Ciencias Exactas y Ciencias de la Salud
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11285/551039
Pertenecen a esta colección Tesis y Trabajos de grado de las Maestrías correspondientes a las Escuelas de Ingeniería y Ciencias así como a Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud.
Browse
Search Results
- Development of a nanostructured membrane-based passive sampler as a tool for the monitoring of viral pathogens through wastewater-based epidemiology(Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, 2022) Jiménez Rodríguez, Mildred Gissel; PARRA SALDIVAR, ROBERTO; 2035753; Parra Saldívar, Roberto; emipsanchez; Oyervides Muñoz, Mariel Araceli; Coronado Apodaca, Karina Guadalupe; Martínez Ruiz, Manuel; School of Engineering and Sciences; Campus Monterrey; Sosa Hernández, Juan EduardoInfectious disease outbreaks are a global burden that is continuously increasing. Classic epidemiological approaches to identify infected individuals and prevent the spread of the diseases usually include individual clinical screenings, sentinel surveillance, and the analysis of surveys, hospital data, and mortality and morbidity rates. However, these methods have failed to detect early warnings of future outbreaks and are resource-dependent. Thus, wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been used as a novel community-wide monitoring tool capable of providing comprehensive real-time data on the public and environmental health status, which can ultimately contribute to a faster adoption of public health interventions. Efficient spatial and temporal sampling is critical for the success of WBE, however, current sampling methods mainly consist of grab samples, which can lead to the over- or underestimation of pathogen concentration. Passive samplers are a promising alternative to improve WBE since they can be used for prolonged periods to obtain more representative information of the real conditions in the area. Advances in nanotechnology have also helped to overcome the efficiency of recovery yields for membrane-based methods. WBE monitoring was employed at Tecnologico de Monterrey to assess the prevalence of COVID-19 risk throughout its community.Therefore, this research project aimed to develop a nanostructured polymeric membrane-based passive sampler to monitor SARS-CoV-2’s RNA through WBE. The scope of the study was to determine the membrane’s morphology, its stability, and RNA adsorption kinetics, which were evaluated to establish a WBE passive sampling protocol to detect and quantify the viral load in wastewater and study the trends in the circulation. Different formulations were explored to determine the influence of the selected membrane components in its morphology and RNA adsorption capacity. Three suitable candidates were selected to further pursue as potential stand-alone detection devices. RNA adsorption was achieved within 0.5 h and 1 h of magnetic stirring in previously spiked water samples with two of the selected samplers. However, the obtained values were very low and cannot be used to conclude that the passive samplers work as per their intended use. Nonetheless, they are an indication of potential opportunity areas within such formulations.
- Development of a pseudotyped lentivirus-based assay to measure neutralizing antibody activity against SARS-CoV-2 in Mexico(Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, 2021-06-09) Cruz Cárdenas, José Antonio; Brunck, Marion Emilie Genevieve; puelquio; Palomares Aguilera, Laura Alicia; Licona Cassani, Cuauhtémoc; Guitierrez Mayret, Michelle; Escuela de Ingenieria y Ciencias; Campus MonterreyThe SARS-CoV-2 virus is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic declared by the WHO in March 2020, which has caused more than 172 million confirmed cases and 3.69 million deaths worldwide to date. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to the development of antibodies in patients. The presence of neutralizing antibodies protects against SARS-CoV-2 infections and is an essential parameter that confirms the success of vaccination. The titration of neutralizing antibodies by classical methods is not trivial since it requires the use of replicative virus, which implies a high risk of infection and requires facilities certified with the BSL-3 biosafety level. Mexico is one of the countries most affected by SARS-CoV-2 and there are not enough facilities to carry out effective immunity monitoring. Here, this thesis presents the results of a multi-institutional national collaboration in the design of a non-replicative pseudovirus that expresses the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein on its surface, which is applied in the development of a method for quantifying SARS-CoV neutralizing antibodies. The development of this assay will facilitate the characterization and monitoring of humoral immunity against SARS-CoV-2, and can be easily modified to monitor immunity against emerging variants in the country. To the best of our knowledge, this work presents the first report of measuring neutralizing antibody to SARS-CoV-2 in the Mexican population using a pseudovirus system.