16S rRNA sequencing of respiratory samples

The project investigated the respiratory tract microbiome in critically ill pneumonia patients by comparing microbiome profiles in samples obtained from: (a) bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids and (b) tracheal aspirates (TA) collected on the same day in a hospital. Samples were processed to obtain high-throughput 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Data were analyzed to assess whether TA can serve as a less invasive alternative to BAL for profiling the lung microbiome of critically ill patients.