A Blend of Old and New: Biomonitoring Methods to Study the Exposome

Rachel Cernansky is a freelance journalist in Denver, Colorado, covering science, health, and the environment. She has written for publications including Yale Environment 360, Nature, Civil Eats, and The New York Times. About This Article open Citation: Cernansky R. 2017. A blend of old and new: biomonitoring methods to study the exposome. Environ Health Perspect 125:A74; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.125-A74 Published: 31 March 2017 PDF Version (502 KB) Related EHP Article Biomonitoring in the Era of the Exposome Kristine K. Dennis, Elizabeth Marder, David M. Balshaw, Yuxia Cui, Michael A. Lynes, Gary J. Patti, Stephen M. Rappaport, Daniel T. Shaughnessy, Martine Vrijheid, and Dana Boyd Barr The exposome, a concept introduced in 2005, reflects the totality of chemical and nonchemical exposures that an individual accumulates over a lifetime, beginning during prenatal development.1 Whereas traditional biomonitoring targets specific analytes to measure in a sample, exposomic approaches include quantifying hundreds or thousands of analytes simultaneously in what is known as untargeted analysis, and measuring an even greater number of metabolites in so-called high-resolution metabolomics. A new commentary in EHP discusses why both traditional and exposomic approaches are critical to advancing the science of exposure assessment.2 The authors of a new commentary on exposomic research recommend conducting untargeted analyses of samples collected previously for tradit...
Source: EHP Research - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: News Science Selections April 2017 Source Type: research