The microbiology of the Built Environment network.

Everywhere we turn there are microbes (living organisms so small we cannot see them without magnification): in our cars, houses, offices, water pipes, and in every nook and cranny of our bodies.  Most are harmless, but some can make us sick or cause other damage.  Some even play a role in protecting us and our creations from the depredations of others.  Most of these microbes are still unknown and uncharacterized.

Over the last 20-30 years scientists have made revolutionary progress in understanding microbes in so-called “natural” systems. We have studied microbes in oceans, soil, and hotsprings, as well as those that live on and inside plants and animals. Little attention however has been paid to the microbes that live in the “unnatural” indoor world around us: in our buildings, planes, trains, and cars, where most of us spend more than 90 percent of our lives.  These are the microbes of the “built environment”.

Thanks to continuing advances in DNA sequencing technology, and a recent initiative by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this gap in knowledge is beginning to be addressed. The effort to better understand the built environment has implications for engineering and architecture, biodefense and forensics, and has even produced the concept of probiotics for buildings.

This website is produced by the microBEnet project and is intended as the web hub for information related to the microbiology of the built environment.

Where to get started with microBEnet resources?

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