Background: Mold, biologically defined as fungal mold, is frequently identified as a household concern, especially in humid and coastal regions where conditions favor growth. Yet, the ways residents recognize, experience, and manage mold in their daily lives remain understudied. In recent years, emerging mold-control strategies, such as microbiome-engineering technologies, are increasing in application and attracting the interest of homeowners. However, these technologies raise important questions about community perceptions, trust, and acceptance. Understanding how people navigate everyday mold management and views on novel interventions is essential for guiding effective, market-relevant, socially-responsive solutions.

Methods: This qualitative study draws on 22 interviews with residents of eastern North Carolina, an area with climate conditions that favor fungal molds. Using the Health Belief Model (HBM) as a framework, we explored participants’ conceptualizations of mold, perceived health and structural impacts, prevention strategies, and views on microbiome-engineering remediation technologies.

Results: Residents understood mold in diverse ways, as a fungus, a dampness-driven growth, and a sensory presence tied to smell and sight. Mold was linked to respiratory illness, systemic health effects, property damage, and financial burdens. Participants employed layered strategies such as ventilation, dehumidification, cleaning, and occasional professional remediation, though cost, trust, and perceived effectiveness of these strategies remained barriers. Analysis through the HBM revealed high perceived severity of the mold problem and related health illness but underestimation of susceptibility due to reliance on visible cues. Reactions to microbiome-engineered tools showed cautious interest: while residents acknowledged potential benefits, they expressed concerns about unintended consequences, invisibility, and loss of control. Conditional acceptance was contingent on rigorous testing, transparent regulation, and proven safety and efficacy.

Conclusion: Mold is experienced by Eastern NC residents not only as a biological contaminant but as a lived, socio-environmental challenge shaped by health, housing, and financial vulnerabilities. Participants in this study indicated serious health concerns related to mold, including after specific events such as large storms and flooding. Acceptance of microbiome-engineering solutions will depend on building trust, addressing equity, and ensuring accessibility. By bridging environmental science, social science, and residents’ lived experiences, policies and technologies can more effectively strengthen resilience against one of the most persistent risks in the built environment.

This article attempts to move the conversation about the use of omics technologies in the regulation of crops forward. This conversation has largely consisted of various advocates for and against presenting portions of empirical data without necessarily agreeing on specific implementations. Rather than advocate for or against a specific implementation of omics into the regulatory system we sought to capture generalizable questions which would need to be answered in any implementation of omics into the regulatory system. We then analyzed how the answers to these questions may impact regulatory concerns. Ultimately we put the case forward that these questions are more-than-technical and because of their nuanced impacts on regulatory concerns answering these questions would benefit from broader engagement across disciplines and institutional sectors.

Each author received fellowship funding through the Agricultural Biotechnology in Our Food Energy and Water Systems (AgBioFEWS) program directed by the NC State University Genetic Engineering and Society Center. AgBioFEWS is funded by the National Science Foundation National Research Traineeship program (Award Number 1828820).

This research was funded in part by the GES Center's AgBioFEWS National Science Foundation NRT GrantGrant/Award Number 1828820

See NC State press release–Moving Plant Disease Diagnosis from Lab to Field for Faster Results

Phytophthora infestasn caused the Irish famine in 1845 that led to over one million dealths and an addtion migration of one million people after the famine in ireland. The disease still wreaks havoc in potato production worldwide.

We have determined the ancestry of the Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans and its close sister lineages. Bases on whole genome analyses and time of divergence we consider the Andes of South Americaa as the center of origin of P infestans. This research points to the importance of searching for host resistance in Andean potatoes, where the pathogen and host have evolved the longest.

See NC State press release–Study Points to South America – Not Mexico – as Birthplace of Irish Potato Famine Pathogen–and news stories Scientists point to Andes potato pathogen as origin of Irish famine, The Guardian.

Many emerging and reemerging pathogens originate from wildlife, but nearly all wild species are unreachable using conventional vaccination, which requires capture of and vaccine administration to individual animals. By enabling immunization at scales sufficient to interrupt pathogen transmission, transmissible vaccines (TVs) that spread themselves through wildlife populations by infectious processes could potentially transform the management of otherwise intractable challenges to public health, wildlife conservation, and animal welfare. However, generating TVs likely requires modifying viruses that would be intended to spread in nature, which raises concerns ranging from technical feasibility, to safety and security risks, to regulatory uncertainties (1, 2). We propose a series of commitments and strategies for vaccine development—beginning with a priori decisions on vaccine design and continuing through to stakeholder codevelopment [see supplementary materials (SM)]—that we believe increase the likelihood that the potential risks of vaccine transmission are outweighed by benefits to conservation, animal welfare, and zoonosis prevention.

BACKGROUND: Dengue virus, primarily transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, is a major public health concern affecting ≈3.83 billion people worldwide. Recent releases of Wolbachia-transinfected Ae. aegypti in several cities worldwide have shown that it can reduce dengue transmission. However, these releases are costly, and, to date, no framework has been proposed for determining economically optimal release strategies that account for both costs associated with disease risk and releases.

RESULTS: We present a flexible stochastic dynamic programming framework for determining optimal release schedules for Wolbachia-transinfected mosquitoes that balances the cost of dengue infection with the costs of rearing and releasing transinfected mosquitoes. Using an ordinary differential equation model of Wolbachia and dengue in a hypothetical city loosely describing areas at risk of new dengue epidemics, we determined that an all-or-nothing release strategy that quickly brings Wolbachia to fixation is often the optimal solution. Based on this, we examined the optimal facility size, finding that it was inelastic with respect to the mosquito population size, with a 100% increase in population size resulting in a 50–67% increase in optimal facility size. Furthermore, we found that these results are robust to mosquito life-history parameters and are mostly determined by the mosquito population size and the fitness costs associated with Wolbachia.

CONCLUSIONS: These results reinforce that Wolbachia-transinfected mosquitoes can reduce the cost of dengue epidemics. Furthermore, they emphasize the importance of determining the size of the target population and fitness costs associated with Wolbachia before releases occur. © 2024 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.dengue transmission. However, these releases are costly, and, to date, no framework has been proposed for determining economically optimal release strategies that account for both costs associated with disease risk and releases.

• What are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)?
• How could I be exposed?
• What are the possible health effects from exposures?
• Can I have my water or soil tested for PFAS?
• Is it safe to eat from a home garden affected by PFAS?
• Is it safe for my livestock to graze on land affected by PFAS?
• How can we reduce our exposure?
• How are regulatory agencies addressing PFAS?

1. Regional Regulatory Overview (Kuzma and Kuiken, July 2021)
2. CRISPR Patent and Licensing Policy (Bagley, July 2021)
3. Stakeholder Interviews (Zarate, Cimadori, Roca, Jones and Barnhill, January 2023)
4. Case Study: Gene-Edited Sugarcane: Brazil and Bolivia (Ambrozevicius, Jones and Bagley, March 2023)
5. Case Study: Gene-Edited, Disease-resistant Banana in Honduras and Guatemala (Jones and Roca, with contributing author José Falck, March 2023)
6. Conclusion and Summary of Investment Need Findings (Jones and Roca, March 2023)

1. Resumen Del Marco Regulatorio Regional (Kuzma y Kuiken, Julio 2021)
2. Politicas de Patentes y Licencias CRISPR (Bagley, Julio 2021)
3. Entrevistas con Stakeholders (Zarate, Cimadori, Roca, Jones y Barnhill, Enero 2023)
4. Estudio de Caso: Caña de Azúcar Editada Genéticamente: Brasil y Bolivia (Ambrozevicius, Jones y Bagley, Marzo 2023)
5. Estudio de Caso: El Banano Editado Por Edición Génica en Honduras Y Guatemala (Jones y Roca, con autor colaborador José Falck, Marzo 2023)
6. Conclusión y Resumen de Inversiones Necesarias (Jones y Roca, Marzo 2023)

1. Panorama regulatório regional (Kuzma e Kuiken, julho 2021)
2. Patente CRISPR e política de licenciamento (Bagley, julho 2021)
3. Entrevistas com stakeholders (Zarate, Cimadori, Roca, Jones e Barnhill, janeiro 2023)
4. Estudo de caso: Cana-de-açúcar com edição gênica: Brasil e Bolívia (Ambrozevicius, Jones e Bagley, março 2023)
5. Estudo de caso: Edição gênica em banana com resistência em Honduras e na Guatemala (Jones e Roca, con autor colaborador José Falck, março 2023)
6. Conclusão e resumo das descobertas sobre a necessidade de investimento (Jones e Roca, março 2023)