The Need

Indoor moisture and mold exposure remain significant challenges for building owners, environmental testing providers, and public health stakeholders. Existing detection methods often focus on visible contamination, microbial growth, or genetic signatures, but they may not directly measure biologically relevant fungal proteins associated with respiratory health risks. In complex environmental samples such as indoor dust, these protein biomarkers can be difficult to isolate and quantify due to interference from abundant background materials. There is a growing need for sensitive, selective, and practical approaches that can improve detection of mold-related exposures before extensive contamination occurs.

The Technology

OSU engineers have developed a bioinspired protein-capture platform designed to selectively enrich fungal biomarkers from complex environmental samples. The technology utilizes a naturally derived functional material that exhibits a strong affinity for specific classes of fungal proteins associated with mold exposure. By concentrating target biomarkers before analysis, the platform improves the ability of downstream detection methods to identify low-abundance fungal signatures. The approach can be integrated with established analytical workflows and has demonstrated the ability to reveal environmentally relevant signals that are often difficult to detect using conventional methods alone.

Commercial Applications

• Indoor air quality monitoring and environmental testing services
• Building health assessment and moisture-related contamination detection
• Environmental diagnostic products for residential, commercial, and institutional facilities
• Exposure assessment tools supporting respiratory health and public health research

Benefits/Advantages

• Enhanced sensitivity
• Compatible with multiple analytical platforms
• Improved specificity
• Potential for earlier detection