European InfrastRucturE for humaN Exposome research IMplementation Project

The exposome concept promoting holistic characterization of the non-genetic factors that influence phenotype and health over the life course represents a transformative paradigm for health research as it goes beyond traditional risk assessment by incorporating multi-domain high-resolution longitudinal data, making the exposome concept particularly well-suited framework for precision public health and prevention strategies. Since being introduced in 2005 by Christopher Wild, the exposome concept has catalysed significant scientific advances. Yet, the lack of a strategic framework for co-creation, harmonization, and documentation necessary to generate and disclose representative data has prevented the field from advancing at the pace of genomics, leaving major gaps in our understanding of the non-genetic contributions to chronic disease. EIRENE, the European InfrastRucturE for humaN Exposome, fills this gap and enables challenge-driven research advancing frontier knowledge and innovation in human exposome by providing open access to complementary high-end infrastructures, integrated services and harmonised data. The EIRENE’s ambition to operationalize the exposome by advancing measurement and modelling technologies extends beyond Europe. The development of global infrastructural capacities supporting the integration of functional exposomics into biomedical and clinical research, innovation, and practice planned in the EIRENE Implementation Phase Project will transform the entire biomedical and public health enterprise, enable agnostic studies and the discovery of unforeseen links between environmental exposures and health outcomes. New discoveries have the potential to both trigger biomedical innovation and European competitiveness in biotechnology and transform environmental policy through robust evidence of causal links.