The innovation potential of EXIMIOUS lies in the fact that, with this consortium, we have brought together and linked the expertise from fields that did not interact before. The collective expertise will make a major leap forward in mapping the exposome, by including the immunome, to grasp the relevant components of the exposome, i.e. the components that need to be prioritized. Therefore, this approach offers an important tool for policy makers to design targeted preventive actions—instead of prevention, which is too broad and dispersed to have an impact.
Innovation potential in mapping the exposome. For assessing the exposome, the main innovative potential of EXIMIOUS is in combining measurements (multiple exposures, multiple exposure route) and sensor development combined with novel bioinformatics tools. Until now, the determination of complex exposures in homes or workplaces has been time-consuming and requires elaborated logistics and analytical techniques. We will overcome this problem with user-friendly, compact, low-cost tools and devices to assess the exposome at the individual level. The lead users who will benefit from these tools are researchers, environmental and occupational health practitioners, clinicians and pathologists, as it will simplify the assessment of the exposome. Imec's HSI sensors and cameras have, for example, been demonstrated at TRL7 (system prototype demonstration in operational environment) for several other applications.
Immunomics. Another main innovation potential of EXIMIOUS will be the discovery of immune fingerprints by combining novel ways to assess an individual’s immune system (WP4-WP5) with the systems immunology approach (WP6), which has seen major advances in the past decade regarding the ability to combine and analyze large datasets coming from new immuno-phenotyping platforms. Validated immune fingerprints would benefit researchers and policy makers, because they would serve as an additional tool to assess the internal exposome, and so complement other exposure-assessment tools. Also, businesses can benefit because they will become more aware of the threats their workers are potentially exposed to. Immune fingerprints that can predict disease would benefit clinicians and patients, as it would enable them to intervene and stop hazardous exposures and prevent immune-related disease. This will benefit the individual, but also have a major impact at the societal level, by reducing healthcare and socioeconomic costs.
