DEVELOPING PREDICTIVE MODELS FOR IDENTIFYING PIGS WITH DECREASED SALMONELLA SHEDDING BASED ON INNATE INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE IN BLOOD

1. Profile the in vivo whole blood RNA and cytokine response to Salmonella Typhimurium infection in animals with high and low fecal shedding phenotypes. 2. Using the same animals in Aim 1, profile the in vitro whole blood RNA and cytokine response to lipopolysaccaride or Salmonella Typhimurium treatments prior to in vivo exposure to Salmonella Typhimurium of the pigs. 3. Annotate response profiles for common expression patterns and functional themes and develop regulatory network information on response to inflammatory stimuli. 4. Develop and test predictive models for identifying pigs with decreased fecal shedding post-infection.