The Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Precision Microbiome Engineering (PreMiEr) studies and improves the microbiomes of the built environment.
It is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded collaboration between Duke University, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University (N.C. A&T), North Carolina State University (NCSU), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte).
NSF Engineering Research Center
PreMiEr’s vision is to enable the bioinformed design and operation of smart,
healthy built environments through microbiome engineering.
Watch our video to learn more.
This center touches on the struggles any parent or caregiver undergoes because they want to make the best decisions about what their loved ones are exposed to, but that’s a really difficult thing to do because we don’t yet know what a healthy microbiome might look like in the places we spend most of our time. Our goal is to start to fill those data gaps and lay the foundation for researchers to dig into these important questions
PreMiEr Affiliate Dr. Lawrence David co-authored a new study using wastewater analysis to identify community diet patterns across North Carolina, offering a low-cost alternative to traditional nutrition surveys.
A new PreMiEr manuscript finds that long-read DNA sequencing provides greater species-level detail for profiling fungal communities in indoor environments compared to short-read methods, offering practical guidance for indoor mycobiome researchers.
PreMiEr directors Claudia Gunsch and Joe Brown argue in Environmental Science and Technology that effective built environment microbial control requires moving beyond pathogen-killing toward microbiome-informed engineering that considers full community dynamics.
Science Starts at Your Sink: Explore the Sink Microbiome Project
Curious about what’s living in your bathroom sink drain? PreMiEr’s Sink Microbiome Project invites the public to explore real microbiome data, see personalized results, and support ongoing community science research.
