The potential applicability of Fourier transform infrared (FM) spectroscopy for the study of biomolecules, has been investigated through the investigation of three specific applications. Two of the applications selected involve the classification of whole cells, whereas the third concerns the study of peptides and proteins isolated from tissues as well as synthetic peptides. In the microbiological application, for the differentiation of bacteria on the basis of their FTIR spectra, it has been found that classification is most efficiently achieved through the utilisation of artificial neural networks, and that a wide, variety of bacteria can be correctly identified with minimal sample preparation after being grown on a single growth medium. The suitability of low-cost, disposable materials as supports for the deposition of bacteria samples has also been demonstrated. In contrast to the successful classification of bacteria, it has been found that the examination of cytological smears by FTIR spectroscopy does not allow the classification of cervical cell populations into the recognised diagnostic categories. In a microscopic investigation of the same cell populations utilising infrared imaging, localised areas of the smear were found to exhibit distinct characteristics not observed in the spectra of the entire population. This indicates that infrared imaging system may be required for this type of application because the infrared spectrum recorded from a whole cervical smear does not allow the detection of the small spectral features arising from the molecular changes associated with a localised pathological state. Finally, the investigation of factors affecting the stability of peptides related to amyloidosis has shown that temperatures above 70°C, hydrostatic pressure greater than 6 kbar, and alkaline pH promote the disaggregation of the typical intermolecular beta-sheet structure of amyloid peptides. Peptides utilised as model systems for amyloidosis showed
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.35874 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Dubois, Janie. |
| Contributors | Ismail, Ashraf A. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001657193, proquestno: NQ50150, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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