Thesis
Biological warfare spectroscopy : development of rapid reagentless, in situ detection of biological threat agents and assessment and correction of the environmental conditioning on the vibrational spectrum
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2018
- Thesis identifier
- T15248
- Person Identifier (Local)
- 201492942
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- Current established bacterial identification techniques (cell culture and genetic analysis), are often costly and time-consuming processes. The ability to rapidly identify bacteria offers utility in a number of important areas, especially where pathogens could be left in a natural environment for a prolonged period of time, on various different backgrounds after their initial release. The 2015 UK National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review (NSS SD) lists an attack on the UK or its Overseas Territories by another state or proxy using chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) weapons as a tier 2 threat; therefore, methods to identify biological warfare agents (BWAs) are a major priority for bio-defence. Vibrational spectroscopy is a rapid, cheap and non-destructive technique that has previously been used to identify bacteria. This project uses varying temperature and humidity levels to represent a hot dry climate and assess the impact upon the bacteria using vibrational spectroscopy. The main focus of the project looks at the effect that substrate and environmental conditions have on the spectral signature of bacteria. The bacteria chosen for this study include surrogates of BWAs and bacteria that are commonly found in the environment. The results of the project demonstrate that Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy is the optimal method for bacterial identification when compared with Raman for identifying samples found on complex matrices. Supervised and unsupervised multivariate analysis (MVA) of the data was performed using principle component analysis (PCA) and discriminant function analysis (DFA) to show separation of Gram-type, bacterial strain and time point. This project shows the development of a methodology that can be used on a handheld spectrometer where the spectral contribution from a complex matrix is removed to provide a bacterial spectrum. This methodology has great promise for rapid, in situ identification of ‘real world’ BWA samples.
- Advisor / supervisor
- Goodacre, Royston
- Baker, Matthew
- Resource Type
- Note
- This thesis was previously held under moratorium from 21st August 2019 until 21st August 2024.
- DOI
- Date Created
- 2018
- Former identifier
- 9912708092802996
Relations
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PDF of thesis T15248 | 2021-12-17 | Public | Download |