The European Human Early-Life Exposome (HELIX) project will investigate pre- and postnatal exposures to chemical and physical exposures in 6 existing birth cohort studies in Europe including a total of 32 000 mother-child pairs. Cohorts are located in the UK, France, Spain, Lithuania, Norway and Greece. The project is to carry out analyses of biomarkers, mobility and physical activity using smartphones and personal exposure monitoring (PEM). Further, molecular profiles associated with exposures, such as the metabolome, proteome, transcriptome, epigenome, will be collected. Then, fetal and child growth, obesity, neurodevelopment and respiratory outcomes will be followed. The project shall be a first advance in the assessment of the European exposome, meaning the combination of human environmental exposures, and its influence on the development of disease throughout life. The first publication on the project’s rationale and design was published on March 7, 2014 in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Reference

Vrijheid, M. et al. (2014). “The Human Early-Life Exposome (HELIX): Project Rationale and Design.Environmental Health Perspectives (published online March 7, 2014).

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