New Exposome Research at SciLifeLab

The Ultratrace NonTarget Lab (UnTarget Lab) at SciLifeLab. Image credit: Jonathan Martin. 

The exposome is a relatively new concept in life sciences, broadly defined as our lifelong exposure to environmental factors. Measuring the exposome is a complement to the genome, and is important because genetics alone cannot explain the vast majority of chronic disease. Nontarget ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry allows researchers to capture an increasingly detailed view of environmental chemical exposures, as well as their possible effects on the human metabolome, and such new tools could bring us closer to understanding the origins of trends in health and disease. SciLifeLab researchers Oskar Karlsson and Jonathan Martin were recently granted 24 million SEK from The Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (Formas) to develop exposomic analytical methods and study the impact of chemical mixtures at the cellular and population levels. The projects involve other SciLifeLab investigators at SU, KTH, KI, and international collaborators from Columbia University and Harvard University.

Oskar Karlsson, Stockholm University/SciLifeLab. The Chemical Exposome and Male Reproduction: Sperm Alterations and Effects on Child Health. Twelve million SEK for four years

Jonathan Martin, Stockholm University/SciLifeLab. Toxicity of Personalized Contaminant Mixtures in Human Blood by NonTarget Exposomics and High-Throughput in vitro Screening. Twelve million SEK for four years