NEXUS Reflections — Genomics Meets Exposomics: Advancing Gene by Environment Science

The goal of the Conference “Genomics Meets Exposomics: Advancing Gene x Environment Science” held October 20-21, 2025, at the Mendel Museum in Brno, Czech Republic was to develop an action plan for the advancement of gene by environment studies to better understand human disease. Advances in sequencing technologies have revealed countless discoveries of the genetic drivers of human disease, but for most chronic diseases, genetics can only account for a portion of the variability. A broad range of environmental, behavioural and social factors are known to contribute to human disease. Recent advances in exposomics, designed to systematically analyze the physical, chemical, biological, and social factors that influence disease, now position the research community to systematically perform gene-by-environment experiments.

The need for this conference was sparked by the “ Integrating Exposomics into the Biomedical Enterprise” meeting convened at the Banbury Center of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories in December 2023. At this gathering a group of scientists developed a unified definition of the exposome that could be embraced by investigators across the world and identified key challenges that needed to be overcome. The resulting paper was published in 2025 (Banbury Exposomics Consortium, 2025).

The 2025 Mendel Museum Meeting “Genomics Meets Exposomics” complemented the Banbury Meeting by providing deeper engagement with those in the genetics community and European scientists to address the critical need of merging methods, techniques, and expertise in exposomics and genomics to provide a foundation for systematic gene-by-environment studies. NEXUS MPI Gary Miller, PhD., Columbia University, who co-organized the Banbury Meeting with Michelle Bennett, PhD., LM Bennett Consulting, met with Jana Klánová, PhD., Masaryk University, RECETOX, in Brno in 2023 to discuss plans for the Banbury Meeting, which Dr. Klánová attended. At that time, the two proposed holding a follow-up meeting to Banbury at the Mendel Museum (over lunch that included pea soup). In 2024, a contingent from NIEHS traveled to Brno to visit Masaryk University and RECETOX, as well as to tour the Mendel Museum facilities. All agreed that the Mendel Museum was the ideal location for the 2025 meeting.

Many of those in the field of exposomics had recognized that partnering with those in genomics could be of great benefit. One challenge was to attract those lead investigators to a meeting about exposomics. Dr. Miller joked that the Mendel Museum was like catnip for geneticists and this turned out to be the case. The goal was to keep the meeting size small ~35 participants. The organizing team invited key leaders in the field of genomics, including Ewan Birney, PhD., Interim Executive Director of EMBL-EBI, Kári Stefánsson, PhD., Founder of deCODE Genetics, André Uitterlinden, Prof., Dr., PhD., Head of Population Genomics / Head of Human Genomics Facility, ERASMUS MC, Greg Gibson, Ph.D. Professor of Biology and Director, Center for Integrative Genomics, Georgia Institute of Technology; Adam Lewandowski, BSc (Hons), MSt, DPhil, FESC, Deputy Chief Scientist for UK Biobank and an Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Science, Oxford University, among others.

During the meeting, Interim Executive Director of EMBL, Dr. Ewan Birney, encouraged the exposomics field to develop data standards analogous to those developed for genomics: “With robust data structures we can merge the complex genomic and exposomic datasets collected from large population cohorts in a biologically meaningful manner. New artificial intelligence workflow will permit us to distill these massive datasets into models that improve human health.”

After the meeting NEXUS MPI Rima Habre, Sc.D. reflected that “The breadth and depth of what is possible - by combining geospatial and sensing approaches - means that we can now re-paint a very detailed picture of what individuals experienced over their lifetime, from adverse environmental exposures or stressors to health promoting resources, for everything from the built and natural to the physical, chemical, social, cultural environment and so much more…”

Similarly NEXUS MPI Chirag Patel, PhD, Harvard University comments that “Coming back from the Mendel Museum—quite literally in Mendel’s garden of inheritance—it was an honor to play a role in bringing together leaders across genomics and exposomics. The message was unmistakable: if exposomics is going to succeed, it must learn from genomics, and genomics itself is ready for its environmental chapter.”

NEXUS ChemBio Analytical Sciences Hub Co-lead Krystal Pollitt, PhD, P.Eng, Yale University, commented that the… “Meeting where Mendel studied his peas in Brno, there was shared excitement about the next step: studying not just the genes, but the garden around them. We’re ready to sequence both environmental factors and genes together. This integrated measurement approach will help us prioritise modifiable factors and accelerate the path from discovery to impact.”

As it turned out, the geneticists did not need much convincing. Their approaches had revealed incredible insights into the genetic causes of human disease, but they recognized that the environment played a key role and many were keen to learn about new approaches being used in exposomics that could deliver that data.

Dr. Stefánsson admitted not knowing about the field of exposomics when he was invited to the meeting. He gave a brief lecture on his views of the challenges for gene-by-environment studies and participated in a fireside chat where he discussed the history of deCODE Genetics and the challenges of translating findings to therapy.

Dr. Stefánsson summed up the Mendel Meeting in the closing sessions with the declaration, “Genomics and exposomics cannot live with each other.”