An exposome approach to decipher the role of urban environment in lung health from childhood to early adulthood

The proposed project aims to adopt the exposome approach to investigate the joint impact of urban environment on respiratory health from birth until young adulthood from a longitudinal perspective, alongside elucidating associated molecular mechanisms.

Data from the prospective birth cohort BAMSE will be primarily used with validation of key findings through international collaboration. Respiratory outcomes including asthma, lung function and long COVID have been assessed in the cohort.

Urban environment exposure including air pollution, noise, built environment, temperature, socioeconomic status has been linked to the residential addresses.

Urban expotypes (specific pattern of multiple exposures) will be identified using clustering approach both at single timepoints and longitudinally (trajectories) and further linked to the outcomes.

Interactions between urban expotypes with host factors (genetic predisposition, socio-economic status, lifestyle factors) will be assessed.

Biological mechanisms will be explored using transcriptome, epigenetics, proteomics and metabolomics data and integrated with multi-omics approaches. Causal mediation analysis will be further applied to link the urban expotypes to respiratory outcomes.

This research is vital for enhancing our comprehension of urban environment complexities and advancing respiratory health in urban populations. The project will be conducted over four years, led by the applicant with support from senior researchers at KI.