NEXUS: Network for Exposomics in the U.S.

PROJECT SUMMARY The Network for Exposomics in the U.S. or NEXUS is designed to advance the science of exposomics. Our team is focused on operationalizing the exposome by advancing measurement and modeling technologies and applying them to human health outcomes. We propose to coordinate current and future NIH-funded efforts on

exposomics, and will strive to transform the entire biomedical and public health enterprise by inculcating the importance of comprehensive and systematic analysis of the environmental drivers of health and disease. We are confident that through our highly interconnected and globally distributed NEXUS team, we can drive this

innovation and recalibrate the historically imbalanced gene x environment equation. We hypothesize that the NEXUS team can operationalize and embed exposomics throughout the entire biomedical enterprise to advance precision environmental health, which will be achieved through the following specific aims: Aim 1. To provide

outstanding organizational support and enable stakeholder engagement through the establishment of the Administrative and Stakeholder Engagement Hub. Aim 2. To establish a framework for exposomics analysis of biological and environmental samples through the formation of the ChemBio Analytical Sciences Hub. Aim 3:

To develop a framework for geospatial-based exposomics studies of environmental and social influences on health and disease including a scalable geospatial data science and research infrastructure via the formation of the Geospatial Sciences Hub. Aim 4: To create a comprehensive exposomics digital framework to support

precision environmental health via the formation of the NEXUS Data Sciences Hub. We will support a dynamic community of practice, develop the constellation and beliefs inherent in a given scientific discipline, and advance our understanding of the environmental drivers of health and disease. Moreover, this project will establish the

standard for exposomics profiling that integrates digital, biological, and geospatial markers to make Exposome- Wide Association Studies (ExWAS) a reality for studies of all human diseases establishing the paradigm for how we study the environment and human disease and providing the environmental complement to genomics that

Wild envisioned in 2005.