Interactive data sharing for multiple questionnaire-based exposome-wide association studies and exposome correlations...

Area of Science:

• Environmental health
• Computational biology
• Genomics

Background:

• The exposome encompasses all individual exposures throughout life, crucial for understanding co-occurrence and health impacts.
• Exposome-wide association studies (ExWAS) are emerging to link the exposome with diseases, analogous to genome-wide association studies (GWAS).
• Limited tools and data sharing hinder comprehensive exposome research and understanding of exposure-disease relationships.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a web application, PEGS Explorer, for exploring correlations among diverse environmental and lifestyle exposures.
• To address the lack of accessible data and results sharing in exposome science.
• To facilitate hypothesis generation and replication of findings in other cohorts.

Main Methods:

• Developed the PEGS Explorer web application using data from the Personalized Environment and Genes Study (PEGS).
• Calculated exposure correlations rigorously, accounting for various data types.
• Integrated previously published ExWAS results and utilized globe visualizations for data exploration.

Main Results:

• PEGS Explorer allows visualization of correlations between various exposures (environmental, diet, lifestyle, etc.) associated with complex diseases.
• The application provides a centralized resource for exploring exposome data and previously published ExWAS findings.
• Facilitates contextualization, hypothesis generation, and replication of exposome-disease association studies.

Conclusions:

• PEGS Explorer enhances accessibility to exposome data and ExWAS results, addressing a critical gap in the field.
• The tool supports researchers in understanding complex exposure relationships and their impact on health.
• Future updates will ensure PEGS Explorer remains a dynamic and valuable resource for exposome science.