IISPV researchers participate in an innovative project to address the effects of pollution on health

• The initiative seeks to better understand how pollution affects our health and to find effective solutions to protect us
• This has been made possible thanks to funding from the European Commission through the Horizon Europe program

Air pollution, noise, light and hazardous waste not only affect the environment, but can also have a great impact on our health. To address this challenge, the TecnATox research group (Center for Environmental, Food and Toxicological Technology) of the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV) and Rovira i Virgili University (URV) is participating in a new European project, ENVESOME (“The Environmental Exposome and Health”), which aims to study how the combination of these factors can contribute to the development of non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disorders, respiratory difficulties, sleep disturbances and mental health problems.

This project has been awarded under the HORIZON-HLTH-2024-ENVHLTH-02-06 call and has a duration of four years. It is led by the National Hellenic Research Foundation of Greece and involves the participation of 14 European Union institutions. The main objective of the project is to strengthen the knowledge available to policy makers and to provide tools that help to better understand the causal mechanisms and associations between pollution and diseases throughout the different stages of life.

ENVESOME combines science, technology and data to investigate how pollution affects human health. Researchers collect air quality data, analyze the human body’s biological responses, and use artificial intelligence to make connections between exposure to pollutants and disease. This information enables the development of strategies to reduce the risks associated with pollution and improve public health.

From this research, new tools will be designed and tested in several areas to evaluate their effectiveness. These tools include a mobile application to help people learn about their exposure to pollution and learn how to protect themselves, a support system for policy makers to improve environmental decision making, and a chatbot aimed at healthcare professionals to guide them on the effects of pollution on patients.

Project impact and objectives

Beyond research, ENVESOME aims to apply its findings to improve public policies and update allowable pollution limits. It also seeks to promote healthy habits that help reduce the negative effects of pollution on health.

This collaborative effort demonstrates that science and joint work between European institutions can make a significant difference in protecting public health. With ENVESOME, it is expected to offer effective solutions to address one of the most important challenges of our time: pollution and its effects on human health

The prominent role of the TecnATox group of IISPV and URV

TecnATox plays a key role within the ENVESOME project, led by principal investigator Dr. Vikas Kumar. Vikas Kumar, who leads TecnATox’s strategic contributions in various areas of research and development: Model development; making a lead in computational toxicology and bioinformatics to create predictive models, artificial intelligence and big data volumes; driving innovation in text mining, data harmonization and dynamic knowledge graphs, exposure assessment; improving frameworks and tools for contaminant exposure assessment and policy support; providing data-driven tools, such as decision support systems (DSS) and chatbots, for policy makers.

This comprehensive involvement highlights TecnATox’s expertise in integrating biological, computational and analytical methods to address emerging challenges in environmental health.