Genomics meets exposomics: advancing gene by environment science

October 20-21, 2025
Mendel Museum, Brno, Czech Republic

Organized by
Jana Klánová (Masaryk University, EIRENE),
Gary W. Miller (Columbia University, NEXUS),
Robert Barouki (INSERM, EIRENE) and
Chirag Patel (Harvard University, NEXUS)

REGISTRATION

Supported by the National Institutes of Health and the European Commission.

About the meeting

The goal of this meeting is to develop a strategic 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 disease genetics can only account for a portion of the variability. A broad range of environmental factors are known to contribute to human disease. Recent advances in exposomics which is 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.

Background

In December, 2023 a group of scientists convened at the Banbury Center of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories for the Integrating Exposomics into the Biomedical Enterprise meeting. One of the key goals of that meeting was to develop a unified definition of the exposome that could be embraced by investigators across the world and to identify key challenges that needed to be overcome. The resulting paper was published in 2025 (Banbury Exposomics Consortium, Integrating Exposomics into Biomedicine, Science 25;388(6745):356-358).The 2025 Mendel Museum Meeting Genomics meets exposomics is designed to complement 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.

About the organizers

Jana Klánová

Professor of environmental chemistry at Masaryk University in Brno, director of the RECETOX Centre and Coordinator of EIRENE RI

Jana is the director of RECETOX, the European Centre of Excellence for exposome research at Masaryk University in Brno. She also leads EIRENE, the European research infrastructure on human exposome, added to the European Strategic Forum for Resarch Infrastructures (ESFRI) Roadmap in 2021. She has a background in environmental chemistry and a long-term experience in the development of sampling and analytical methods, building global monitoring networks and longitudinal population cohorts, and harmonizing related data. She collaborates with the Unined Nations Environment Programme and the WHO.

Gary Miller

Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Vice Dean of Research Strategy and Innovation at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Gary is a leader in exposomics, which strives to provide a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the non-genetic contributors to health and disease. Dr. Miller is the founding director of the Center for Innovative Exposomics at Columbia University and is also the contact MPI of the Network of Exposomics in the United States (NEXUS).

Robert Barouki

Professor of Biochemistry at Université Paris Cité Medical School and head of the Inserm Institute of Public Health.

His research is focused on the impact of environmental contaminants on human health, in particular POPs and EDCs and more generally on the links between the exposome and health. He is involved in several EU projects: PARC (linking exposure to health), Heals and Neurosome (exposome), HERA (setting the research agenda in environment climate and health) Oberon (EDC testing), IHEN (setting the agenda for human exposome research) and EIRENE (european exposome infrastructure). He has also been involved in the networking of French and European research in the field of environment and health as well as in communicating scientific data to citizens. He is a corresponding member of the French Academy of Medicine and of several scientific councils at the European and French levels

Chirag J. Patel

Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard University

Chirag Patel is an associate professor of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard University. His long-term research goal is to address problems in human health and disease by developing computational and bioinformatics methods to efficiently reason over high-throughput data streams spanning molecules to populations. His groups aims to dissect inter-individual differences in human phenomes through strategies that integrate data sources that capture the comprehensive clinical experience, the complex phenomena of environmental exposure (e.g., high-throughput measures of the exposome), and inherited genomic variation. He is co-coordinating center for exposomics NEXUS and leads the data science hub of the center.

Conference programme

Major topics to be addressed include:

State-of-the-art methods in genomics and exposomics
Data and analytical platforms
Computational and statistical approaches
Harmonization and standardization
Study populations, including biobanks

Rather than a series of lectures, this meeting will focus on brief presentations and small working groups to develop an actionable framework to address key challenges in the field. This meeting is designed to be small and by invitation only, allowing participants to speak freely and engage in extensive discussion and a policy of confidentiality is presumed. Additional details are attached and include information regarding meeting policies, confidentiality, accommodations, and expense reimbursement. Once you have reviewed the invitation, please complete an online response form (link below) to indicate whether you will or will not attend this meeting; the deadline for responses is August 15th.

Attractive venue

The Mendel Museum is home to the Mendel Lecture series, which has hosted many of the world's top scientists including numerous Nobel Laureates. The lectures are held in the Augustinian Abbey in Old Brno where Gregor Mendel conducted his groundbreaking studies two centuries ago. In addition to the Mendel Lecture series, the site is home to a museum dedicated to the history of genetics. The Advancing medicine through the integration of genomics and exposomics meeting will be held on the grounds of the Abbey and Museum, including the newly constructed Mendel Greenhouse which is located precisely where Mendel conducted his pea experiments.

Practicalities and logistics

We recommend to reserve the hotels from the list in this Guideline - all provide special price for MUNI guest. In the guideline you will find other useful information - how to go to Brno, how to get around etc. There are many other possibilities to stay, you may use the booking.com or other specialized servers.

Meals and refreshments

Lunch, dinner, and coffee/tea breaks will be provided during the meeting. Please indicate any dietary restrictions or preferences via the online form (sent with the invitation by email).

Dress-code

We recommend smart casual or business casual. Please, check the weather forecast and pack accordingly.

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