Over 100 environmental health researchers and experts gathered last week in Utrecht for a joint meeting of EIRENE RI (Environmental Exposure Assessment Research Infrastructure) and the International Human Exposome Network (IHEN) to report on the progress made in the individual projects and discuss the next steps in Human Exposome research. The meeting was held at the historic Bartholomeus Gasthuis in Utrecht, one of the Netherlands’ oldest healthcare facilities, dating back to the 14th century.
The first day of the meeting focused on EIRENE, specifically on the progress of the EIRENE Preparatory Phase Project (PPP), the steps and actions needed in preparation for the future implementation phase, as well as the links between EIRENE and other projects or consortia such as IHEN, the European Partnership for Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC), and the Network of EXposomics in the United States (NEXUS). In addition to an overview of the PPP project deliverables submitted since the last meeting, such as the legal framework, service implementation pilots, and education and training, some time was also dedicated to discussing future steps.
The second day was dedicated to discussions with stakeholders, with the goal of collecting input from global stakeholders on the vision for a future Exposome research program, associated investments, and organizational needs, including the best strategy for developing, harmonizing, and coordinating physical Exposome research infrastructures and their services. The last day was dedicated to the IHEN project.
About Human Exposome Research
The need for research on the human exposome is increasing. Following the completion and maturation of the human genome project, it became apparent that genetic factors alone could only account for a minority of disease risks, typically ranging between 10-30 percent. As a result, many scientists have called for new research programs to investigate the environmental factors contributing to health and disease development. This gave rise to the exposome concept coined in 2005 by Christopher Wild and further explained in a report of The National Academies in 2010.
The exposome concept encourages the systematic and comprehensive measurement of environmental exposures (i.e. non-genetic factors) experienced by an individual to understand the influence of the environment on phenotype and health. It considers exposures from sources such as diet, lifestyle, and the environment and can be measured both in the environment (external component of the exposome) and in the body (internal component of the exposome). The exposome-inspired approaches go beyond standard environmental health approaches in that they also promote agnostic studies allowing the discovery of unforeseen links between stressors and impacts. They also promote the interpretation of effects, taking into consideration the life course of individuals, communities, or ecosystems.
Implementing exposome approaches will only be possible through the development of new methodologies such as large population studies, analytical capacities, associated toxicological investigations including computational tools, and analysis of large datasets.
About EIRENE
EIRENE is a European research infrastructure for assessing environmental exposures. It aims to establish a distributed, sustainable research infrastructure for advancing exposome research in Europe by bringing together complementary infrastructural capacities (laboratories, cohorts, and related biobanks, environmental programmes, datasets, models, etc.) available in the member states for supporting environmental exposures and population health research.
EIRENE’s vision is to create an exposome research infrastructure to serve public and private stakeholders by providing scientific knowledge in the area of human exposome to improve population health. EIRENE will mediate open access to world-class research infrastructure capacities, leading to the expansion of the scientific knowledge in the human exposome, and support the development of new technologies and the translation of research results for deciphering the non-genetic factors behind the development of chronic conditions, thereby improving the health of citizens. EIRENE will bring together complementary capacities available in European member states, and globally, harmonizing and upgrading them to address current scientific and societal challenges in the areas of environment and health.
IHEN and EIRENE collaborate closely. While IHEN is developing a vision for a future Exposome research program, associated investment, and organizational needs in coordination with global stakeholders, EIRENE is developing, harmonizing, and coordinating the physical research infrastructures (e.g., laboratory capacities, biobanks, and data infrastructures) and the services necessary for realizing IHEN's vision.
From November 11-13, 2024, the “Air Quality in Time” conference took place in the beautiful setting of Vysočina, at the 9skal hotel. This event was the result of merging two traditional events – the Air Quality conference organized by the RECETOX center and the annual conference of the Czech Aerosol Society (ČAS).
Professor Jana Klánová received a prestigious award from the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TAČR). The award recognizes her long-term contribution to TAČR and applied research, as well as her role as a member of the TAČR research council.
