As of today, there does not exist a cheap diagnostic for lactate for use in trauma centers. $671 billion are spent on trauma accidents and emergency rooms, with money focused on treatments such as YSI and ELISA, costing $1500 and $200, respectively. Gold disk electrodes were used to immobilize lactate dehydrogenase and glucose oxidase, with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) used as the method for detection. Two lactate experimental runs were completed with data detailing a linear model and positive correlation for imaginary impedance and concentration, and one glucose experimental run was completed proving that a continuous system can be completed accounting for reaction and consumption using EIS, a process previously not done before.

Development of a rapid and label-free Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) biosensor for Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) detection based on Inerluekin-18 (IL-18) sensitivity was proposed to fill the technology gap between rapid and portable CVD point-of-care diagnosis. IL-18 was chosen for this CVD biosensor due to its ability to detect plaque vulnerability of the heart. Custom (hand) made sensors, which utilized a three electrode configuration with a gold disk working electrode, were created to run EIS using both IL-18 and anti-IL-18 molecules in both purified and blood solutions. The EIS results for IL-18 indicated the optimal detection frequency to be 371Hz. Blood interaction on the working electrode increased the dynamic range of impedance values for the biosensor. Future work includes Developing and testing prototypes of the biosensor along with determining if a Nafion based coating on the working electrode will reduce the dynamic range of impedance values caused by blood interference.

This report outlines the current methods and instrumentation used for diabetes monitoring and detection, and evaluates the problems that these methods face. Additionally, it will present an approach to remedy these problems. The purpose of this project is to create a potentiostat that is capable of controlling a diabetes meter that monitors multiple biological markers simultaneously. Glucose is the most commonly measured biomarker for diabetes. However, it provides only a limited amount of information. In order to give the user of the meter more information about the progression of his or her disease, the concentrations of several different biological markers for diabetes may be measured using a system that operates in a similar fashion to blood glucose meters. The potentiostat provides an input voltage into the electrode sensor and receives the current from the sensor as the output. From this information, the impedance may be calculated. The concentrations of each of the biomarkers in the blood sample can then be determined. In an effort to increase sensitivity, the diabetes meter forgoes the use of amperometric i-t in favor of the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy technique. A three-electrode electrochemical sensor is used with the meter. In order to perform simultaneous and rapid testing of biomarker concentration, a single multisine input wave is generated using a hardware implementation of a summing amplifier and waveform generators.

Electrochemical sensors function by detecting electroactive species at the electrode surface of a screen printed sensor. As more force is applied, the concentration of electroactive species at the surface of the sensor increases and a larger current is measured. Thus, when all conditions including voltage are made constant, as in Amp i-t, a quantifiable current can be read and the force applied can be calculated. Two common electrochemical techniques in which current is measured, cyclic voltammetry(CV) and amperometric i-t(Amp i-t), were used. A compressible sensor capable of transducing a force and acquiring feedback was created.

The purpose of this thesis was to explore how changes in the geometry of a bifurcating cerebral aneurysm will affect the hemodynamics in idealized models after stent treatment. This thesis explores the use of a computationally modeled Enterprise Vascular Reconstruction Device (Cordis, East Bridgewater, NJ), a high porosity and closed cell design. The models represent idealized cases of saccular aneurysms with dome sizes of either 4mm or 6mm and a dome to neck ratio of either 3:2 or 2:1. Two aneurysm contact angles are studied, one at 45 degrees and the other at 90 degrees. The stent was characterized and deployed with the use of Finite Element Analysis into each model. Computational Fluid Dynamic principles were applied in series of simulations on treated and untreated models. Data was gathered in the neck plane for the average velocity magnitude, root mean squared velocity, average flow vector angle of deflection, and the cross neck flow rate. Within the aneurysm, the average velocity magnitude, root mean squared velocity, and average pressure were calculated. Additionally, the mass flow rate at each outlet was recorded. The results of this study indicate that the Enterprise Stent was most effective in the sharper, 90 degree geometry of Model 3. Additionally, the stent had an adverse effect on the Models 1 and 4, which had the smallest neck sizes. Conclusions are that the Enterprise Stent, as a stand-alone treatment method is only reliable in situations that take advantage of its design.

Intracranial aneurysms, which form in the blood vessels of the brain, are particularly dangerous because of the importance and fragility of the human brain. When an intracranial aneurysm gets large it poses a significant risk of bursting and causing subarachnoid hemorrhaging (SAH), a possibly fatal condition. One possible treatment involves placing a stent in the vessel to act as a flow diverter. In this study we look at the hemodynamics of two geometries of idealized basilar tip aneurysms, at 2,3, and 4 ml/s pulsatile flow, at three different points in the cardiac cycle. The smaller model had neck and dome diameters of 2.67 mm and 4 mm respectively, while the larger aneurysm had neck and dome diameters of 3 mm and 6 mm respectively. Both diameters and the dome to neck ratio increased in the second model, representing growth over time. Flow was analyzed using stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (PIV) for both geometries in untreated models, as well as after treatment with a high porosity Enterprise stent (Codman and Shurtleff Inc.). Flow in the models was characterized by root mean square velocity in the aneurysm and neck plane, cross neck flow, max aneurysm vorticity, and total aneurysm kinetic energy. It was found that in the smaller aneurysm model (model 1), Enterprise stent treatment reduced all flow parameters substantially. The smallest reduction was in max vorticity, at 42.48%, and the largest in total kinetic energy, at 75.69%. In the larger model (model 2) there was a 52.18% reduction in cross neck flow, but a 167.28% increase in aneurysm vorticity. The other three parameters experienced little change. These results, along with observed velocity vector fields, indicate a noticeable diversion of flow away from the aneurysm in the stent treated model 1. Treatment in model 2 had a small flow diversion effect, but also altered flow in unpredictable ways, in some cases having a detrimental effect on aneurysm hemodynamics. The results of this study indicate that Enterprise stent treatment is only effective in small, relatively undeveloped aneurysm geometries, and waiting until an aneurysm has grown too large can eliminate this treatment option altogether.

Camp Hope is an organization dedicated to motivating children in foster care to pursue higher education. In this paper, the organization's founder applies the engineering design process to the problems currently facing Arizona's foster care system. What emerges is Camp Hope (i.e. the "product") and in turn a model by which it can be promulgated throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area and abroad. Prototype camps held abroad in Mexico, and at local group homes in Tempe, Arizona verify the initial user inputs with 68% of campers reporting new academic interests in pre/post camp surveys. Future work includes continued fine-tuning of the model through continued Arizona camps, and longer-term surveys tracking the development of children who participate in the program.

The use of microelectrode arrays (MEA) to electroporate cells is now a reliable way of transfecting RNA interfering substances with high viability and efficiency. However, as the 50-200 micron electrodes are coated with many cells, there are differences in both viability and efficiency between the outside and inside of the electrode. This is due to the field created by the electrode, which has higher intensities toward the outside and lower intensities toward the middle. In order to get the electric field to spread in a more even manner, an "Anodisc" inorganic membrane seeded with cells was placed on the MEA to act as a buffer to the electric fields. One hundred percent transfection efficiency on live cells was found on one sample, though there were problems encountered along the experimental process that introduced error into the results, some of which included the inability for cells to grow to high levels of confluency on the Anodisc as well as the inverted imaging technique used on the opaque disc.

This report provides information concerning qualities of methylcellulose and how those properties affect further experimentation within the biomedical world. Utilizing the compound’s biocompatibility many issues, ranging from surgical to cosmetic, can be solved. As of recent, studies indicate, methylcellulose has been used as a physically cross-linked gel, which cannot sustain a solid form within the body. Therefore, this report will ultimately explore the means of creating a non-degradable, injectable, chemically cross-linking methylcellulose- based hydrogel. Methylcellulose will be evaluated and altered in experiments conducted within this report and a chemical cross-linker, developed from Jeffamine ED 2003 (O,O′-Bis(2-aminopropyl) polypropylene glycol-block-polyethylene glycol-block-polypropylene glycol), will be created. Experimentation with these elements is outlined here, and will ultimately prompt future revisions and analysis.

Currently, the management of diabetes mellitus (DM) involves the monitoring of only blood glucose using self-monitoring blood glucose devices (SMBGs) followed by taking interventional steps, if needed. To increase the amount of information that diabetics can have to base DM care decisions off of, the development of an insulin biosensor is explored. Such a biosensor incorporates electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to ensure an extremely sensitive platform. Additionally, anti-insulin antibody was immobilized onto the surface of a gold disk working electrode to ensure a highly specific sensing platform as well. EIS measurements were completed with a 5mV sine wave that was swept through the frequency spectrum of 100 kHz to 1 Hz on concentrations of insulin ranging from 0 pM to 100 μM. The frequency at which the interaction between insulin and its antibody was optimized was determined by finding out at which frequency the R2 and slope of the impedance-concentration plot were best. This frequency, otherwise known as the optimal binding frequency, was determined to be 459 Hz. Three separate electrodes were developed and the impedance data for each concentration measured at 459 Hz was averaged and plotted against the LOG (pM insulin) to construct the calibration curve. The response was calculated to be 263.64 ohms/LOG(pM insulin) with an R2 value of 0.89. Additionally, the average RSD was determined to be 19.24% and the LLD was calculated to be 8.47 pM, which is well below the physiological normal range. These results highlight the potential success of developing commercial point-of-care insulin biosensors or multi-marker devices operating with integrated insulin detection.