Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisor: Margaret A. Wheatley, PhD John M. Reid Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
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Multi-drug resistance (MDR) is a condition often found in breast cancer that significantly reduces the efficacy of chemotherapy. Many factors contribute to this, including tumor hypoxia, which further serves to increase the resistance of tumors to radiotherapy. Combination therapy has been shown to be effective at reversing the effects of MDR through the combined effects of various therapeutics targeting different mechanisms of the tumor. One such combination involves the co-delivery of lonidamine (LND) and paclitaxel (PTX), which has shown greater efficiency in treating and reversing MDR tumors than the delivery of single drug alone. Multimodal therapy takes this principle a step further, and employs combinations of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, and phototherapy to treat cancer, and has shown greater survival rates in patients than monomodal therapy alone. Currently, our group has developed a LND loaded D-α-Tocopherol polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS) and sorbitan monostearate surfactant stabilized microbubble (LND-SE61 MBs) with an oxygen core for the application of sensitizing hypoxic tumors to radiotherapy. This MB also doubles as an ultrasound contrast agent (UCA), allowing for enhanced ultrasound imaging. The aim of this proof-of-principle study was to further leverage the LND-SE61 MB to include PTX within its surfactant shell in an effort to expand its capability to treat MDR tumors using chemotherapy, as well as to make the tumor more sensitive to radiotherapy, through a multimodal approach.
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Marina Korinne Lilieholm, MS Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisor: Alessandro Fatatis, MD, PhD Professor Department of Pharmacology and Physiology College of Medicine Drexel University
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More than 90% of cancer-related deaths are caused by metastasis, which is caused by circulating tumor cells (CTCs). CTCs are shed by the primary tumor, enter the systemic blood circulation before lodging in distant organs, where they seed secondary colonies. Of all tumor cells that disseminate, only a few possess the genetic profile to initiate colonization. Enumeration and molecular analysis of these rare cell populations collected through liquid biopsy possesses inherent clinical relevance and yields insight into the biology of metastasis. However, enrichment of CTCs from whole blood is encumbered by their rarity (approximately 1 CTC for every 105 to 106 peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)) and limited to antibody-dependent and independent capture techniques. Antibody-independent methods are preferred because they capture CTCs in an unbiased fashion; however, these methods deliver excessively diluted cell suspensions, with a few hundred cells in five to ten mL of fluid. Recovery of these cells by centrifugation is lengthy, induces cell damage, is overall incompatible with systematic investigation and has so far prevented full integration of CTC analysis into clinical practice. For these reasons, over the last two decades, CTCs evaluation has been dominated by antibody-dependent staining on chip, significantly limiting our breadth of knowledge. Herein we describe the design and production of a device capable of collecting CTCs from diluted suspensions and re-eluting them into a 10-fold smaller volume, thus allowing to bridge the technological gap between CTC capture from blood and downstream molecular analyses.
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Roze Alzabey, MS Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisor: Catherine von Reyn, PhD Assistant Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
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RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) has been established as a high throughput sequencing method that provides gene expression profiling. However, with the vast amount of data generated through RNA-seq, it remains a challenge to extract meaningful interpretations of the data. In addition, RNA-seq library preparation requires multiple steps, and there remains to be differences in techniques at various levels of the process, and a lack of standardized methods to compare across different datasets.
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Andrew G. Dai, PhD Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisor: Hasan Ayaz, PhD Associate Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
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Brain computer interfaces have a variety of applications including but not limited to neuroscience, engineering, computer science, psychology, and rehabilitation. With a wide range of disciplines and advancing technologies, there is a growing interest, especially in using multiple systems concurrently in multimodal/hybrid configurations to extract complimentary aspects of brain activity, and in measuring multiple brains using hyperscanning configurations to investigate brain activities in social interactions. The use of functional neuroimaging in brain computer interface protocols such as functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and electroencephalography (EEG) require precise time synchronized transmission of experimental events and acquired data for proper analysis and interpretation. A scalable, portable device that can act as a bridge between multiple monitoring systems with different communication protocols is required for ensuring practicality of these experimental setups. A challenge is presented with the complexity of having multiple brain and body sensors and providing a proper timing of event markers and data acquisition. The original NeuroHub device, developed at Drexel University, offered time synchronization capabilities through four serial ports, a TTL port, and a parallel port. The following generation of NeuroHub was designed as a modular expansion to the original device in order to offer wireless communications to accommodate for modern computing systems with more complex options.
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Christian D’Andrea, Master’s Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisor: Sriram Balasubramanian, PhD Associate Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems
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Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) is a 3-D spine and ribcage deformity that develops during the adolescent growth spurt. This condition affects 2-4% of the adolescent population in the United States and can cause detrimental effects in terms of cardiopulmonary function and movement range. When curvature continues to increase in severity despite conservative treatments such as bracing, surgical intervention is required. Posterior spinal fusion is the current standard for severe AIS correction, but this approach uses a rigid construct which suppresses growth after surgery. Anterior vertebral body tethering (AVBT) addresses this limitation through growth friendly correction, where a flexible instrumentation construct provides partial correction through surgery and further correction by altering growth rates within vertebrae.
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Shubhra Rastogi, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisor: Li-Hsin (Leo) Han, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics College of Engineering Drexel University
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An estimated 10% of the global population over the age of 60 have significant clinical problems that may be attributed to osteoarthritis. Current clinical solutions alleviate common symptoms; nothing on the market today addresses treatment of osteoarthritis itself. Regeneration of cartilage tissue lost in osteoarthritis is extremely challenging due to an innate lack of blood vessels, lymphatics and nerves. Tissue engineering may provide alternative solutions by developing biomimetic tissue substitutes. The goal of this project is to investigate how combination of biomechanical and biochemical properties can be used to create a pro-chondrogenic microenvironment, by means of controlled mechanotransduction and drug-delivery.
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Radhika Gangakhedkar, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisor: Sriram Balasubramanian, PhD Associate Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
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Neonatal brachial plexus palsy (NBPP) has been a prominent challenge in obstetrics with reported incidence of 1 to 4 per 1,000 childbirths in the United States. NBPP occurs due to overstretching of the brachial plexus (BP) during complicated birthing scenarios resulting in functional disability of the upper limb. No data exists on functional responses of BP nerves acutely post-stretch.
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Nhat Duong, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisor: Michael Xie, PhD Supervisory Bioinformatics Scientist Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)
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The field of bioinformatics contains many pipelines for different purposes. These pipelines are often for data processing, which are used to process raw files into ready to be analyzed files. Despite availability of many different pipelines, the process of going from processed files to analysis the data and making a report from the results are still largely done manually. Among different data analyses, a commonly used analysis applicable across a variety of data is the genetic/mutation load analysis on cohort data (cases vs. controls groups). It is thus desirable to produce a fully automated and flexible pipeline capable of going from the variant discovery VCF file and BED file all the way to a final interactive report file which can be presented to clinicians or principle investigators.
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Paul M. DeSantis, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisor: Michele Marcolongo, PhD Department Head and Professor Department of Materials Science and Engineering College of Engineering Drexel University
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Treatment for intervertebral disc degeneration involves the complete removal of the disc and the fusion of two adjacent vertebrae via a biocompatible implant. The implant must be capable of both supporting the mechanical forces experienced by the spine, as well as promoting bone growth. Polyetheretherketone, or 'PEEK,' has been shown to perform well in spinal fusion surgeries, but can face challenges with osseointegration as it is highly hydrophobic. Post-processing techniques have been considered as a method to improve the osseointegration of PEEK spinal cages, with ultraviolet (UV) light assisted functionalization being one possible method. The addition of calcium phosphate to bone scaffolds has been shown to increase osseointegration due to similarities to hydroxyapatite, a major inorganic component of bone. We investigated the use of UV-assisted functionalization to add a calcium phosphate layer to PEEK samples in order to improve osseointegration.
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Danika Meldrum, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisor: Alisa Morss Clyne, PhD Research Associate Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics College of Engineering Drexel University
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Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) increases pulmonary vascular resistance and right ventricular afterload, which eventually results in right heart failure. In PAH, endothelial cells (EC) are dysfunctional through both decreased nitric oxide (NO) production and increased glucose metabolism. However, neither the cause for PAH-related EC dysfunction nor effective treatments are known. We hypothesized that increased EC glucose metabolism would increase endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) O-GlcNAcylation, which has been shown to decrease eNOS phosphorylation at Ser1177 and consequently decrease NO bioavailability. We further hypothesized that statins, which are known for decreasing lipids but also decreased EC glucose metabolism, would decrease eNOS O-GlcNAcylation and restore eNOS phosphorylation and NO bioavailability.
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Rebecca L. Kitchmire, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisor: Steven M. Kurtz, PhD Research Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
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Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common form of cardiovascular disease in the United States. Drug eluting stents (DESs) are a commonly used medical device in the treatment of CAD. However, the polymer coatings that are applied to these stents for drug release over an extended period can cause an inflammatory response at the implantation site. To counteract this, many researchers are seeking new polymer coatings by fabricating DESs at a laboratory level. These fabrication processes are inconsistent across research facilities and could benefit from a well-defined processing procedure for DES fabrication.
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Bhavani Singh, Master's Candidate School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
Advisor: Kara Spiller, PhD Associate Professor School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University
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Macrophages, the primary innate immune cells of the body, regulate wound healing by switching between M1 and M2 phenotypes in order to kill bacteria, clear apoptotic cell debris, stimulate angiogenesis, and deposit functional extracellular matrix. However, a number of pathologies are characterized by macrophages that are stalled in a M1 state, and there is a need for biomaterials that can decrease M1 macrophage behavior. Previous research found that administration of unsaturated fatty acids, glycolysis inhibitors, and glutamate metabolism inhibitors decrease inflammatory gene and protein expression. Also, it has been shown that M1 macrophages primarily rely on glycolysis for energy, while M2 macrophages rely on oxidative phosphorylation. Because of this, the objective for this study was to design a metabolism-altering biomaterial to repolarize macrophages from an M1 phenotype. This was done in two phases, which were designing experiments to find the optimal combination of 6-Diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine (DON), Quercetin (Que), and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) to decrease M1 behavior and creating a liposome drug-delivery system to encapsulate the optimal concentration. The effects of these drugs and liposomes were characterized by protein secretion, metabolism, and viability assays.
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