HEALS – Report on methodology for estimating retrospectively and prospectively: Part A

The Health and Environment-wide Associations based on Large population Surveys (HEALS) project is
funded under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (grant agreement No. 603946).
It aims to develop and test methods to characterize the human exposome, which is defined as the
totality of exposures from conception onwards. This is a broad concept, and HEALS will approach its
study using various methods to examine the exogenous and endogenous exposures and modifiable
risk factors that predispose a person to disease. The project will employ various “–omics”
technologies to determine internal biomarkers and relate these to environmentally mediated disease
using bioinformatics and biokinetic and systems biology modeling. Additionally, the study will test
two new methodologies for evaluating the external exposome: Part A) the use of new sensor and
other “low-cost” commercial technologies in collecting exposure information and filling data gaps
characteristic of conventional monitoring technologies; and Part B) the use of agent based modelling
and hierarchical clustering methods for modeling life trajectories. The HEALS approach will be
applied in several existing cohort studies of various chronic disease outcomes and also in a
prospective birth cohort study, of both twin and singleton births, in several European countries
(EXHES study). The two parts of the methodology for the external exposome will be presented as
D9.2, Part A (present document) and then D9.2 Part B, which will be a follow-on document.