Project description
Healthy living in the city
People are moving from rural areas to cities in search of a better life. While city life has its obvious charms and advantages, there is also a downside. For instance, the environment we live in accounts for an estimated 70 % of the chronic disease burden. The EU-funded EXPANSE project will study the urban exposome, which is the sum of all non-genetic drivers of health and disease. Its aim is to identify ways to maximise one’s health in a modern urban environment. To do so, EXPANSE will examine the health and exposome data of 55 million Europeans. In addition, in-depth omics analyses of well-characterised cohorts will be conducted. The project will establish the largest European urban exposome consortium to date and build upon the methodological development and insights gained from the first generation of exposome projects.
Objective
By 2030 more than 80% of Europe’s population will live and interact with a complex urban environment, consisting of a mixture of social and environmental factors. These factors include: where we live and work, where and what we eat, our social network, and what chemical substances we are exposed to. Individually or collectively these factors, known as the Urban Exposome, have an often modifiable impact on our health and provide important targets to improve population health. By studying the impact of the Urban Exposome on the major contributors to Europe’s burden of disease: Cardio-Metabolic and Pulmonary Disease, EXPANSE will address one of the most pertinent questions for urban planners, policy makers, and European citizens: “How to maximize one’s health in a modern urban environment?”.
EXPANSE will take the next step in Exposome research by: 1) bringing together the Exposome and health data of more than 55 million Europeans in administrative cohorts, in-depth Exposome, phenotype, and OMICs information for more than 2 million Europeans, and personalized Exposome assessment for 5,000 individuals living in five “Urban Labs”; 2) applying a novel approach to use ultra-high-resolution mass-spectrometry to agnostically screen for exogenous chemicals in 10,000 blood samples; 3) studying the evolution of the Exposome and health through the life-course via both (matured) birth and adult cohorts; and 4) evaluating the impact of changes in the Urban Exposome on the burden of Cardio-Metabolic and Pulmonary Disease.
EXPANSE will translate its insights and innovations into research and dissemination tools that will be openly accessible via the EXPANSE toolbox. By applying innovative ethics-by-design throughout the project, the social and ethical acceptability of these tools will be safeguarded. Tool discoverability and accessibility will be stimulated through the EXPANSE hub in which citizens, public sector policy makers, and private sector companies collectively participate. EXPANSE is part of the European Human Exposome Network comprised of 9 projects selected from this same call
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
3584 CS Utrecht
Netherlands
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Participants (20)
17177 Stockholm
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85764 Neuherberg
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4123 Allschwil
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SW7 2AZ LONDON
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3584 CX Utrecht
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1081 HV Amsterdam
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75654 Paris
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69007 Lyon 7eme
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10027 7003 New York
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Participation ended
10029 6574 New York
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51005 Tartu
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91 348 Lodz
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08036 Barcelona
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00198 Roma
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10561 Athina
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601 77 Brno
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5617 BA Eindhoven
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
1211 BL Hilversum
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
31-007 Krakow
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30322 Atlanta
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