Essential oils have numerous chemical and therapeutic applications. Some oil extraction methods, including steam distillation, require a large energy input. An alternative technique with a lower energy demand is the extraction of oils using supercritical liquid carbon dioxide (CO2), which extracts essential oils with minimal environmental impact. While this often...
Sepsis is a blood infection that is caused by circulating bacteria cells and cell fragments, which contain immunogenic lipopolysaccharides (LPS) or endotoxin. The circulating endotoxin results in a severe dysregulation of the inflammatory response that ultimately leads to organ failure. One promising treatment method is removal of endotoxin by passing...
A common issue with extracorporeal medical devices is blood clotting due to bio-incompatibility. Systemic anticoagulants are often prescribed to mitigate the coagulation issues. However, such drugs can lead to further complications, for example hemorrhaging. One solution to improve the hemocompatibility of blood-contacting medical devices are biomaterials, such as slippery liquid...
This study is believed to be the first of its kind to characterize culturable fungal endophytes from the wood of Populus trichocarpa, and to examine the potential of inducible resistance and secondary chemistry as specific host factors that shape fungal endophytic communities in wood. To do so, more than seventy...
Platelet activation uses a complex set of pathways to respond to vascular injury during hemostasis. However, thrombosis relies on the same set of pathways. Antiplatelet therapies used to prevent thrombotic events often target the P2Y₁₂ platelet receptor for inhibition but can result in bleeding diathesis or in abnormally high ADP...
When vessel walls within the vasculature are damaged, exposed extracellular
matrix (ECM) proteins trigger a series of events that lead to the formation of a
hemostatic plug (Andrews et al. 2004, Furie et al. 2008, Watson 2009). Thrombus
formation requires an orchestrated series of receptor-mediated events facilitating platelet
recruitment, platelet...
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2015 10.4 million people worldwide became infected with tuberculosis (TB) with 1.8 million TB related deaths. Tuberculosis is a bacterial infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a slow growing yet highly infectious bacterium. Among the first line of treatments...
Antimicrobial coatings used to reduce the risk of infection caused by tissue-contacting medical devices must address specific biocompatibility requirements including prevention of thrombosis and rise of bacterial resistance. An antimicrobial-loaded poly(ethylene-oxide) (PEO) coating has been tentatively shown to be non-fouling with sustained antimicrobial activity. However, the presence of the antimicrobial,...
Polyfunctional thiols are sulfur containing compounds that are important to the flavor and aroma profile of some foods and beverages. S. Cerevisiae has been shown in wine yeast that it is capable of producing these thiols to create a fruity aroma and flavor profile. IRC7, a gene that codes the...
The majority of people suffer from back pain at some point in their lives. Back pain is the leading cause of disability globally, ahead of 290 other conditions1. Over one million people in the United States receive spine surgery annually2. This thesis looked at five standard surgical procedures performed on...