The Exposure Sciences Research Program focuses on developing innovative methods to integrate the external (macro), personal (micro), and internal markers of exposure across the Health Outcomes Research Programs. New technologies and approaches for exposure measurement are applied in basic, clinical, and population health studies, including: 

(1) the use of mobile measurement platforms for investigating the characteristics of on-road and near-road air pollution, landing aircraft emissions, and exposures to ultrafine particles; 

(2) enhanced geospatial modeling; 

(3) deployment of novel instrumentation to characterize aerosol mixtures; and 

(4) evaluation and protocol development for the use of such instrumentation, e.g. to provide low-cost but accurate air pollution measurement integrated assignments for ambient elemental carbon exposures (as a marker for traffic or biomass combustion)

Recent Highlights

• Human studies show a role for genomic susceptibility to exposures and epigenetic changes underlying asthma development and asthma control.

• In utero toxic metals exposures have been associated with cardiometabolic complications in children.

• Exposure to an immense plume of ultrafine particles downwind from the Los Angeles International Airport had significant acute systemic inflammatory effects with a response that was distinct from that of traffic-related ultrafine particles.

• Causal analytical approaches are being applied in studies identifying additional respiratory health benefits achievable with alternative scenarios of pollutant reductions.