Rita Steyn, a communications professional at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, writes about the inaugural Predictive Phenomics conference hosted by PNNL in April 2025.
Summary:
PNNL hosted the inaugural Predictive Phenomics Conference in April 2025, convening researchers from academia, industry, and national labs to explore how omics, AI, and environmental data can be integrated to predict phenotype. Exposome plays an essential role in predicting phenomes, and several presentations highlighted its growing importance in the predictive phenomics landscape.
The inaugural Predictive Phenomics Conference convened over 120 participants from national laboratories, academia, industry partners, and other collaborators in Richland, WA hosted and organized by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The event aimed to launch predictive phenomics as a transdisciplinary field that integrates omics, imaging, artificial intelligence, and domain science to understand and better predict phenotypic outcomes.
The conference featured a diverse set of scientific sessions spanning molecular interaction networks, multi-omics data integration, and spatial and single-cell biology. Participants explored emerging tools for identifying novel molecular species, characterizing phenotypes at the molecular level, and modeling dynamic biological processes. Sessions also examined how to leverage integrative data for predictive modeling and how to manipulate phenotypes through engineering approaches—advancing the collective goal of making phenotypic outcomes measurable, understandable, and ultimately controllable.
While exposomics was not the primary focus of the conference, some presentations underscored its critical role in linking environmental exposures to phenotypic outcomes. Focusing on a single stressor does not provide a full picture, and having different views of the same thing leads to greater perspective.
“Events like this are essential for building the global network of scientists—aligned with NEXUS and the International Human Exposome Network—committed to uncovering the molecular fingerprints of environmental exposures,” said Dr. Donghai Liang, Associate Professor in the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. Liang presented his research on PFAS-related birth outcomes using targeted and untargeted exposomics profiling integrated with multi-omics approaches.
“Through initiatives like NEXUS, we are building the transdisciplinary infrastructure needed to advance exposomics research,” added Dr. Peng Gao, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health and Exposomics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “This collaborative network bridges analytical chemistry, toxicology, geospatial analysis, data science, and environmental health to standardize methodologies and accelerate progress in this transformative field.”
Dr. Tom Metz, Laboratory Fellow and Chief Science Officer, Biological Sciences Division at PNNL, a member of the conference planning committee and co-lead of the NEXUS ChemBio Analytical Sciences Hub, emphasized the importance of understanding exposure in predictive biology. “In order to establish a predictive understanding of biological systems, we must understand and quantify interactions within and between these systems and their environments at the molecular level,” he noted.
The conference highlighted the growing momentum in predictive phenomics and the importance of synergistic efforts like NEXUS in advancing the field. To learn more about predictive phenomics at PNNL, visit their website.