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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Developing A Self-Sanitizing Mask To Combat The Spread Of Infectious Disease, Matthew Crawford
Developing A Self-Sanitizing Mask To Combat The Spread Of Infectious Disease, Matthew Crawford
Honors Undergraduate Theses
Masks have become an important part of everyday life, protecting both the wearer and individuals nearby from the spread of infectious diseases, most notably severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the coronavirus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, these masks are easily contaminated, whether through continued use or by the wearer touching the mask fabric with contaminated hands, therefore reducing the efficacy and exposing the user to these contagions. When the mask becomes contaminated, it can be discarded, which produces large amounts of waste that will end up in a landfill, or it can be washed, which is …
Sequence-Independent Assay For Hiv Viral Load Quantitation, Omar El Merhebi
Sequence-Independent Assay For Hiv Viral Load Quantitation, Omar El Merhebi
Honors Undergraduate Theses
Although nucleic acid tests (NATs) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) exhibit many advantages, such as early detection and viral load quantification, over immunological assays, their widespread use is limited by their demand for high-level infrastructure, sophisticated equipment, and advanced staff competence. Furthermore, when quantifying viral loads of patients, it has been reported that these assays can underestimate viral quantities by 22- to 100-fold due to primer-template mismatches in more divergent HIV subtypes. Therefore, we have developed a cost-effective and sequence-independent assay for the detection and quantification of HIV utilizing a modified nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) protocol coupled to an …
Exploring Interleukin 21 And Its Role In Humoral Immunity In The Mouse Model Of Influenza Infection, Samantha E. Gallahan
Exploring Interleukin 21 And Its Role In Humoral Immunity In The Mouse Model Of Influenza Infection, Samantha E. Gallahan
Honors Undergraduate Theses
In summary, this study will be focused on Il-21 and its implications in the antibody response in influenza. The isotype classes primarily involved in this process will also be examined. This will be accomplished by looking at the serum of mice and analyzing the present influenza specific antibodies using ELISA. Another goal was to optimize the ELISA in order to make it sensitive enough to catch small differences in the results. This topic is important due to its implications for improving influenza vaccinations and preventions as current vaccines are not 100% effective. Influenza contributes to significant disease and death around …