Host transcriptome analysis of Aspergillus fumigatus infection in Airway Epithelial Cells

The goal of this study is to determine the transcriptional response of primary normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells following interaction with A. fumigatus conidia at 2, 6, and 12 hours in order to examine the infection of airway epithelial cells at multiple time points of co-incubation. After total RNA isolation, the Illumina® HiSeq 2000 next generation sequencing system was used to characterize the transcriptional response, in untreated and A. fumigatus exposed cells. Overall design: 12 samples were analyzed for this study. Triplicates of each sample were pooled together to form a sample. 2 samples generated in this fashion was used for each time point and condition. Since we have 2 samples, 2 conditions (control vs. infected with A. fumigatus), and 3 time points (2, 6, and 12 hrs), this produces our 12 samples.