UNC Charlotte Researcher Examines Whether Hospital Design Affects Germ Spread
UNC Charlotte bioinformatics professor Anthony Fodor is part of a team studying whether the design of a hospital or a school can affect the germs that can spread within it — in an effort to better understand and improve the microbial communities of where people live, work and play — what scientists call the “built environment.”
“Microbes have a significant impact on much of what happens in society,” said Fodor. “The current COVID pandemic is recent evidence of negative effects. Through PreMiEr (Precision Microbiome Engineering), researchers will endeavor to better understand and control how humans interact with microbes in the built environment. This could allow us to promote beneficial, ‘healthy’ microbes that will help prevent the spread of infectious, disease-causing microbes.”