New PreMiEr Publication: How North Carolina Residents Experience Mold and View Emerging Solutions
A new PreMiEr study interviews eastern North Carolina residents about living with household mold and finds cautious but conditional openness to microbiome engineering as a solution, contingent on safety evidence and transparent oversight.
A new qualitative study from PreMiEr researchers gives voice to residents in eastern North Carolina who have lived with household mold, and asks how their experiences shape attitudes toward a novel solution: microbiome engineering. Drawing on 22 in-depth interviews, the study found that residents understood mold through a mix of biological, environmental, and sensory experience, and widely linked it to respiratory illness, property damage, and financial hardship, especially following flooding and severe storms. While residents used a variety of mitigation strategies, cost and uncertainty remained persistent barriers. Views on microbiome-engineered mold remediation were cautiously open, with acceptance tied to rigorous testing, transparent regulation, and demonstrated safety. The study, published in Frontiers in Public Health, frames mold as a socio-environmental challenge that requires both technical and policy solutions attentive to health equity.
Read more here: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1725172