# BioBE Center

the University of Oregon's Institute for Health in the Built Environment (formerly known as the BioBE Center) studies how building material choices such as mass timber, versus conventional concrete and steel, shift resident microbial communities,…

Source: https://en.bioecon.ru/companies/biobe-center/
Updated: 2026-08-15

- Country: United States

## Verifiable facts

| Fact | Value | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Affiliation | University of Oregon | https://biobe.uoregon.edu/about/, https://microbe.net/alfred-p-sloan-foundation/grantees_archive/biology-and-the-built-environment-biobe-center/ |
| Research focus | Microbiome of the built environment (MoBE), including the impact of design, building materials, light, and air on microbial communities to improve human health and environmental sustainability | https://biobe.uoregon.edu/, https://biobe.uoregon.edu/about/, https://microbe.net/alfred-p-sloan-foundation/grantees_archive/biology-and-the-built-environment-biobe-center/, https://sloan.org/grant-detail/g-2017-9807 |
| Facility | Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory (ESBL), Institute for Health in the Built Environment (IHBE) | https://biobe.uoregon.edu/about/ |
| Grant | $1,000,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in 2017 | https://sloan.org/grant-detail/g-2017-9807 |
| Publications | Multiple academic publications in journals such as Science of the Total Environment, Buildings, and Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology regarding indoor microbiomes and building design | https://biobe.uoregon.edu/, https://biobe.uoregon.edu/publications/, https://biobe.uoregon.edu/tag/publications/ |
| Principal staff | Mark Fretz (Interim Director), Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg (Director), Gwynne Mhuireach (Research Assistant Professor), Jason Stenson (Research Associate Professor) | https://biobe.uoregon.edu/about/, https://biobe.uoregon.edu/team/ |
| Founded | 2010 | https://biobe.uoregon.edu/about/, https://sloan.org/grant-detail/g-2017-9807 |

Independent sources: microbe.net, sloan.org

## Technologies

- [Urban microbiome management](https://en.bioecon.ru/technology/urban-microbiome-management/)