GeoSpace - GeoSpatial Knowledgebase for Exposomics

The exposome, defined as “every exposure to which an individual is subjected from conception to death”
underlies critical issues such as health disparities and gene–environment interactions. Two key concepts that
allow us to holistically conduct robust exposomic studies are continuous measurement of all environment
exposures and measuring the environment from conception to death, which invariably means reconstructing
the past environmental exposures as nearly all human research studies start post-conception. The exposome's
complexity is both temporal and spatial in nature. With new recent advancement, we can robustly reconstruct
environmental exposures decades back at an ultra-fine residence level resolution. Geospatial core datasets
can vary by their exposures, estimate errors, primary source, underlying models, populations and health
outcome associations. The heterogeneity and volume of the core datasets require that selected information
that is relevant to exposomics is extracted and curated from these datasets. Lack of this resource is a critical
research gap that can lead to missed hypotheses on strengthening the evidence for linking human health to
environmental exposures. To address this critical research gap we propose to develop an integrated
biomedical knowledgebase and geospatial data science ecosystem, the GeoSpatial Knowledgebase for
Exposomics-GEOSPACE. We will start by developing a geospatial database of curated exposure datasets
(GSEDB, aim 1). We will index multiple data streams which will be readily explored, interpreted, and integrated
with other chemical and biological information, resulting in a one-of-a-kind curated knowledgebase. In the early
stage of GEOSPACE knowledgebase, we will focus on the high priority environmental exposures (PM2.5, Air
Temperature and Greenness). We will then develop the Geospatial Data interpretation Resource (GSDIR,
aim2). The GSDIR to link our curated environmental exposures with biological endpoints that may suggest the
toxic effect of the environmental exposures on human body. Selected primary literature and omics datasets will
be curated to cover the biological pathways and health outcomes related to the prioritized environmental
exposures. Finally, we will develop the GEOSPACE Exposome Workspace (GES, aim 3). The GES and its
sub-modules will allow exposomics researchers to query both the GSEDB and GSDIR in a fast and intuitive
way. To facilitate that we will include a geospatial mapping and visualization tool as well as conduct a literature
exploration to allow exposomics researchers to retrieve publications with extracted sentences that may
suggest a link between the high priority exposures, biological pathways and the health outcomes. The
GEOSPACE knowledgebase will be a curated and authoritative database of high-confidence external
exposures that are observed in multiple core datasets. GEOSPACE will be a key resource in the exposomics
field to assess curated information on ambient environmental exposures and their health effects. This curated
information may promote new hypothesis-driven research using one or more core datasets.