Exposomics and Alzheimer's disease Across the Life Course

Mount Sinai’s Institute for Exposomic Research requests support for an annually held international series of 5 symposia focused on Exposomics, Aging, and Alzheimer’s Disease Across the Life Course. The exposome is the study of all the health relevant environmental factors encountered across life. Exposomics is a complex “big data” science with branches that include untargeted chemical assays, satellite remote sensing, wearable devices, and social media mining among other measures. Mount Sinai has been hosting Exposome symposia annually since 2018 and our team has successfully hosted meetings internationally in Europe and Latin America already. Our goals are to advance exposomic science globally in order to accelerate such research in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD). These symposia will foster new research collaborations and catalyze a critical mass of researchers working in Aging and Exposomics. Many of the attendees, including junior faculty, are or will become, future leaders in the exposomics of aging. These conferences will also target important health issues around ADRD, such as promoting policy and research initiatives designed to address solutions. Our R13 proposal has multiple highly committed partners already. Our meetings will be held in 5 locations-Japan, Mexico, France, Rwanda and Nashville TN. Our program will promote international research in ADRD Exposomic Research and to address the role of environment in aging processes globally. By doing so, we maximize its impact. Each symposium is preceded by a ½ day workshop. We will invite prominent speakers from major research institutions. For example, several NIH Institute directors as well as the NIH ECHO director have been past presenters. Local experts from the host countries will be prioritized as presenters, and we will include U.S. leaders in exposomic science and leaders in ADRD research from across America based solely on merit. Our poster sessions will bring together junior scientists with established researchers, and we will use R13 funding for travel awards targeting junior scientists, such as junior faculty and trainees from within the U.S. Each Symposium is evaluated by attendees, and evaluation data will be used to improve each subsequent symposium. We will track our ability to attract participants from different disciplines. We also track attendees and employ a Kirkpatrick Model-based survey to measure knowledge and use of exposomics in attendee research.