We’re Exposed to Chemicals and Pollution Daily. Now, Scientists Are Linking It All to Our Health.
1 min read
Summary
The “exposome” initiative looks at how food, drink, pollution, and other environmental factors interact with biology throughout a person’s lifespan and contributes to chronic illness.
It goes beyond genomics, which looks at genetic factors, to create a map of a person’s total exposure.
It could be used to gain a better understanding of diseases and develop more targeted medicines in the future.
It could also be used to study how the body metabolises drugs, with a view to developing more effective medications.
The Banbury Exposomics Consortium, made up of biologists, epidemiologists and toxicologists, aims to create the first framework for measuring the exposome.
It is currently working on developing standardised protocols for data collection.
