International Society of Exposure Science

ISES WAG Series
2024-12-04 10:30 - 11:30, 2024-10-30 10:30 - 11:30 (America/Chicago) | Zoom
WAGs (Writing Accountability Groups) are a habit-building method and community to increase productivity.
We all struggle focusing, managing time, and prioritizing.
This WAG is a space, a support system, and a community to help hold each other accountable and increase productivity. The objective is to help each other acknowledge when goals are too big or help members troubleshoot roadblocks by sharing strategies for breaking through common challenges.
The goal of a WAG is to meet and work together, setting aside accountability work time for whatever you need focus time on. WAGs can be used for other tasks/goals other than writing. It can include coding, figure making, presentation preparation and more.
The SNR Committee has hosted a few of these networking and development opportunities in the last couple of years. They have been well-attended, and attendees report successful outcomes from their participation.

2024 ISES Annual Meeting
2024-10-20 09:00 - 2024-10-24 21:00
Join others at the forefront of groundbreaking research at the ISES 2024 Annual Meeting, where research in exposure science, epidemiology, toxicology, and risk assessments converge to explore “Exposures that Impact Health in Vulnerable Populations.” This meeting will bring together communities from academia, government as well as non-profit organizations working on the front lines trying to protect our valuable commodities, our people. Elevate your expertise, broaden your network, and contribute to shaping a healthier future at #ISES2024.

Getting Ready for the ISES 2024 Annual Meeting
2024-10-16 13:00 - 14:00 | Zoom
Dear Colleagues, We invite you to join us for an ISES 2024 Pre-Meeting Virtual Social, designed to provide orientation and networking opportunities for first-time attendees of the annual meeting and/or early career researchers. This event will provide an overview of ISES, highlight key events at the upcoming meeting—especially those geared toward networking for students and new researchers—and offer a chance to meet other attendees ahead of the main event. Participants will have the opportunity to join small breakout sessions for discussions and to potentially arrange in-person meetups during the conference. We look forward to your engagement in this virtual social! Please find the Zoom and registration links below.

How to Attend a Scientific Conference: ISES Mentorship Committee Pre-Conference Workshop
2024-10-02 11:30 - 13:00 | Zoom
This workshop is intended for students, trainees, and other individuals who are new to attending a scientific conference like ISES. Attendees will hear professional and practical tips for getting the most from the conference experience from Mentorship Committee members and have a chance to meet other attendees before the conference.

Postgraduate Education in Toxicology (PET)
2023-06-05 - 2023-06-08 | Curriculum
5-7 June 2023 (on-site) and 28-29 June 2023 (online)
This course is offered as part of the Postgraduate Education in Toxicology (PET) Website: https://www.toxcourses.nl/
General course information: https://www.toxcourses.nl/courses/Human-exposure-assessment/
Registration: https://www.toxcourses.nl/application/
Tuition fee with discount for PhD candidates: https://www.toxcourses.nl/tariffs/
For more information: office.pet@uu.nl

HEI Annual Conference
2023-04-30 - 2023-05-03 | Meeting
The 2023 HEI Annual Conference will be held in Boston, MA at the Boston Renaissance Waterfront Hotel on Sunday, April 30 – Tuesday, May 2, 2023.
The conference will be a great opportunity to hear from air pollution experts from around the world, while learning more about the HEI studies currently underway. The conference will consist of scientific sessions, keynote speakers, poster presentations, and much more.
Click here to learn more and register!

ISES SNR Speed Lightning Talks
2023-04-14 13:00 - 14:00, 2023-04-12 10:00 - 11:00 | Meeting
Hosted by the Student and New Researcher Committee
Join other students and presenters for this very fast-paced and exciting networking opportunity. The Student Lightning Talk Presentations will be an opportunity for you to attend and listen to the latest research in the field of exposure science and to present your work!
These presentations will help you with the following:

Practice your science ‘elevator skills’
Hone your communication skills
Get feedback on your presentation style
Learn about what other ISES SNR members are working on

Rules for the experience:

Presentation
Max 5 slides
Must be an ISES SNR Member

Registration is required! If you plan to attend and listen or attend and present, registration is required. If you plan to present, please register for the meeting and you will receive a link to submit your presentation/abstract. Submissions are due March 24.

March Webinar: Community-Engaged Investigation on Soil Contamination in Atlanta
2023-03-14 11:30 - 12:30 | Webinar
Dr. Saikawa will discuss the journey how our study on estimating greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture led to the finding of high soil lead contamination in Atlanta and what followed as a community-engaged investigation.

ISES SNR Writing Accountability Group (WAG)
2023-03-01 10:00 - 11:00 | Meeting
The Student New Researcher Committee (SNR) is hosting a Writing Accountability Group (WAG) on Wednesday, March 1 at 10:00 AM CT.
Pre-registration is required. Those registered will connect for about an hour. The group will briefly discuss strategies to be more effective at writing (can be writing code, text, making presentation, any tasks that requires focus and time).
The goal of WAG is to begin a meeting by discussing goals for the time slot, working along with fellow colleagues, and then discussing achievements at the meetings end. The group will help keep each other accountable and learn to be more aware of how much time do certain tasks actually take.
WAG participants have consistently reported positive outcomes including accountability, habit-formation, and social support.
Next WAG:
Wednesday, March 1
10:00 AM CT

February Joint Webinar: Silicone Wristbands: Personal Exposure Monitors
2023-02-06 14:00 - 15:30 | Webinar
Dr. Heather Stapleton of Duke University will present “Silicone Wristbands: Personal Exposure Monitors to Help Support Research on the Exposome.” OneHealth and the exposome are critical conceptual constructs that are helping to evolve our approaches to mixtures and assessment of real-world cumulative exposures over a lifetime; environmental justice and citizen science can also be informed by considering these constructs.
This is a joint webinar with Risk Assessment Specialty Section (RASS) of the Society of Toxicology (SOT).
Click the link below to join the webinar:
https://aim-hq.zoom.us/j/85046488583?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 850 4648 8583
Passcode: [REDACTED]
Abstract: The concept of the exposome was first introduced in 2005 as a means of complementing the genome and calling for more research to characterize our environment and improve our understanding of non-genetic disease risks. However, the human “environment” is incredibly complex and dynamic, particularly over an individual’s lifespan. Our diet, behavior, occupation, and housing all strongly influence our chemical and non-chemical exposures. A number of exposomics based research studies to date have utilized human tissues (e.g. blood) to characterize both exogenous and endogenous chemicals and examine associations with disease state. Characterizing and measuring chemical exposures in blood and urine, while often ideal, does have some limitations, and there is a need to pair ambient and personal measures of chemical exposures with biological measurements. This talk will highlight current research that utilizes silicone wristbands to measure the external exposome, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of these wearable sensors. In addition, this talk will highlight research that has used silicone wristbands to understand associations with internal dose, exposures over different life stages, to support One Health, and in occupational and non-occupational settings.

January Webinar: Community Engagement in Exposure Science
2023-01-23 10:00 - 11:00 | Webinar
The ISES Diversity Committee is hosting the January webinar to discuss community engagement within the field of exposure science. This will be a panel discussion including Xiaoli Duan (PhD) of University of Science and Technology of Beijing, Adetoun Mustapha (PhD) of Lead City University and Denise Moreno Ramirez (PhD) of University of Arizona.

ISES SNR Writing Accountability Groups (WAGs)
2022-12-07 11:00 - 12:00, 2022-10-26 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual Meeting
Writing Accountability Groups (WAGs) are a way for students and new researchers to connect and work together to have writing accountability within the ISES network. We will briefly discuss strategies to be more effective at writing (can be writing code, text, making presentation, any tasks that requires focus and time).
The goal of WAGs is to begin a meeting by discussing goals for the time slot, working along with fellow colleagues, and then discussing achievements at the meetings end. We will keep each other accountable and learn to be more aware of how much time do certain tasks actually take.
Register today!

ISES Holiday Social: Networking and Updates
2022-11-18 10:00 - 11:00 | Virtual Meeting
ISES would like to invite you to the ISES Holiday Social to network and celebrate with your fellow members as well as reflect on ISES activities and successes in 2022. Dr. Pallavi Pant (Head of Global Health, HEI) and Dr. Danielle McBride (Post-Doctoral Scholar, University of Kentucky) will be hosting this event and look forward to seeing you!
The holiday social will include an update about the Society’s activities and opportunities for engagement in 2023, interactive networking, and a trivia game (yes, you read that right!). You might be tempted to throw in your hat for one of the prizes too!
Early-career researchers and mid-career professionals- this is a perfect opportunity for you to interact and learn from each other.
Plan to join us! Register ahead of time!

November Webinar: Intersectional Impact of Food Insecurity on Occupational Safety: An Example for Bangladesh
2022-11-07 12:00 - 13:00 | Webinar
The Intersectional Impact of Food Insecurity on Occupational Safety: An Example for Bangladesh webinar explores a critical analysis on the effect of climate change on rising global rates of food insecurity and its impact on occupational safety within Bangladesh. By reviewing existing literature, the author developed a conceptual framework showing the interaction between Bangladesh’s climate change, food insecurity industrialization, and occupational injury. The author will walk through supporting literature that establishes the conceptual framework with attendees. Accordingly, the author aims to draw attention to an often overlooked occupational health and safety concern, food insecurity.

November 1 Webinar: Defining the Cutting-Edge to the U.S. EPA’s Computational Exposure Science
2022-11-01 12:30 - 13:30 | Webinar
Exposure science in EPA’s Office of Research and Development is being transformed from its traditional “after the fact” and “one chemical at a time” approach. Advances in computational exposure are providing foresight on exposure potential prior to the manufacture of chemicals and these advances can be applied to most of the chemicals considered for commercial use. This research is being advanced on four related fronts. First, a carefully curated web-accessible chemical resource has been created to characterize the chemicals known to be used in commerce and believed to occur in the environment. The DSSTox database lists >900,000 unique chemical substances relevant to the environmental exposure landscape and links the unambiguous identification of the chemical’s structure to measured and modeled data resources. Next, data and model development efforts span chemical, physical, and behavioral aspects of exposure and occur iteratively such that data and model development inform one another. Modeling efforts rely on monitoring and other data that are analyzed using machine learning. This generates predictions of chemical exposures and associated uncertainty for thousands of chemicals at a time. Lastly, the development and application of non-targeted analysis methods are capturing chemical occurrence in a broad chemical space and revealing contaminants of emerging concern. These integrated research efforts are tailored to support timely large-scale exposure assessment to prioritize and manage risk and provide exposure foresight to enable innovative green chemistries. This abstract does not reflect EPA policy.

International Conference on Air Quality in Africa
2022-10-12 - 2022-10-15 | Annual Meeting, Virtual, United States
ASAQ is hosting the International Conference on Air Quality in Africa (ICAQ-Africa 2022)
12-14 October, 2022
This will be a fully virtual conference and will be hosted on Zoom. Submission abstracts are open now!

2022 ISES Annual Meeting
2022-09-25 - 2022-09-30
From Exposure to Human Health: New Developments and Challenges in a Changing Environment
From Exposure to Human Health: New Developments and Challenges in a Changing Environment, will promote information sharing and facilitate discussion on exposure sciences and related fields in the context of the environment, especially how we can better understand and respond to the complex and multidisciplinary issues in exposure and environmental health through sciences and policies.

Dates: September 25-29, 2022
Location: Lisbon, Portugal

ISES Virtual Pre-Conference Workshops
2022-09-02 - 2022-09-23 | Annual Meeting, Virtual, United States
There are a variety of Virtual Pre-Conference Workshops planned in conjunction with the in-person ISES 2022 Annual Meeting. Join us in the weeks or days leading up to the in-person meeting.
NOTE: Registration for the ISES 2022 Annual Meeting is not required to register for the Virtual Pre-Conference Workshops. Click here to register for the Virtual Pre-Conference Workshops.
Title: Presenting at a Conference: Tips and Feedback
2 September, 11 AM – 1 PM ET
Virtual only
Description: This workshop will help attendees learn how to develop and execute a ​high-quality conference presentation for the ISES 2022 Annual Meeting. The registrants will be asked to review a previously recorded seminar and prepare their presentation. Each participant will have an opportunity to show their oral/poster presentation, to be evaluated and receive feedback from tenured members of the Society.

Title: UNEP’s USEtox consensus exposure and toxicity model for chemical substitution, risk screening and LCA
19 September, 10 AM ET – 1 PM ET
Virtual only
Description: The aim of this course is to introduce participants to the exposure science methods used in life-cycle assessment, comparative risk assessment, and chemical substitution. Participants will learn to use and evaluate basic tools for mass-balance, fate modelling, near-field and far-field exposure and intake fraction, and effect factor estimation. Participants will review underlying model assumptions and evaluate data needs along with data and knowledge gaps in these assessments. The course is intended for environmental science practitioners interested in the scientific fundamentals of chemical impact assessment. Only basic background knowledge of environmental modelling, risk assessment or life cycle assessment is considered necessary.

Title: Meet & Greet, Network with exposure scientists from around the world!
20 September, 10 AM ET – 11 AM ET
Virtual only
Description: The ISES Mentorship Committee is hosting a virtual meet and greet to prepare and get excited about the in-person annual meeting. This free event is open to all and it will be a good opportunity: * To meet exposure scientists from around the world * To meet people who are planning to attend the ISES 2022 conference * For students who would like to meet mentors within their field * For new members to meet other exposure scientists * For all who would like to brush up on their social skills.

Title: Hands on analysis of mass spectrometry-based exposomics data using ADAP-BIG and ADAP-KDB
21 September, 10 AM – 12 PM ET
Virtual only
Description: High throughput gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC)-mass spectrometry (MS) technologies have made it possible to conduct large-scale exposomics studies. These studies can involve thousands of samples and produce hundreds of gigabytes of raw LC-MS and GC-MS data. Such a large amount of data raises fundamentally new challenges for software tools and cloud resources to preprocess raw data from instruments and annotate the resulting signals. These challenges include handling big data on available computing workstations, aligning data from multiple batches of samples, performing batch-effect correction, and others. This workshop will introduce a suite of software tools and cloud resources specifically designed to handle mass spectrometry exposomics data from large-scale studies.

Title: How to access open air quality data from the OpenAQ Platform
22 September, 10 AM – 12 PM ET
Virtual only
Description: The workshop will open with an overview of the OpenAQ Platform, the importance of open data, and its diverse applications in the scientific field. Participants will then have an opportunity to learn about how to access air quality data through a step-by-step interactive tutorial. Following a Q&A session, the participants will engage in a deeper dive with the platform, using case studies and examples of open data queries. These examples can be based on real-life research questions and/or objectives that exposure scientists are grappling with in their current research. Finally, the workshop will close with resources and opportunities to connect to the broader OpenAQ Community, a committed community of air quality advocates.

August Webinar: Using satellite and low-cost sensor data for large-scale ambient air pollution prediction
2022-08-08 13:00 - 14:00 | Webinar
Air pollution is one of the leading global health risk factors. Ambient air pollution has been traditionally monitored at regulatory stations at high instrumentation and maintenance costs. Sparse and uneven regulatory monitoring has a limited ability to reÔ¨Çect pollution details, especially in remote communities. This paradigm is shifting with increasingly available satellite remote sensing instruments to monitor air quality at a global scale and low-cost air sensors that enable community-level air quality monitoring. In this talk, I will present my past and ongoing research in developing statistical methods to overcome the current challenges of utilizing novel satellite and low-cost sensor data in large-scale, high-resolution ambient air pollution prediction, such as satellite data missingness and inaccuracy in low-cost sensor data. These methods particularly hold promise to advance air pollution exposure assessment that has been poorly characterized with regulatory monitoring, such as wildfire smoke estimation.

July Webinar: Characterization of Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances (PFAS) Present in Commercial Anti-Fog Products and Their In Vitro Adipogenic Activity
2022-07-21 11:30 | Webinar
Anti-fogging products rose in popularity in response to the increased use of protective gear, including masks and face shields, during the COVID19 pandemic. These products are one of the solutions recommended to help prevent fogging of glasses while wearing masks. While many of these products are marketed as ‚Äúsafe‚Äù and ‚Äúnon-toxic‚Äù, it seems possible that some of these products could contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) due to their water repellent properties. The two main objectives of this study were to identify and characterize PFAS compounds present in commercially available anti-fog sprays and cloth wipes, and investigate the adipogenic activity of the anti-fog sprays in a common in vitro pre-adipocyte model. Fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) and fluorotelomer ethoxylates (FTEOs) were detected at significant levels in all anti-fog products (n=9) and anti-fog formulations (n=2) analyzed within this study. In addition, all four anti-fog sprays and both commercial formulations exhibited significant cytotoxicity and adipogenic activity (either triglyceride accumulation and/or pre-adipocyte proliferation) in murine 3T3-L1 cells. Results suggest that FTEOs are a significant contributor to the adipogenic activity exhibited by the anti-fog sprays. All together, these results suggest that FTEOs are present in commercial products at toxicologically relevant levels and more research is needed to fully understand the health risks from using these PFAS-containing products.

HEI Annual Conference
2022-06-26 - 2022-06-29 | Annual Meeting, In-Person
The 2022 HEI Annual Conference will be held in-person June 26-28, 2022 (this is a change from the original dates). The in-person meeting will be hosted at the Westin Washington, DC City Center.

ISEE-AWPC & ISES-AC Joint Conference
2022-06-20 - 2022-06-22 | Meeting
International Society for Environmental Epidemiology Asia and Western Pacific Chapter & International Society of Exposure Science Asia Chapter Joint Conference 2022
This year’s theme is “Influence of Environmental Factors on Human Health, Potential and Resilience”. The conference will cover a wide range of topics including COVID-19, environmental health and birth cohort studies as well as feature a diverse mix of speakers from the Asia-Western Pacific and international scientific community.
Over the years, ISEE-AWPC and ISES-AC has promoted and facilitated communication among students, young researchers and established scientists working on environmental epidemiology and we hope to continue to fulfill this mission with ISEE-AWPC and ISES-AC Joint Conference 2022. Request for abstract submissions and workshop submissions are open now. Registration is opening soon.

Student Lightning Talk Presentations, June 8
2022-06-08 13:00 - 14:00 | Meeting
Hosted by the Student and New Researcher Committee
Join other students and presenters for this very fast-paced and exciting networking opportunity. The Student Lightning Talk Presentations will be an opportunity for you to attend and listen to the latest research in the field of exposure science and to present your work!
These presentations will help you with the following:

Practice your science ‘elevator skills’
Hone your communication skills
Get feedback on your presentation style
Learn about what other ISES SNR members are working on

Rules for the experience:

Presentation
Max 5 slides
Must be an ISES SNR Member

Registration is required! If you plan to attend and listen or attend and present, registration is required. If you plan to present, please register for the meeting and you will receive a link to submit your presentation/abstract.
Submissions are due by April 30.

June Webinar: Nicotine and toxicant exposure from electronic cigarettes: How bad are they?
2022-06-03 10:00 - 11:00 | Webinar
The ISES Student New Researcher Committee is proud to host and organize the June webinar. This webinar will include a discussion of completed study from our lab comparing the harms of e-cigarettes to combustible cigarettes by Dr. Gideon St. Helen.
Gideon St.Helen, PhD, is a toxicologist with postdoctoral training in clinical pharmacology. His research interests involve three major themes: (1) understanding the safety and risk of novel tobacco products, such as electronic cigarettes, on carcinogen and toxicant exposure, as well as the effects on the cardiovascular system; (2) examination of the pharmacology and safety of cannabis products, and the interplay/interaction between cannabis and tobacco; and (3) examination of biological and behavioral factors that underlie smoking-related health disparities among American smokers.
Dr. St.Helen received his PhD in toxicology from the University of Georgia in 2011. His doctoral training was under Dr. Luke Naeher in the Department of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health, and focused on the utility of biomarkers to examine exposure and effects of outdoor secondhand smoke. Dr. St.Helen treasures his time in the Naeher lab. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical pharmacology in the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California San Francisco under the mentorship of Dr. Neal Benowitz from 2011 to 2014. In 2015, he joined the faculty of the University of California San Francisco where he continues to conduct innovative research on the risks and benefits of novel tobacco and cannabis products.

Student Lightning Talk Presentations
2022-05-19 10:00 - 11:00 | Meeting

May Webinar: Title: The Hokkaido Study on Environment and Children’s Health: Overview and children’s chemical exposure assessment
2022-05-17 19:00 - 20:00 | Webinar
The Hokkaido Study on Environment and Children’s Health is an ongoing study consisting of two birth cohorts of different sizes, the Sapporo cohort and the Hokkaido cohort, which were established in 2001. This presentation provides an update on the progress, summarize recent results, and suggest future directions. Prenatal environmental exposure to chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins, organochlorine pesticides, per-and polyfluorinated compounds (PFAS), and phthalates has been measured. Cord blood biomarkers, such as adiponectin, leptin, thyroid, and reproductive hormones were also measured. Information on physical growth, neurodevelopment, allergy and infections, and onset of puberty has been collected to analyze health outcomes. In this webinar, results of children’s chemical exposure are focused. When participating children of the Hokkaido cohort reached 7 years old, morning void urine samples were collected to investigate the current internal exposure levels of shorter half-life compounds or their metabolites: phthalates, phosphate flame retardants and plasticizers (PFRs), bisphenols, and nonylphenol (NP). Using same samples, we measured oxidative stress 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine and lipid peroxidation biomarkers N-ε-hexanoyl-lysine (HEL) and trans-4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE). The prevalence of asthma and allergies were also examined by ISAAC questionnaire. When comparing the levels of these chemicals in the urine collected from 2012 to 2017, increasing secular trend of PFRs and BPS was found, while decreasing trend in BPA and NP. Furthermore, the levels of phthalates did not show any secular trends during the study periods suggesting stable exposures. Mixture of PFR metabolites as well as NP were positively associated with levels of HEL and HNE, whereas phthalates metabolites and bisphenol levels did not show any clear associations with these markers. Finally, single metabolite as well as mixture of phthalates were positively associated with increased risk of wheeze and eczema of 7 years old children. For further examination and follow-up, we are now conducting face-to face health check-up with blood and urine sample collections at one’s adolescence.
Presenter: Dr. Atsuko Ikeda-Araki, Hokkaido University
Atsuko Ikeda-Araki, Ph.D, is Professor of Faculty of Health Sciences, and adjunct Professor of Center for Environmental and Health Sciences (CEHS) at the Hokkaido University (HU). Her major is environmental epidemiology and got her Ph.D. in Graduate School of Medicine, HU. Atsuko‚Äôs interests focus on exposure to environmental chemicals (such as phthalate esters, PFAS, organophosphate flame retardants, bisphenol) and their effects on children‚Äôs health. She has also experience in indoor environmental quality and inhabitants‚Äô health studies. HU-CHES has been designated as World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre (CC) for Environmental Health and Prevention of Chemical Hazards since April 2015 and Atsuko is in charge of promoting international cooperation and actively collaborates with WHO and other WHOCC. Atsuko is an active member of ISES since 2012, and she received Travel Award (ISES Diversity Award) in 2019. She is also a member of ISEE, serves on the Editorial Board of Environment International, and Associate Editor of Journal of Occupational Health.

Women's Networking Event
2022-04-28 12:00 - 13:30 | Annual Meeting, Virtual, United States
This WNE will be hosted on April 28, 2022 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM (ET). It will be moderated by Dr. Christine Ekenga, Dr. Neha Sunger, Dr. Ana Rule, Dr. Magdalena Fandino Del Rio and Sydonia Manibusan. There will be networking, discussions and connections. Registration is required.
