Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
The tendon-bone junction is essential for allowing humans to transfer mechanical loads during activities. When injury does occur to this important area, current surgical techniques improperly bypass important physical and chemical gradients and do not restore proper function. It is essential to create tissue engineered scaffolds that create proper models…
The tendon-bone junction is essential for allowing humans to transfer mechanical loads during activities. When injury does occur to this important area, current surgical techniques improperly bypass important physical and chemical gradients and do not restore proper function. It is essential to create tissue engineered scaffolds that create proper models for the region and induce healing responses for repair. To advance research into these scaffolds, electrospinning fibers and hydrogels made of norbornene functionalized hyaluronic acid (NorHA) were used to promote bone growth by adhering calcium to the material. To further improve calcium adherence, which is indicative of bone regions, a mineralization peptide was allowed to soak through the fibers. NorHA proved to be a suitable material for biomineralization experiments, showing slow calcium adherence within the first hour before accelerating in adherence over 24 hours in both fibers and hydrogels. When the mineralization peptide was implemented calcium adherence on fibers increased nearly eight times within the first 15 minutes of experimentation.
Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus experience a slower healing process and poor osteointegration, making it difficult for them to heal properly after a bone fracture. This study aims to compare the proliferation and differentiation of human mesenchymal stromal cells at different glucose concentrations, as well as with an advanced…
Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus experience a slower healing process and poor osteointegration, making it difficult for them to heal properly after a bone fracture. This study aims to compare the proliferation and differentiation of human mesenchymal stromal cells at different glucose concentrations, as well as with an advanced glycated end-product (AGE) concentration, to mimic a healthy, prediabetic, and diabetic environment in an in vitro model over several experiments. Each experiment was composed of treatment groups in either growth or osteogenic media, with varying levels of glucose concentration or an advanced glycated end-product concentration. The treatment groups were cultured in 24 well plates over 28 days with staining of FITC-maleimide, DAPI, or alkaline phosphatase conducted at varying time points. The plates were imaged, then analyzed in ImageJ and GraphPad Prism. The study supports that at 28 days in culture, the more glucose added to osteogenic media treatment groups, the lower the nuclear count. At 14 days the same is true of growth media treatment groups, though the trend does not persist until 28 days. It does not seem that cell surface area of osteogenic groups, and growth media treatment groups was affected by glucose level. At 14 days, the alkaline phosphatase expression was unaffected by glucose level. However, at the 28 day time point the higher the glucose level of osteogenic treatment groups, the less expression of alkaline phosphatase. The effect of the added AGE concentration on hMSC osteogenesis was inconclusive. Overall, this study enhanced understanding of the role that glucose and AGEs play in the bone healing process for diabetic patients, allowing for future improvements of biomaterials and engineered tissue.
