Abstract

Nanotechnology has enthused excessive expectations in recent years, particularly in the biology and biomedical fields. Carbon-coated metallic nanomagnets reveal significant physicochemical properties, which are referred to as superparamagnetism, that when designed appropriately can be utilized to generate novel diagnostic and therapeutic applications for a wide range of biologically hazardous species. Schistosomiasis is a chronic parasitic disease that can infect both humans and animals, particularly cattle. It is caused by a trematode blood fluke of the genus Schistosoma which belong to the schistosomatidae family. At least 200 million individuals are infected in 75 countries while 600 million people are exposed to infection and are potentially victim of this parasite. Schistosomiasis is still recognized as one of the most neglected disease, the current available diagnostic techniques are deficient in accuracy and are incapable of identifying the disease in its early stages. Moreover, they suffer from prolonged examination time. Besides, the poorly available therapeutic drugs started to lose their efficacy and the parasite started to develop resistance against most of them, which create an imperative need for developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic tools. The humoral immune response of the Camelidae is unique since these animals possess functional heavy-chain only antibodies in addition to the classical antibodies. Thanks to recombinant DNA technology, a series of single domain antigen binding entities can be produced against specific schistosomeâ s parasite antigens. These binders possess a number of distinctive biophysical properties that offer particular advantages in various theranostic applications. Finally, nanomagnetism was selected to represent a certain phenomena through which we demonstrated, to our knowledge for the first time, the successful construction of effective and functional bioconjugate system which is appropriate for a plethora of diagnostic and therapeutic applications. The main thrust of this research work was towards the developing of single domain antibodies against Schistosoma mansoni gut specific antigen and execratory secretory antigen. In parallel, state-of-the-art methodologies were implemented for constructing a bioconjugate system composed of sdAb and graphene-coated metallic nanomagnet tagged with a carboxyl terminal. Finally, the well-established metastable technetium-99 (99mTc) is used for labeling the conjugate for studying the possibility of active and magnetic targeting of the nano-structured system i.e. 99mTc-sdAb-Fe@C-MNP conjugates.

Department

Nanotechnology Program

Degree Name

MS in Nanotechnology

Graduation Date

2-1-2013

Submission Date

November 2013

First Advisor

Zada, Suher

Committee Member 1

Muyldermans, Serge

Committee Member 2

Ramadan, Adham

Extent

135 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Library of Congress Subject Heading 1

Schistosomiasis -- Treatment.

Library of Congress Subject Heading 2

Schistosomiasis -- Prevention.

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Not necessary for this item

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