Date of Graduation

5-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Biomedical Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Quinn, Kyle

Abstract

Chronic skin wounds pose a significant threat to public health, affecting as many as 5.5 million people in the United States every year and costing the healthcare system $10 billion annually1,2. These wounds are associated with prolonged inflammation, poor vascularization, increased infection risk, and high mortality rates3,4. There is significant interest in developing and testing a variety of biologics to promote wound healing. However, quantitative evaluations of healing are typically limited to measurements of wound size, and there is a critical need to develop quantitative biomarkers sensitive to different aspects of the healing process. Label-free multiphoton microscopy (MPM) is an optical imaging modality well suited for in vivo 3D skin imaging that is capable of detecting naturally fluorescent metabolic cofactors, nicotinamide and flavin adenine dinucleotides (NADH and FAD), via two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) as well as the second harmonic generation (SHG) signal from collagen5. Using the autofluorescent intensities of these cofactors, an optical reduction-oxidation (redox) ratio of FAD/(NADH+FAD) can be calculated to assess the relative rates of biosynthesis and ATP consumption6. The goal of this research is to evaluate the sensitivity of an optical redox ratio to wound closure and the delivery of fibroblast growth factor-1 (FGF1).

Keywords

wound healing; multiphoton microscopy; optical redox ratio; metabolism; chronic wounds; fibroblast growth factors

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