New PreMiEr Publication: Why Surface Materials Alone Cannot Explain Indoor Microbial Communities
A new PreMiEr study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology finds that indoor microbiome research routinely overlooks surface material composition, and proposes a new framework for integrating material properties into built environment microbiome science.
A new PreMiEr study argues that the built environment microbiome research field has largely overlooked a critical variable: the materials that surfaces are made of. Using kitchens as a case study, researchers found that most indoor microbiome studies fail to record detailed material information even though surface composition measurably influences what microbes live there. Published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, the study proposes an interdisciplinary framework that combines material characterization with microbial sampling to inform the design and management of healthier indoor spaces.
Read more here: https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.02036-25