Luchini, AlessandraAlmosuli, Mahmood2021-10-04https://hdl.handle.net/1920/12094This thesis has been embargoed for 5 years and will not be available until April 2026 at the earliest.Tuberculosis is considered as the primary source of death caused by infectious diseases globally. Millions of people have been either infected or killed by tuberculosis in the year of 2018 alone. Countries that have health and economic challenges have high mortality rates of tuberculosis in children. Moreover, children infected with TB represent the main reservoir for future cases. Early diagnosis of the children can increase treatment efficacy and prevent future spread. The conventional diagnostic methods for TB are not very effective in diagnosing children due to the paucibacillary nature of TB, and the inability of children to produce sputum. Urine has the potential to be used as a biofluid for the identification of TB because it can be easily collected non-invasively. TB urine testing have been impeded in the past due to the low concertation of TB antigens that degrade rapidly, and the presence of highly abundant proteins in urine. The development of a novel nanoparticle biomarker harvesting technology has facilitated the use of urine for TB testing. In this study, we will attempt to discover novel Mycobacterium tuberculosis derived markers in the urine of pediatric patients using novel hydrogel nanocage affinity bait biomarker harvesting technology.enTuberculosisPediatric patientsHydrogel nanoparticlesLow abundance proteinsMycobacterium tuberculosisMtb proteinsThesis