Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

System Design For The Quantification Of Microbial Motility In Extreme Environments, Megan Marie Dubay

Dissertations and Theses

Motility of microorganisms is understudied but provides useful insights into their behavior. Organisms' ability to move autonomously changes how they interact with their environment--finding nutrients, interacting with other organisms, and avoiding unfavorable conditions. Understanding motility features can also be used to identify specific species, such as the identification of Vibrio cholerae in human samples. Motility might also be used as evidence of life existing in even the most extreme environments on Earth, and possibly beyond. Specialized microscopy systems can be required to examine the motility of microorganisms due to the nature of the environments to which the instruments are exposed. …

Assessing A Fluorescence Spectroscopy Method For In-Situ Microbial Drinking Water Quality, Taylor Jeffery Sharpe

Dissertations and Theses

Waterborne disease is a significant contributor to the global burden of disease, in particular among high-risk populations in developing nations. State-of-the-art methods for the enumeration of microbial pathogens in drinking water sources have important limitations, including high initial cost, 24-48 hour delays in results, high staffing and facility requirements, and training requirements which all become especially problematic in the developing nation context.

A number of alternative approaches to microbial water quality testing have been proposed, with the goal of decreasing the required testing time, decreasing overall costs, leveraging appropriate technology approaches, or improving sensitivity or specificity of the water quality …