Kelley Scott and Jack Gilbert in their paper entitled “Studying the Microbiology of the Indoor Environment” assert that humans spending a lot of time in the built environment (indoors), away from fresh air, might increase rates of chronic and acute illnesses. Gilbert and Scott provide evidence that bacterial 16S rRNA sequence diversity from over 200 samples from pools, bathrooms, showers, toilets, and other commonly used surfaces around different houses, all contained bacterial pathogens. The purpose of this study is to examine the ecological interactions between microorganisms built environments, as well as study and identify pathogenicity. Gilbert and Scott establish a scholarly relationships with academics in specifically bacterial molecular genetics and ecological genetics.
