Exposome Hub

Introduction to the Exposome Hub

The Exposome Hub at ISGlobal aims to bring together a network of researchers from across ISGlobal’s research programmes, and beyond, to continue developing innovative tools and methods for studying multiple environmental hazards and their associated health effects.

We organise monthly seminars featuring invited experts who present on specific topics (e.g. exposome and brain health, the social exposome, exposome in LMICs). These sessions are held one Thursday a month, from 12 to 1 p.m. CET, and are intended to be shared among researchers working on related areas. Additionally, we organise regular online courses and workshops (more information below).

While based at ISGlobal, the Hub is also open to researchers from other institutions, fostering collaboration and connections both within and beyond ISGlobal.

How to join the hub

If you would like to join the hub, please complete this form. By signing up, you will receive invitations to our monthly seminars, as well as our newsletter, which is sent out every month or two and includes information about upcoming conferences, workshops, job opportunities and the latest publications in the exposome field.

The importance of the exposome in research

Environmental hazards account for a probably large, but not well-characterised, proportion of the burden of disease. The exposome, described as "the totality of human environmental exposures from conception onwards", recognises that individuals are simultaneously exposed to a multitude of different environmental factors, and adopts a holistic approach to identifying the aetiological factors of disease.

The main advantage of the exposome over traditional ‘one-exposure-one-disease’ study approaches is that it offers an unprecedented conceptual framework for studying multiple environmental hazards (urban, chemical, lifestyle, social) and their combined effects.

The most recent definition describes it as an integrated compilation of all the physical, chemical, biological and psychosocial factors —and their interactions— that impact biology and health, according to the International Human Exposome Network (IHEN).

Promises of the exposome

• Holistic → Complex systems, multiple exposures, mixtures.
• Life course → Temporal sequence.
• New tools and technologies → Coverage and accuracy of exposures (omics, sensors, etc.).
• Internal exposome → Early biological responses.
• Untargeted discovery → Unknown exposures.

ISGlobal's role in exposome research

ISGlobal has established itself at the forefront of international exposome research through its coordination of, and partnership in, several large international exposome projects funded by the European Commission (see projects below).

ISGlobal’s Exposome Research Hub brings together a cross-faculty network of researchers across the following programmes:

• Climate, Air Pollution, Nature and Urban Health
• Environment and Health over the Lifecourse

This is to promote excellence, innovation and collaboration in exposome research, and to meet the training needs of researchers in this field.

Large Exposome Projects at ISGlobal

Lines of research across ISGlobal programmes

• Internal exposome: chemical exposures and endocrine disruptors.
• External exposome: urban environment (e.g. air pollution, noise, built environment including green spaces); GIS-based exposure characterisation; and modelling and measurement of exposures.
• Working-life exposome: harmonisation of occupational exposure assessment across Europe (EuroJEM).
• Biological responses/internal exposome: studied through omics technologies, epigenetics, transcriptomics, inflammatory proteins, allostatic load, accelerated ageing, gut microbiome and metabolomics.
• Cohort implementation and harmonisation: mega-cohorts for occupational health, longitudinal mother-child cohorts, adult cohorts, and mega-cohorts from administrative data.
• Exposure and health: mental health and neurodevelopment, cardio-metabolic health, obesity, and respiratory health.
• Bioinformatics for multi-omics integration and federated data analysis (analyses conducted when data are stored in federated databases or, more generally, across different repositories, e.g. DataSHIELD).
• Advanced data modelling for exposure mixtures and causal inference.
• Characterisation of air from urban and rural environments: determination of physical properties of particles (from coarse to ultrafine), and analysis of their chemical (e.g. metals, non-metals) and biological (e.g. bacteria, fungi, viruses) composition. AIRLAB: core facility laboratory.

Resources and past events

• Workshop series: Multi-Omics Data Integration in Human Exposome Studies – Link to materials (Nov–Dec 2024)
• The Barcelona Exposome Symposium (Sept 2024)
• Exposome Data Challenge: state-of-the-art methods (2021)
• Exposome Toolbox: a curated collection of research tools for exposome studies from the International Human Exposome Network (IHEN)
• European Health Research Data and Sample Catalogue: a collaborative effort to integrate the catalogues of diverse EU research projects and networks, aimed at accelerating data reuse and improving citizens’ health

To learn more

Follow our hybrid seminars and sign up for the hub newsletter (see previous editions):

• July 2025
• February 2025
• March 2025
• June 2025

Join the International Human Exposome Network (IHEN).

More Information

lea.maitre@isglobal.org 

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