Uncategorized 5 - EXIMIOUS

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.

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin to learn more about the latest results and activities of BeCOH and all partners in EXIMIOUS.

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.

EXIMIOUS selected for funding

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

EXIMIOUS selected for EU funding

Februarz 3, 2020

The EXIMIOUS project has been successfully selected for funding under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. We are looking forward to the project’s kick-off meeting on February 10th, 2020. Stay tuned for exciting news on this collaborative research effort!