24 September 2020
The mathematical formula for our state of being reads rather simple: genes plus environment equals our health score. We’ve sequenced our genes to identify the genetic component of disease, but the environment remains the biggest unknown part of our health equation. Until now. Utrecht researchers, affiliated to Exposome-NL, are starting to systematically sequence the environmental factors influencing our health – mapping out the outside world as well as the miniature worlds existing, for instance, in our intestinal tracts. Decoding life. One block at a time.
We know far less about the exposome than we do about the human genome. So far, we only understand about half of the disease burden for which we know the environment plays a role. If we want to prevent people from becoming ill, then we need to understand the other half too. We therefore want to systematically analyse the exposome for the first time. We will start with research into the causes of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. The techniques and insights from this research will also be applicable to other chronic conditions.
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