The National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council (NAEHSC) recently held its 170th meeting on September 12-13. The meeting covered various topics including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, cross-institute collaborations, and funding concepts. Experts emphasized the importance of AI in the future of environmental health sciences, particularly in capturing exposome attributes and assessing human health data. The exposome refers to an individual’s lifetime exposures and their body’s response to them. AI tools are being developed to integrate vast amounts of toxicology-related data across chemicals, animal models, and more. Transparency and data sharing were also highlighted as crucial for improvement in machine learning processes. Biases in clinical AI were discussed, emphasizing the need for accurate information input. The Exposometer, an environmental sampling unit, was showcased as a tool that individuals can wear to monitor environmental exposures and develop better diagnostic indicators. A socioeconomic and exposome risk score for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was presented, along with the need for programmatic development to keep up with rapidly advancing technologies. The importance of linking environmental data with health outcomes to develop precision environmental health was highlighted. The All of Us Research Program aims to quantify gene-by-environment interactions and better understand environmental exposures and health. The concept of epitranscriptomics, the study of RNA modifications, was introduced as a new avenue to explore the effects of environmental exposures at the cellular level. The next NAEHSC meeting will take place in February 2024.
