Invisible Swarms of Particles Envelop Us All. Come Have a Look | WIRED: The researchers also analyzed the makeup of individual exposomes. They found them to vary considerably between test subjects, including those who live and work within a relatively small geographic region like the San Francisco Bay Area. In the course of a month, exposometers collected from test subjects living in Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Redwood City and San Francisco revealed very distinct exposure patterns. The exposome profile of the San Francisco resident, for example, turned up higher rates of so-called sludge bacteria. Sludge as in sewer water, or feces-of-unknown-origin on a sidewalk south of Market Street.
The test subjects' exposomes also hinted at how certain particulates might affect human health. For years, Snyder suffered from allergies in the early spring, which he assumed were associated with pine pollen. Yet his exposome signature suggests his symptoms correlate more strongly with eucalyptus. Similarly, analyses of test subjects' exposomes revealed interesting correlations between certain particulates. Among the most surprising was an apparent inverse relationship between pyridine—an additive, once commonly found in house paints, associated with all manner of nasty side effects— and fungus. Exhibit A: Snyder's own home. "When it was remodeled in 2010, my contractor used pyridine-free paint. "Today, my house is a fungal explosion," he says. "It is what it is. But that could be a big deal to somebody who's severely allergic to black mold." To someone like that, Snyder says, a paint containing pyridine could actually be a net positive.
Here's the thing, though: All of these connections between particulate exposure and health remain largely untested. Snyder is confident that exposome research will bring droves of those relationships to light, and that they'll be very important to human health in the long run. But this current study? "It's mostly descriptive," he says. "The exposome is vast. It's dynamic. Understanding it is going to impact our health in the future, and this study is the first step toward mapping it."
Microbiologist Jack Gilbert, director of the Microbiome Center at the University of Chicago and head of Argonne National Laboratory's microbial ecology division, takes a somewhat harsher tack: "At best, this is an observational study that says: When you move about, you're exposed to different things. But it doesn't really go beyond that," he says. A bolder step might involve tracking test subjects’ immune response in conjunction with their exposomes, by, say, collecting daily blood serum samples from research participants. "Don't get me wrong—I love the work, but I question its impact on our current understanding of people's exposomes."
Gilbert—who reviewed the study for the journal Science, before it was re-submitted to Cell—says that, the way he sees it, the study's biggest contribution is technological, not scientific. It all comes back to the exposometer. Prior exposome research has involved placing stationary air monitors in places people frequent, like houses and subway stations and busy intersections. Snyder's gadget inverts the sampling process by making the monitor simultaneously mobile and highly personal: By attaching it to an individual, you can record every speck of biological and chemical matter that enters their orbit, specifically.
"Having this sensor and showing that it can be used to measure individual exposomes? That's kickass," Gilbert says. "I love it. That's what I need in my own research. So we'll definitely be doing that, and leveraging it going forward."
Snyder, meanwhile, compares his present study to sequencing the human genome for the first time: "What did we learn? Well, we learned there were genes there! It seems obvious, but it was an important milestone because it showed what was possible. It laid out the blueprint. That's what we've done here."
The next step, he says, is to collect more data, under more tightly controlled experimental conditions, from more people. A lot more. As in: Thousands-of-test-subjects more.
But scaling poses another challenge: Cost. The current iteration of the exposometer runs $2,700, pre-modifications, and is apparently quite easy to lose; in the past few years, Snyder, alone, has misplaced four. Which means that, before exposome research can revolutionize personal medicine, someone might have to develop a less expensive monitoring device. Either that, or a version that wearers won't mind being seen with in public. Let's face it: Its big-gray-boxiness makes the exposometer a pretty tough sell, as a fashion piece.
The test subjects' exposomes also hinted at how certain particulates might affect human health. For years, Snyder suffered from allergies in the early spring, which he assumed were associated with pine pollen. Yet his exposome signature suggests his symptoms correlate more strongly with eucalyptus. Similarly, analyses of test subjects' exposomes revealed interesting correlations between certain particulates. Among the most surprising was an apparent inverse relationship between pyridine—an additive, once commonly found in house paints, associated with all manner of nasty side effects— and fungus. Exhibit A: Snyder's own home. "When it was remodeled in 2010, my contractor used pyridine-free paint. "Today, my house is a fungal explosion," he says. "It is what it is. But that could be a big deal to somebody who's severely allergic to black mold." To someone like that, Snyder says, a paint containing pyridine could actually be a net positive.
Here's the thing, though: All of these connections between particulate exposure and health remain largely untested. Snyder is confident that exposome research will bring droves of those relationships to light, and that they'll be very important to human health in the long run. But this current study? "It's mostly descriptive," he says. "The exposome is vast. It's dynamic. Understanding it is going to impact our health in the future, and this study is the first step toward mapping it."
Microbiologist Jack Gilbert, director of the Microbiome Center at the University of Chicago and head of Argonne National Laboratory's microbial ecology division, takes a somewhat harsher tack: "At best, this is an observational study that says: When you move about, you're exposed to different things. But it doesn't really go beyond that," he says. A bolder step might involve tracking test subjects’ immune response in conjunction with their exposomes, by, say, collecting daily blood serum samples from research participants. "Don't get me wrong—I love the work, but I question its impact on our current understanding of people's exposomes."
Gilbert—who reviewed the study for the journal Science, before it was re-submitted to Cell—says that, the way he sees it, the study's biggest contribution is technological, not scientific. It all comes back to the exposometer. Prior exposome research has involved placing stationary air monitors in places people frequent, like houses and subway stations and busy intersections. Snyder's gadget inverts the sampling process by making the monitor simultaneously mobile and highly personal: By attaching it to an individual, you can record every speck of biological and chemical matter that enters their orbit, specifically.
"Having this sensor and showing that it can be used to measure individual exposomes? That's kickass," Gilbert says. "I love it. That's what I need in my own research. So we'll definitely be doing that, and leveraging it going forward."
Snyder, meanwhile, compares his present study to sequencing the human genome for the first time: "What did we learn? Well, we learned there were genes there! It seems obvious, but it was an important milestone because it showed what was possible. It laid out the blueprint. That's what we've done here."
The next step, he says, is to collect more data, under more tightly controlled experimental conditions, from more people. A lot more. As in: Thousands-of-test-subjects more.
But scaling poses another challenge: Cost. The current iteration of the exposometer runs $2,700, pre-modifications, and is apparently quite easy to lose; in the past few years, Snyder, alone, has misplaced four. Which means that, before exposome research can revolutionize personal medicine, someone might have to develop a less expensive monitoring device. Either that, or a version that wearers won't mind being seen with in public. Let's face it: Its big-gray-boxiness makes the exposometer a pretty tough sell, as a fashion piece.