Uncategorized 5 - EXIMIOUS

Partner in the spotlight: accelopment Schweiz AG

Mapping Exposure-Induced Immune Effects: Connecting the Exposome and the Immunome

Partner in the spotlight: accelopment Schweiz AG

29 November 2021

From left to right: Michel Eckle, Kevin Keyaert, Denise Diggelmann, Michael Hönger, Emily Rose Ciscato Andreia Cruz, Liam Colman, Sara Rodriguez, Johannes Ripperger, Jeanette Müller, Julia Götz, Jacqueline Strehler, Géraldine Messmer, Belhassen Ghoul, Joanna Plesniak, Moritz Aufdenblatten, Patrick Schneier, Marco Cavallaro, Patrik Jinek

This month we’re pleased to introduce accelopment Schweiz AG, our EXIMIOUS partner in the lead for the project’s communication, dissemination and exploitation work package. Based in Zürich, Switzerland, accelopment has been a sparring partner in the acquisition, management and communication and dissemination support of EU funded projects for research and innovation since 2008. With 75 years of combined experience under the EU Framework Programmes, Eurostars and other funding programmes, accelopment’s team of experts is passionate about supporting researchers in transforming innovative ideas into real solutions for a sustainable future.

As EXIMIOUS carries out critical research to investigate the connections between human exposures to the environment and immune-mediated diseases, the themes of the project touch on people’s everyday lives. It is, thus, especially important that the activities and output of the project are effectively communicated and disseminated to a broad audience, also enabling the opportunity for exchange between these and the project’s partners. The strategies to implement a variety of targeted activities on this front are the hallmark of accelopment’s contribution within EXIMIOUS.
With complementary backgrounds in research, project management, marketing and communication, the accelopment team supports researchers from academia and industry in identifying the right funding scheme and call for their project, in preparing a competitive proposal, leading the communication and dissemination of results of funded projects, and sharing their knowledge through a variety of training activities. While the KU Leuven team coordinates the EXIMIOUS project, Emily Rose Ciscato, Kevin Keyaert and Julia Götz from the accelopment team in Zürich are very pleased to be supporting the EXIMIOUS consortium in both communication and dissemination of results, and are looking forward to bringing to life the many activities planned for the next three years together.

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Watch the EXIMIOUS-EPHOR Joint Symposium at IOHA 2021

Mapping Exposure-Induced Immune Effects: Connecting the Exposome and the Immunome

Watch the EXIMIOUS-EPHOR Joint Symposium at IOHA 2021

16 November 2021

You can now rewatch the symposium titled ‘Exposure assessment in the exposome context – need for precise – broad-scope – external exposure assessment’, which was held at the IOHA 2021 international conference (11-15 September 2021). The event was virtually co-hosted by the Korean Industrial Hygiene Association (KIHA) and the International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA) in Daegu, South Korea. Themed Bridging Gaps in Occupational Hygiene Development, Opening New Horizons, the conference held its 12th edition to exchange new knowledge about the various facets in which occupational hygiene has been impacted, including within the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic. A record-breaking 1200 occupational health professionals from 62 countries attended the online conference with over 50 break-out sessions being hosted across the entire event.

IOHA 2021 presented an opportunity for EXIMIOUS to join forces with H2020 project EPHOR to set up a joint symposium on exposure assessment in the exposome context and the development of exposome tools for this as part of the European Human Exposome Network (EHEN). Moderated by Peter Hoet (KU Leuven, EXIMIOUS) and Anjoeka Pronk (TNO, EPHOR), the symposium delved deeper into how a more holistic approach to exposure assessment can be developed for broad exposome characterization. Four speakers, Miranda Loh (IOM), Maaike le Feber (TNO), Murali Jayapala (imec) and Jeroen Vanoirbeek (KU Leuven), shared their insights on various dimensions of exposure assessment in relation to occupational health. Looking at a whole range of exposures, including Volatile Organic Substances (VOS), minerals, particles and metals, our understanding of diseases in an environmental and occupational context can be greatly improved in order to also prevent them.

Speakers:

Miranda Loh (IOM – EPHOR) | The application of a low-cost sensor box for the assessment of working life exposures – experience from the EU EPHOR project
Maaike le Feber (TNO – EPHOR) | Beyond particle detection: development of a sensor that analyses composition of particles
Murali Jayapala (imec – EXIMIOUS) | Exposure assessment using spectral imaging techniques – possibilities in EU EXIMIOUS project and beyond
Jeroen Vanoirbeek (KU Leuven – EXIMIOUS) | Dermal exposure vs inhalation exposure: what is the relative contribution to the internal dose?

Moderators: Anjoeka Pronk (TNO, EPHOR) and Peter Hoet (KU Leuven, EXIMIOUS)

Partner in the spotlight: UCLouvain

Mapping Exposure-Induced Immune Effects: Connecting the Exposome and the Immunome

Partner in the spotlight: UCLouvain

25 October 2021

We are delighted to introduce our partner UCLouvain from Brussels, Belgium. UCLouvain, whose representation in the project is led by toxicologist François Huaux, is the fourth in our EXIMIOUS Partner in the Spotlight series.

Let’s start with some background on what motivates their research. Epidemiological studies have reported a strong correlation between occupational exposure to airborne toxicants (particles and solvents) and autoimmune diseases. This was particularly clear in silica-exposed patients from a Belgian cohort conjointly established by clinicians associated to UCLouvain and KULeuven. Although it is clear that genetic mutations play a critical role in autoimmune manifestations, these clinical studies have been increasingly highlighting the importance of the exposome and its impact on both latency and severity of autoimmune disorders. The mechanism by which the exposome interacts with the immunome and induces autoimmunity is explored in the EXIMIOUS project, with the goal of identifying the key exposome-related immune factors that elicit a loss of tolerance and autoreactivity in autoimmune disorders.

To achieve this ambitious goal, in EXIMIOUS, the UCLouvain team (François Huaux, Chiara Longo and Jean-François Geuens, LTAP/IREC) collects samples from patients suffering from autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and systemic sclerosis (SSc) (learn more about the EXIMIOUS disease cohorts). These patients are recruited by rheumatologist collaborators Frédéric Houssiau (SLE), Patrick Durez (RA) and Marie Vanthuyne (SSc) from Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc (CUSL) and IREC/UCLouvain. A population-based case-control study will be performed with adult patients and family-related healthy controls. The UCLouvain team is also implicated in occupational and environmental exposure monitoring. It intends to measure the blood/urine/tissue metallome (more than 18 metals present in airborne toxicants) of the study participants in collaboration with the group of Vincent Haufroid (biologist/pharmacist, CUSL/LTAP/IREC/UCLouvain) and Perrine Hoet (Occupational physician, LTAP/IREC/UCLouvain) and the technical help of Francine Uwambayinema (LTAP/IREC/UCLouvain). The team’s overall objective remains challenging because it relies on mixing basic and clinical sciences and associating research groups with diverse expertise (clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, biologists and technicians).

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Meet the UCLouvain team (from left to right): François Huaux (Toxicologist and Principal Investigator), Chiara Longo (Pharmacist and PhD student), Jean-François Geuens (Sample Manager), Vincent Haufroid (Biologist and Pharmacist), Perrine Hoet (Occupational physician), Francine Uwambayinema (Technician, ICP-MS Coordinator), Frédéric Houssiau (Professor of Rheumatology, systemic lupus expert), Patrick Durez (Professor of Rheumatology, rheumatoid arthritis expert), Marie Vanthuyne (Rheumatologist clinician, systemic sclerosis expert), Tatiana Sokolova (Ethics document manager)

Looking back at the first EXIMIOUS Symposium

Mapping Exposure-Induced Immune Effects: Connecting the Exposome and the Immunome

Looking back at the first EXIMIOUS Symposium

21 June 2021

We’re happy to share with you that the first EXIMIOUS Symposium “Exposome-immunome interactions: A broad introduction” was successfully held online last Tuesday.

More than 60 participants joined on the afternoon of 15 June 2021 to learn more about key aspects of exposome-immunome interactions at different stages of life, looking into ways of measuring the internal exposome and the effects of occupational settings. Dr. Petter Brodin (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden), kicked-off the webinar presenting the latest research developments from his group, looking at how immune and environmental factors interplay early in life to shape the human immune system, focusing on Bifidobacteria-mediated imprinting. A comprehensive overview of biomarkers (of iflammation) and a plethora of methodological approaches to determine and assess these was presented by Prof. Dr. Torben Sigsgaard (Aarhus University, Denmark), while Dr. Hung-Chang Tsui (KU Leuven, Belgium) closed the series with insights into the interactions between chemical exposures via skin and occupational asthma, sharing experince from animal and clinical studies.

As the EXIMIOUS coordinaor, Dr. Peter Hoet, mentioned when wrapping up this first symposium, we’re looking forward to bringing more exposome research highlights and insights during the next EXIMIOUS Symposium, so stay tuned for the Autumn/Winter edition.

In case you missed it, watch the full recording of this first symposium!

Launch of the EXIMIOUS Symposium series

Mapping Exposure-Induced Immune Effects: Connecting the Exposome and the Immunome

Launch of the EXIMIOUS Symposium series

11 June 2021

In case the news didn’t reach you yet, next Tuesday, 15 June 2021 we’ll be launching our very own EXIMIOUS Symposium series! Register now and join us online at 16:00 – 18:00 (CET) for the first EXIMIOUS Symposium “Exposome-immunome interactions: A broad introduction”.

As part of the EXIMIOUS project we will periodically organise topical symposia (webinars) covering topics related to environmental and occupational exposures and measurements, exposure and immunity, and gene-immune-environment interactions. This first EXIMIOUS Symposium will explore key aspects of the exposome-immunome interactions, providing a broad introduction to the topic and aiming to foster an interactive and constructive exchange. Our invited guest speakers will present their latest research, covering exposome-immunome interactions at different stages of life, starting from early life and moving on to environmental and occupational settings. A dedicated time for Q&A will follow each of the three presentations.

Programme EXIMIOUS Symposium “Exposome-immunome interactions: A broad introduction”:

Time	Title	Speaker
16:00 – 16:40	Early life imprinting by environmental factors on the developing human immune system (research study)	Dr. Petter Brodin Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
16:40 – 17:20	Introduction to the environmental immune response from the human perspective	Prof. Dr. Torben Sigsgaard Aarhus University, Denmark
17:20 – 18:00	The interaction between the chemical exposure via skin and the occupational asthma: experience from animal and clinical studies	Dr. Hung-Chang Tsui KU Leuven, Belgium

Join us online on 15 June at 16:00 (CET) for what we hope will be an informative and interactive exchange to learn more about how the environment affects our health.

Partner in the spotlight: Imec

Mapping Exposure-Induced Immune Effects: Connecting the Exposome and the Immunome

Partner in the spotlight: Imec

7 April 2021

We’re excited to introduce you to our partner Imec, represented within the EXIMIOUS project by Carolina Blanch, Murali Jayapala and Andy Lambrechts.

Headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, Imec is a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies and is a leader in combining microchip technology, software, and ICT. Imec’s research bridges the gap between fundamental research at universities and technology development in industry. One of their recent developments is a small, low-cost hyperspectral imaging (HSI) sensor which has already had a huge impact on fields as diverse as food inspection, forensics, and space exploration. This technology will greatly improve our ability to map the exposome in a rapid and cost-efficient way.

Within EXIMIOUS, Imec’s main contribution is to build prototype hyperspectral systems that will measure samples in the lab and in the field. The goal is to use these hyperspectral systems to identify substances on collection substrates, taken in parallel during exposure assessment (skin exposure and airbone exposure) and establish a correlation between them (Task 3.3.2). Imec will also contribute to tool development for field measurements (Task 3.3.3).

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Partner in the spotlight: BeCOH

Mapping Exposure-Induced Immune Effects: Connecting the Exposome and the Immunome

Partner in the spotlight: BeCOH

4 March 2021

Next up in our news posts series “Partner in the spotlight”, meet the Belgian Center for Occupational Hygiene (BeCOH). Represented within the EXIMIOUS project by Pieter Bertier and Steven Verpaele, BeCOH is a non-profit organisation set up to promote the advancement of knowledge concerning occupational hygiene.

BeCOH aims at being a contact point for industry and public organizations to inform them about standards, exposure assessment campaigns and analytical methods, and by providing exposure sampling, analytical and reporting services related to occupational hygiene. BeCOH keeps up with the advancements in its field by participating in international research projects. Another important part of the mission of BeCOH is to actively share its expertise and resources by participation in organizations aimed at improving workplace health in regions of the world where that is most needed, such as WHWB (Workplace Health Without Borders) and OHTA (Occupational Hygiene Training Association). Within EXIMIOUS, BeCOH’s main contributions will be in the assessment of the exposure. They will organize and perform the exposure assessment campaigns in the different cohorts. These campaigns are corroborated by exposure modelling, based on their in-house expertise and industry-wide exposure data collection. In addition, BeCOH will apply its analytical expertise to develop novel analytical techniques for the assessment of newly identified exposure threats and more efficient, direct, on-site exposure assessments.

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Partner in the spotlight: NRCWE/NFA

Mapping Exposure-Induced Immune Effects: Connecting the Exposome and the Immunome

Partner in the spotlight: NRCWE/NFA

February 11, 2021

We’re happy to launch our news posts series “Partner in the spotlight”, through which we will introduce all of the EXIMIOUS partners, on a monthly basis. As we are kicking-off this series on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, it is a nice coincidence that our first partner in the spotlight is the Danish National Research Centre for the Working Environment (NRCWE/NFA), represented within the EXIMIOUS project by five female researchers, excited to contribute to several fields within the project.

The NRCWE is a world-class national research institute under the Ministry of Employment. NRCWE’s goal is to generate and disseminate knowledge to contribute to a healthy and safe work environment in accordance with the technical and social developments in Denmark. Four of NRCWE’s research competences are especially relevant for EXIMIOUS: occupational epidemiology, developmental toxicology, particle toxicology and occupational microbiology. The NRCWE researchers involved in EXIMIOUS will investigate job exposures related to immune function in two occupational cohorts;
1) the nationwide DOC*X cohort, constructed by linkage of several Danish registers, will be used to investigate the association between several different occupational exposures and the development of
autoimmune diseases (Karin Sørig Hougaard and Camilla Sandal Sejbaek). First, neural network analyses will be applied, and second, findings will then be verified in traditionally conducted epidemiological studies. Exposures are investigated both in adulthood and during fetal life.
2) the Waste handling cohort will investigate if exposure to bioaerosols during work with different types of waste are associated with changes markers of immune system function, e.g. markers of inflammation (Anne Mette Madsen, Pil Uthaug Rasmussen, Ulla Vogel). Both existing and newly collected data will be used, and blood samples will also be provided for analysis in EXIMIOUS.

EXIMIOUS shortlisted at KU Leuven Horizon Europe Launch Event

Mapping Exposure-Induced Immune Effects: Connecting the Exposome and the Immunome

EXIMIOUS project shortlisted at KU Leuven Horizon Europe Launch Event

December 18, 2020

As part of a recent KU Leuven initiative, researchers participating in FP7 and H2020 research projects were invited to submit their project description to one or more of the following categories: training program, interdisciplinary nature, outreach & communication program, or outstanding societal/economic impact. Among the many submissions received, EXIMIOUS was shortlisted as one of 20 example projects that were showcased on 11 December 2020 at the KU Leuven online event Horizon Europe Launch Event. The event attracted a broad audience of KU Leuven researchers, several Belgian funding agencies and Jean-Eric Paquet, Director-General of DG Research and Innovation at the European Commission.

Watch the presentations of the 20 shortlisted projects, including EXIMIOUS, here.

EXIMIOUS: how does the environment affect our health?

Mapping Exposure-Induced Immune Effects: Connecting the Exposome and the Immunome

EXIMIOUS: how does the environment affect our health?

February 19, 2020

The European funded research project EXIMIOUS sets out to unravel the connections between our immune system and the environment we are exposed to.

Each and every day we experience environmental exposures of all kinds, from the air we breathe, the food we eat, the objects we touch, the honking traffic on our way home. Depending on our lifestyle, diet, work and social environments, we all experience a different and complex set of exposures throughout our lifetime. The combination of these, starting as early on as during conception and prenatal phases, during our entire lifetime is defined as the exposome.

The World Health Organisation has drawn attention to the fact that environmental exposures can contribute to the induction, development, and progression of immune-mediated, non-communicable diseases, such as autoimmune diseases, allergic diseases and asthma. These are chronic disorders, in which our immune system plays a key role, but for which the underlying causes and prevention strategies are still uncertain. Today, immune-mediated, non-communicable diseases affect about 9% of the European population, with women being two to ten times more likely to suffer from autoimmune diseases than men. If the environment we live in also contributes to these diseases, it is important to know in which way and find a means of prevention.

As of January 1^st, 2020 the European funded Horizon 2020 research project EXIMIOUS has set out to unravel the connection between the exposome and the immunome (the genes and proteins that make up the immune system), to better understand the role of the environment in immune-mediated diseases. Coordinated by Prof. Peter Hoet from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the 15 EXIMIOUS partners from 7 European countries will collect blood and urine samples from population groups of healthy individuals of different ages, and of patients affected by autoimmune diseases, as well as from population groups with different occupations, such as park workers and miners. This will allow the researchers to build an overview of how different groups of people experience different types of environmental exposures, and how these have an impact on their health. Ultimately, the research efforts of EXIMIOUS aim to provide greater well-being, reduced healthcare costs and improved preventive policies for our society.

“In the EXIMIOUS project, we study how environmental exposures can affect our immune system, possibly leading to a specific immune signature or ‘fingerprints’. We will use these fingerprints as early predictors of immune-mediated diseases.” says Prof. Peter Hoet, who is eager to start working on the EXIMIOUS project with an international and multidisciplinary consortium of experts in immunology, toxicology, clinical medicine, environmental hygiene, epidemiology, bioinformatics and sensor development.

With the ambition and enthusiasm to bring better prevention and help safeguard the health of citizens in Europe and worldwide, the EXIMIOUS team kicked-off the project on February 10^th, 2020 in Leuven, with representatives of its 15 partners from 7 European countries.

EXIMIOUS is part of the European Human Exposome Network, a joint venture that brings together nine research projects consisting of 126 partners in the largest exposome network worldwide. The EU has committed 106 million euro in funding towards the European Human Exposome Network. On February 11^th, 2020 in Brussels, EXIMIOUS and its collaborating projects ATHLETE, EPHOR, EQUAL-LIFE, EXPANSE, HEAP, HEDIMED, LONGITOOLS and REMEDIA gave voice to their commitment to work together towards a better and healthier future.

To keep up-to-date on EXIMIOUS’ progress follow @EXIMIOUS_H2020 on Twitter.