The eighth annual Exposome Bootcamp took place at Columbia University in New York City, bringing investigators from all career stages together for two intensive days of seminars and hands-on analytical sessions led by leaders in the field of Exposomics. These sessions aimed to provide an overview of concepts, techniques, and data analysis methods critical to Exposome research.
The structure of the Exposome Bootcamp is designed to foster meaningful connections, professional development, and the open exchange of key ideas among all attendees. The collaborative nature of the event enabled participants from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to expand their knowledge and skill set to better understand the Exposome.
The Bootcamp was led by a team of scientists in the field of Exposomics, whose expertise spans a wide array of disciplines including environmental health, data science, exposure sciences, toxicology, engineering, and biochemistry. This multidisciplinary background enabled the program to cover the full breadth of Exposomics.
The Bootcamp kicked off with an opening lecture titled “The Exposome: From Wild Concepts to Concrete Actions” from the program training director, Gary Miller, PhD, Columbia University which helped to set the stage for the next two days. Dr. Miller discussed the history of the field of Exposomics, beginning with Christopher Wild’s early definition of Exposomics leading up to recent advances including the Banbury Center Banbury Consortium which led to the publication of “Integrating exposomics into biomedicine.” That paper provided a unified definition for the Exposome and the field (Science, 2025).
Dr. Miller also provided an overview of key publications, projects, and conferences in the field, along with his vision for the future of Exposomics discussing the importance of harmonization, collaboration, and innovation. Dean Jones, PhD, Emory University, continued with his presentation “It is All Biochemistry: A Perspective on Exposome Biology, Epidemiology, and Medicine,” where he provided an overview of how the field has improved measurement technology over the years and how it can maximize its impact moving forward.
The first day continued with a series of lectures focused on the technical approaches used to study the Exposome, including mass spectrometry and sensor technologies. Douglas Walker, PhD, Emory University presented “Mass Spectrometry 101: From Basics to Breakthroughs,” where he introduced the basics of chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). He explained how these techniques are used in untargeted analysis to measure a wide range of environmental exposures and support large-scale Exposome research. This was followed by “Sensors 101: Detecting the Exposures Around Us,” presented by Krystal Pollitt, PhD, P.Eng., Yale University.
Dr. Pollitt introduced participants to the use of sensors in Exposomics and shared real-world examples of how wearable devices can be used to measure environmental exposures. Her presentation highlighted the growing role of sensor technologies in advancing Exposome research. Randolph Singh, PhD from Columbia University, presented “Cheminformatics in HRMS: from Features to Findings” where he discussed the wide range of tools currently available along with the advantages and limitations of many of these so that participants could tailor their future studies for their specific goals.
In the afternoon, the bootcamp participants engaged in intensive computer lab sessions beginning with “Processing Mass Spectrometry Data: Practical Approaches” which was led by Center for Innovative Exposomics member Yunjia Lai, PhD, Columbia University. Howie Wu, PhD, Columbia University, presented the second lab session, “Exposome-Wide Association Studies: Linking Mass Spectrometry to Health Outcomes.” The goal of these sessions was to walk participants through each step needed to link mass spectrometry signals to disease outcomes.
Day two began with a presentation from NEXUS MPI Rima Habre, ScD, University of Southern California. Her lecture “Geospatial Sciences for Exposomics 101: Being in the Right Place at the Right Time” discussed assessing place-based exposures, including how place affects health, the importance of spatial patterning, and how profiling neighborhood multivariate patterns in place-based Exposome is now possible. Dr. Habre emphasized that Geosciences enable us to deeply characterize multiple place-based and personal exposures in the external environment.
Dillon Lloyd, PhD, of Harvard University presented the lab session “Data Science Techniques for ExWAS: Harnessing Publicly Available Data.” His session focused on the importance of high-quality, harmonized Exposome data for conducting exposome-wide association studies (ExWAS). Dr. Lloyd highlighted his work using the HHEAR datasets before leading participants through a hands-on exercise demonstrating how publicly available data can support ExWAS analyses. The next talk by Shuzhao Li, PhD, The Jackson Laboratory, focused on “Transforming the Exposomic Analytic Pipeline with Asari.” The Asari platform was developed by his team as a more robust, efficient, and faster means of analyzing mass spectrometry data. Jasmine Chong, PhD, The Jackson Laboratory, continued the discussion with a lab session, “The Asari Workflow in Practice,” to help bootcamp participants better understand the platform for their own use.
The Bootcamp concluded with its annual debate. This year’s topic was: We Have Crossed the Rubicon: Exposomics is an Established Science, inspired by the recent publication “ Exposomics Crosses the Rubicon: Let the Building Begin” which was published by NEXUS MPIS Gary Miller, Rima Habre and Chirag J. Patel in ES&T in May. Dr. Jones and Dr. Pollitt took the against side while Dr. Habre and Dr. Miller took the for side. The debate discussed whether Exposomics has reached the point of being recognized as an established field and covered everything from technology, to human development, commercialization, translation to policy solutions and therapies, and education as driving forces.
These interactions fostered collaboration, encouraged the exchange of ideas and experiences, and created valuable opportunities for participants at all career stages to establish relationships that can support future research and innovation in exposomics.
Bootcamp participants attended from around the world including the Universities of Glasgow, Pretoria, British Columbia, Manchester, and from over 13 institutions within the United States.
By combining foundational lectures, hands-on analytical training, and open scientific discussion, and for an eighth year in a row, the annual Exposome Bootcamp equipped attendees with the knowledge, practical skills, and professional connections needed to advance exposomics research and their careers. The multidisciplinary expertise of the instructors and the collaborative learning environment underscored the importance of integrating diverse scientific perspectives to address complex environmental health challenges.
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