Assessment of In Vivo Microscopy for Malaria Detection

Burnett, Jennifer

Assessment of In Vivo Microscopy for Malaria Detection

dc.contributor.advisor	Richards-Kortum, Rebecca Rae
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Drezek, Rebekah
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Tkaczyk, Tomasz
dc.creator	Burnett, Jennifer
dc.date.accessioned	2015-10-29T20:47:00Z
dc.date.available	2015-10-29T20:47:00Z
dc.date.created	2014-05
dc.date.issued	2014-10-23
dc.date.submitted	May 2014
dc.date.updated	2015-10-29T20:48:00Z
dc.description.abstract	Half of the world’s population is at risk for malaria, yet 90% of deaths due to malaria occur in sub-Saharan Africa, with the highest mortality rates occurring in children under 5. Due to this high mortality rate, children with common flu-like symptoms are often treated for malaria presumptively. This overtreatment with anti-malarial drugs can contribute to the emergence of drug resistant species. Commercially available diagnostic tools, such as blood smear microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests, offer greater specificity than presumptive diagnosis, but require the collection of a finger prick blood sample for diagnosis, generating biohazards and requiring consumables. This thesis introduces a new diagnostic concept to detect parasitized blood cells as they circulate in vivo, avoiding the requirement for blood collection. The work presented here investigates two major components of this concept: 1) develop and characterize a needle-free malaria diagnostic system, and 2) evaluate the performance of the system in biological environments of progressively increasing complexity. Results show promising optical signatures from two biomarkers for malaria detection. This work demonstrates the feasibility for imaging circulating blood cells in vivo through a non-invasive technique, warranting future investigations in a small malaria-infected sample population.
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.citation	Burnett, Jennifer. "Assessment of In Vivo Microscopy for Malaria Detection." (2014) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/81989">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/81989</a>.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1911/81989
dc.language.iso	eng
dc.rights	Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.
dc.subject	malaria diagnostics
dc.subject	in vivo microscopy
dc.subject	global health technologies
dc.title	Assessment of In Vivo Microscopy for Malaria Detection
dc.type	Thesis
dc.type.material	Text
thesis.degree.department	Applied Physics
thesis.degree.discipline	Natural Sciences
thesis.degree.grantor	Rice University
thesis.degree.level	Masters
thesis.degree.name	Master of Science