Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Development Of Bacterial Magnetic Resonance Imaging For Microbiota Analyses, Sarah C. Donnelly

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Current microbial analyses to assess either the commensal microbiota or microorganism infection and disease typically require ex vivo techniques that risk contamination and are not undertaken in real time. The possibilities for employing imaging techniques in the microbiology field is becoming more prominent as studies expand on the use of positron emission tomography, ultrasound and numerous microscopy techniques. However, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a non-invasive in vivo modality that can produce real-time results is falling behind. Here, we examined the feasibility of detecting bacteria using clinical field strength MRI. Commensal, probiotic and uropathogenic Escherichia coli were scanned by 3 Tesla …

Characterizing The Role Of The Microbiome In Kidney Stone Disease, Kaitlin F. Al

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The goal of this thesis was to increase understanding of the role of the human microbiome in kidney stone disease, from stone nidus formation through to surgical stone treatment, using a combination of in vitro, in vivo, and human clinical investigations.

We first optimized our methods of sample collection for the use of such protocols in clinical studies involving urinary and gut microbiota investigations. We developed a novel method of fecal sampling that is amenable to study participants, inexpensive, and results in reliable downstream sequencing results.

We then utilized this sampling methodology in clinical investigations into the microbiota of …