[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6027\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EExposure - the hidden threats that are making us sick\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe combined effects of fatty convenience foods, pollution from Europe\u0027s overcrowded city streets, and stressful work shedules are making it more likely that we will get sick.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOver the past decade, the public health community has started referring to the total set of all non-genetic factors influencing our health as the exposome \u2013 which could provide a way for researchers to work out the risk of us getting these diseases.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe exposome concept encompasses every single exposure from conception onwards. It includes external contaminants such as air pollution and tobacco smoke, and processes inside the body such as stress and inflammation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA few years ago, keeping track of the exposome might have seemed like science fiction. Today researchers at three EU-funded projects \u0026nbsp;- HELIX, EXPOsOMICS and HEALS - are quantifying the exposure of over 100 000 EU citizens to potential health hazards in their environment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey\u0027re working out the best way to do it using inexpensive sensors, satellite data and smartphones.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018A lot of information is already available on air quality and chemical pollutants from past and ongoing environmental and biological monitoring,\u2019 said Professor Mark Nieuwenhuijsen at the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona, Spain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe is helping combine this data with new information from satellites and environmental models to predict the full exposure of each test subject as part of the HELIX project,\u0026nbsp;coordinated by Dr Martine Vrijheid at the same centre.\u0026nbsp;To help the project assemble enough data, volunteers also carry air pollution and ultraviolet sensors with them to complement the models with local ground measurements.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESmartphones are also offering critical support as they can track the exposure of test subjects, and monitor the exercise they get. Working out the level of exercise is important because physical activity is a key component of our exposome. \u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018Every factor in our exposome remains a potential suspect.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProfessor Denis Sarigiannis, Aristotle University in Thessaloniki\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Finding out what we\u2019re up against is only half the challenge,\u2019 said Dr Roel Vermeulen, at Utrecht University, who takes part in the EXPOsOMICS project,\u0026nbsp;coordinated by Professor Paolo Vineis at Imperial College, London. \u2018Part of the work lies in discovering how human bodies react to their exposome.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThousands of molecules \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearchers need to track thousands of molecules in the bloodstream to give them enough data to start making conclusions about which ones are linked to disease.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Because every factor in our exposome remains a potential suspect,\u2019 said Professor Denis Sarigiannis at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, who is working on the HEALS project, \u2018we have to keep an open mind and track as many avenues as possible.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s only possible to do this thanks to recent advances in biotechnology such as transcriptomics, which looks at how genetic information is transcribed by the body, and metabolomics, which looks at the chemical fingerprints left behind by processes in our cells. These techniques mean researchers can now screen thousands of molecules in the bloodstream at prices that make it possible to monitor entire populations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAll three projects - HEALS, HELIX and EXPOsOMICS - are using blood and urine samples from thousands of people from across the EU to perform such studies, and are collecting their findings into colossal databases. Dr Vermeulen and his colleagues on the EXPOsOMICS project are now developing statistical analysis algorithms that crunch the exposome data in search of causal links between environmental exposure and health effects.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe HEALS project is also trying to identify links by studying identical twins. Studying twins is particularly revealing because it can help researchers identify which are the effects of exposure, and which are caused by the original DNA.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018This way we can explore how different exposomes affect one same genome,\u2019 said the project coordinator, Professor Isabella Annesi-Maesano, from the French Institute of Health and Medical Research, and University Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESince projects in the EU Exposome Initiative last four to five years, mapping out exposomes over the entire lifespan of test subjects is not possible. Instead, the projects focus on critical periods in human development.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Our bodies are particularly susceptible to biochemical changes during adolescence, pregnancy, and early infancy, when toddlers are forming their neural connections,\u2019 said Prof. Sarigiannis. \u2018But HEALS is also revealing how the exposome of parents can affect the health of children even before they are conceived, and how biological changes when we are fifty can trigger chronic diseases decades later.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese three projects all have slightly different approaches. HELIX studies the early-life exposome, concentrating on mothers and children. EXPOsOMICS investigates the impact of air and water pollution on chronic diseases, while HEALS covers a broad range of age groups and chemicals to compare different approaches to studying the exposome.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy combining the data across all three, researchers are developing the tools that will enable us to identify the environmental factors making us sick, and work out ways avoid them, giving us healthier, longer lives.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIn this video, EXPOsOMICS project researchers explain the technology they are using and the goals of the research.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ciframe src=\u0022https:\/\/europa.eu\/webtools\/crs\/iframe\/?oriurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FWpEFk_kgVMs\u0022 width=\u0022560\u0022 height=\u0022461\u0022 frameborder=\u00220\u0022\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-m-e43pq31mqgf66p5cpavmdmwvugcn4uvqpwd6494m4\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-m_e43Pq31MQGf66p5CPAvMdmWvugcN4uvQpwD6494m4\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]