Exposome

Exposome Latest News

Scientists are launching an ambitious global effort to map the “human exposome” — the lifelong mix of environmental and chemical exposures that drive most diseases.

About Exposome

• It can be defined as the measure of all the exposures of an individual in a lifetime, from conception onward, and how those exposures relate to health. 
• The International Human Exposome Network (IHEN) defines the exposome as the “integrated compilation of all physical, chemical, biological, and psychosocial factors, and their interactions.”
• It reveals the accumulated lifetime exposures that determine our health, wellness, and susceptibility to disease. 
• This is shaped by internal exposures such as individual metabolism or the microbiome, as well as external factors such as air quality. 
• It also involves social or behavioral decisions that influence nutrition and exercise. 
• Exposomics is the study of the exposome and relies on the application of internal and external exposure assessment methods.
• Internal exposure assessment relies on fields of study such as genomics, metabonomics, lipidomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics. Commonalities of these fields include
  • use of biomarkers to determine exposure, effect of exposure, disease progression, and susceptibility factors
  • use of technologies that result in large amounts of data and
  • use of data mining techniques to find statistical associations between exposures, effect of exposures, and other factors such as genetics with disease. 
• External exposure assessment relies on measuring environmental stressors. 
  • Common approaches include using direct reading instruments, laboratory-based analysis, and survey instruments.

Source: SD

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