The Way to Success: Oxygen Consumption (VO2), Effort and Weaning in Mechanically Ventilated Patients in the Intensive Care Unit

Critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients require a substantial amount of energy to meet their basic metabolic demands, as well as for their recovery, spontaneous breathing, gaining of strength, and weaning from the ventilator. It is important for patients to use their energy as efficient as possible at all stages of the disease and...

Identifying the role of nucleotide binding and hydrolysis in MutS in the molecular enzymology of E. coli DNA mismatch repair initiation

Acoustic Fresnel lens to focus ultrasound for in vitro neuromodulation

In vitro neuromodulation studies play a crucial role in understanding the underlying interaction mechanisms between cells and ultrasound, which is important in the development of new therapies for various neurological disorders. Acoustic focusing, the ability to focus ultrasound at a specific focal length with high spatial resolution, provides a...

Microelectronic design of a pseudo voltage clamp for a 0.18um CMOS-based mesoscale neural interface for intracellular in-vitro recording and stimulation

The need to understand how the brain works has sparked interest in electrode arrays to record neural signals. Intracellular recordings with nanoelectrodes that penetrate the cell allow better signal quality and additional functions such as voltage clamping to set the neuron's transmembrane voltage. The voltage clamp aims to facilitate the...

In vitro evaluation of azide-functionalized SPIONs in tumor U87 spheroid

Cancer is still one of the most serious diseases for humanity. Internal radiation therapy with alpha particles is a promising method to battle cancer, but it is currently limited to easily accessible tumors. A more advanced and selective method for alpha radiation therapy that will have better outcomes, fewer side effects, and higher efficacy is...

Development of an in vitro model for the evaluation of a surgical insufflator: Design, manufacturing and validation of a respiratory-abdominal simulation prototype

Abdominal gas insufflation creates the necessary space for manipulation of the surgical instruments in laparoscopic surgery. However, it is known to disrupt the normal respiratory mechanics. A novel surgical insufflator, capable of performing individualized pressure adjustments, has been recently developed at Erasmus MC - Sophia Children’s...

An Assessment of the Cultivated Meat Innovation System in the USA and Europe

This thesis compares the state of the cultivated meat (CM) industry in the USA and Europe. To do so, extensive desk-research was conducted, summarising existing data, and 21 interviews with CM experts were held. The result is an analysis comprised of both quantitative and qualitative data. In this thesis, the CM industry was understood as...

In vitro evaluation of a PEKK and poly-carbonate-urea-urethane implant for the treatment of osteochondral defects

Cartilage repair remains a major challenge and treatment of osteochondral defects generally results in inferior quality fibrous repair tissue. This study aims to elaborate on the work of Korthagen et al. who developed a thermoplastic polyurethane and polyetherketoneketone implant to treat osteochondral defects. Although promising results were...

Mechanical and Structural Characterisation of a Calcified Scaffold: Towards the Development of an In-Vitro Model of an Atherosclerotic Fibrous Cap

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease characterised by the formation of plaque in the intimal layer of the artery. The plaque is made of a lipid rich necrotic core which is covered by a collagen rich fibrous cap. If this fibrous cap ruptures, it can lead to sudden thrombotic occlusion of the artery. Rupture of the fibrous cap is linked to...

Novel microelectrode arrays for in-vitro analysis of neural activity

Microelectrode arrays (MEAs) are extensively used for measuring neural activity in-vitro given their ability to monitor several neurons simultaneously unlike techniques such as patch clamp. However, MEAs still have limitations in acquiring high spatial resolution data due to limited number of channels that can be parallelly scanned, the need for...

Zr- and Zr- based bulk metallic glasses: a multifunctional coating by plasma electrolytic oxidation containing Ag nanoparticles for trauma and orthopaedic implants

To keep patients mobile and to treat injuries to improve the quality of life, functional biomaterials for implants and prosthesis are designed. Apart from growing demand in orthopaedic replacement and trauma surgeries, the number of revisions surgeries is increasing as well. Revisions surgeries are performed after the life-time of the implant...

Development of cerebellar neurons on Matrigel and Laminin substrates

Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) is a neurodegenerative disease of the cerebellum leading to gradual loss of physical control while maintaining full mental capacity. With no cure yet available, patients undergo therapeutic rehabilitation for alleviating some of the SCA symptoms such as poor coordination of gait, eye, speech and hand movements....

Maturation Enhancement of Cardiac Myocytes In Vitro: Development of a Loading Protocol

One of the major challenges in drug development is the development of a drug-screening model that closely resembles the adult human heart. Currently many drugs are rejected in late stages of development and even withdrawn from the market due to possible cardiac tissue damaging side effects. The corresponding delay in drug development is mainly...

Joint conformity in shoulder prostheses: In-vitro measurement of interface micromotions in a metal-backed glenoid implant

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of glenohumeral conformity on interface micromotions in a metal backed glenoid implant. A force controlled experiment was performed in which a metal backed glenoid component with various PE inlay radii was subjected to a simulated joint reaction force. Local interface micromotions, rim...