Vichy Exposome Grant
What is the Exposome?
The human body is subjected to respond to complex exposures
including
environmental factors, our diet, lifestyle factors, and
social influences.
For this highly complex interaction, the term exposome was coined by
Dr. Christopher Wild at the
International Agency for Research
on Cancer, World Health Organization.
The exposome is the
globality of the factors the human body is
exposed to
, from conception onwards.
It complements
the genome.
The exposome includes internal & external exposures:
2019 Exposome Grant
Winner
The 2019 VICHY EXPOSOME GRANT winner has been announced
during the 28th EADV Congress on October 10th 2019 in Madrid.
Pr. Giuseppe Valacchi
Associate Professor
Department of Biomedical and Specialist Surgical Sciences
University of Ferrara
Ferrara, Italy
Involvement of inflammasome activation in exposome-induced
cutaneous conditions.
Skin is chronically exposed to several forms of exposome factors such as ultraviolet, cigarette smoke, particular matters and ozone. Although skin have an efficient defense system, prolonged or repetitive exposure to high levels of exposome factors may have profound negative effects.
Exposome factors damage skin mostly by inducing oxidative stress and inflammation defined as « OxInflammation ». Inflammasomes could act as a central hub in the crosstalk between the altered redox and immune homeostasis induced by exposome in the cutaneous tissue.
The study plans to investigate the role of prolonged or repetitive inflammasome activation in skin oxinflammation induced by exposome factors such as UV and O3, in particular demonstrating their possible synergistic effects.
Read the press release. Download the press kit.
The Jury
The applications for the VICHY EXPOSOME GRANT will be reviewed by an
independent jury of experts chaired by Professor Jean Krutmann (Germany)
and composed of
Professors Craig Elmets (USA), Haidong Kan (China),
Thierry Passeron (France), Sergio Schalka (Brazil).
Feel free to reach us out via email [email protected]
for any question regarding the 2019 Vichy Exposome Grant!
Know more about the
previous Exposome
Grant Winners
Schikowski
& UV
Schwarz
immune system
Moissl-Eichinger
microbiome
Analysis of the combined effects of air pollution and sun exposure on extrinsic skin ageing on a German SALIA cohort of 800 women.
Health Epidemiologist
IUF Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine
Düsseldorf
Germany
The SALIA cohort was set up over 30 years ago to investigate the effects of air pollution on lung function, inflammation and ageing in women. There were two study populations, one from rural areas and the other from the highly industrialized Ruhr area of Germany.
A wide range of baseline health measurements were established, with questionnaires on lifestyle factors and skin factors. In 2006, with air pollution declining, the women were assessed again with about 800 having detailed examinations that included an intensive skin ageing assessment using the well-established SCINEXA skin ageing scoring system.
Extensive data sets exist on air pollutants in the Ruhr area. Land use and traffic information sets have been used as proxies for exposure to near road pollutants and the German weather service is able to provide data on direct solar radiation and diffuse sky radiation closest to the residential address.
The 2016 Vichy Exposome Grant was used by the team, with the help of a statistician, to prepare the data sets and then re-analyse it, in order to compare the interacting effects of pollution on skin ageing.
The research results were published in April 2019 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology:
Lentigine Formation in Caucasian Women - Interaction between Particulate Matter and Solar UVR
Hüls A, Sugiri D, Fuks K, Krutmann J, Schikowski T.
J Invest Dermatol. 2019 Apr;139(4):974-976
Skin microbiome-derived short-chain fatty acids as modulators of the human skin immune system
Faculty of Medicine
Department of Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology
Kiel University
Germany
The implications of the results of this research may be multiple. They may contribute to the understanding of the physiology of the skin and its maintenance.
Firstly, if short chain fatty-acids (SCFA) are responsible for the maintenance of the homeostasis of the skin, it then remains to be determined whether the composition of SCFA is altered under various inflammatory conditions and whether this is associated with an alteration of the composition of the commensal microbiome.
Secondly, if SCFA are potent modulators of skin Regulatory T cells (Treg), they may be utilized for the therapy of inflammatory skin conditions.
It is superfluous to say that SCFA are natural substances which lack toxicity and thus may gain broad acceptance, even as ingredients in cosmetics with the ultimate aim to avoid skin irritations and inflammation.
If it turns out that an alteration of the microbiome precedes skin inflammation, the final challenge will be to seek alternatives which will help to restore the physiologic microbiome.
Impact of the exposome on the human skin microbiome
Department of Internal Medicine, Joint Facilities
Graz Medical University
Austria
The human skin, our largest organ, is a complex ecosystem of diverse microorganisms, consisting of bacteria, fungi, viruses, mites and archaea. Symbiotic microorganisms protect against invasion by opportunistic pathogenic microbes and calm the immune system.
In this project, we would like to understand the composition and functional stability of microorganisms on human skin in the presence of typical exposures like desiccation, UV-radiation, temperature, moisture, pH and cosmetic products. Our insights will help us to retrieve critical information on the impact of the exposome on the archaeal and bacterial skin microbiome and to evaluate a potential use of skin probiotics.