Abstract:
Throughout our lifetimes, we are exposed to a multitude of food- and environment-related exposures, cumulatively referred to as the chemical exposome. Analytical technology remains a major limitation for enabling true exposome-wide association studies (ExWAS) to systematically correlate disease risk with environmental factors. This seminar will discuss unconventional mass spectrometric workflows for the omics-scale investigation of toxicants that vary widely in terms of physicochemical properties, concentrations, and toxicological modes of action. Targeted next-generation human biomonitoring and non-targeted exposomic approaches will be presented. Data from different regions of the world will showcase the complexity of exposure scenarios and their dynamics during windows of vulnerability, such as pregnancy and early life (1, 2). Moreover, the capacity of a newly established, broad-coverage method that integrates traditional targeted mass spectrometry with untargeted metabolomics and exposomics will be demonstrated (3). Special emphasis will be given to the role of the exposome in breast cancer research and prevention.