The Exposome Boot Camp

There are many challenges to capturing the complexity of exposures in an individual across the lifetime and their potential health effects. Traditionally, environmental health studies have focused on assessing risks related to a single exposure at a time, yet in reality we are constantly exposed to multiple exposures at the same time. To advance environmental health research and positively impact human health through recommendations and policy, we need to incorporate omics data that capture all chemical species detectable in human plasma over the life course. The exposome offers this framework and can be viewed as the environmental complement of the genome.

This two-day intensive boot camp integrates the principle concepts of exposomics and the untargeted approaches of measuring endogenous and exogenous chemical exposures on an omic scale as we step through the tools and techniques currently available to analyze the exposome. Led by a team of expert scientists in the rapidly growing field of exposomics, the boot camp will integrate seminar lectures with hands-on computer lab sessions to put concepts into practice. Emphasis will be given to leveraging existing resources from ongoing studies and initiating new investigations. The afternoon lab sessions will provide an opportunity to work hands-on with real data. Participants will learn and practice data handling, cleaning, and basic analysis of exposomics data.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be familiar with the following topics:

• Principles of exposomics
• Concept ideation and study design
• Laboratory methods and instrumentation platforms for analysis
• Data extraction and cleaning with emphasis on peaks and feature tables
• Pathway data analysis and identification databases
• Data visualization and network interpretation
• Study design advantages and pitfalls
• Emerging exposomic topics and laboratory platforms

Summer 2026: The Exposome Boot Camp is a live, in-person training taking place July 30-31 at the Columbia University Irving Medical Campus in NYC. All training start and end times are in EDT.

More information on travel, lodging, and getting around NYC.

Investigators at all career stages are welcome to attend, and we particularly encourage trainees and early-stage investigators to participate.

This training is designed to accommodate investigators with varying experience levels in R. Knowing R basics is beneficial to maximize training from the boot camp, but is not necessary for you to strongly engage with training material. Data labs will be offered during the training and are meant to accommodate both beginner and advanced data manipulation, with all material and additional resources available after the training. There are three requirements to attend this training:

1. Each participant must have an introductory background in statistics.
2. Each participant is required to have a personal laptop. If you would like to participate in the asynchronous, hands-on data labs offered by the Boot Camp, you will need to have R downloaded and installed as all lab sessions will be done on your personal laptop. R is available for free download and installation on Mac, PC, and Linux devices.  
3. The Boot Camp will provide lab tutorials with data sets in R, therefore we recommend participants have a basic understanding of this platform prior to attending the Boot Camp to get the most out of lab sessions. R knowledge is not required if you do not plan to participate in lab sessions. If you have not used this platform before, step through the tutorials outlined below so you have the basic skills needed for Boot Camp success.

As noted in the prerequisites above, knowing basic R platform and commands is recommended, but not required, to get the most out of the lab sessions. If you are new to R or need a refresher, review the below tutorials to be well-prepared for the labs:

• Download R: R is the free software programming language we will use. Choose the correct version for your laptop: Mac/Windows
• Download R studio: R studio is free software that will help us develop programs in R. Choose the correct version for your laptop: Mac/Windows
• How to Download R and R studio: A tutorial on how to download R and R Studio
• How to Install a Package in R studio: Steps to install a package in R studio
• Best tutorial for Boot Camp Prep: R Programming Tutorial - Learn the Basics: A free datalab.cc class on R fundamentals

If you have any specific questions about R and R studio in the context of the Exposome Boot Camp, please email us.

Summer 2026 instructing team is being finalized, but will be comparable to the 2025 lineup below.

Training Director: Gary Miller, PhD, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Vice Dean of Research Strategy and Innovation, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. Dr. Miller was the founding Director of the HERCULES Center at Emory University, the first exposome-based research center in the U.S. and authored the first book on the topic, The Exposome: A Primer published by Elsevier. His laboratory at Columbia focuses on environmental drivers of neurodegeneration, using several experimental models from cultured neurons and C. elegans to mice and human studies.

Doug Walker, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health at Emory University and adjunct Assistant Professor at Utrecht University.  At Emory University, Dr. Walker’s research focuses on continued development and application of advanced analytical strategies for measuring the occurrence, distribution and magnitude of previously unidentified environmental exposures and assisting in delineating the mechanisms underlying environment-related diseases in humans. The approaches he developed show it is possible to measure over 100,000 chemical signals that include exposure biomarkers, nutrients, dietary chemicals and associated biological response in a high-throughput and cost-effective manner, establishing a foundation for operationalizing the exposome framework for precision medicine. Ongoing research projects are now focused on using high-throughput exposome methods to establish disease-exposome atlases, and development of methods for measuring biomarkers of complex exposures of emerging concern, including microplastics, e-waste and polyfluorinated chemicals.

Randolph Singh, PhD, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. Randolph Singh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. His primary focus lies at the intersection of human health, environmental health, and analytical chemistry.

Rima Habre, ScD, USC Keck School of Medicine. Rima Habre, ScD is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Spatial Sciences at USC, with joint appointments in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine and the Dornsife Spatial Sciences Institute. Dr. Habre is a MPI of the Network for Exposomics in the United States (NEXUS) and co-leads the NEXUS Geospatial Hub. In addition, Dr. Habre leads the Exposure Sciences Research Program in the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center and the CLIMA Climate-Related Exposures, Adaptation, and Health Equity Center at USC. Her lab’s research focuses on advancing precision environmental health by developing state-of-the-art exposure science (or “exposomics”) methods and understanding the health effects of co-exposure to complex air pollution mixtures and social stressors across the life course.

Dean Jones, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, Emory University. Dean P. Jones, Ph.D. is Professor of Medicine (Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine) and Biochemistry (Adjunct) at Emory and Director of the Clinical Biomarkers Laboratory. Dr. Jones studies redox biology and medicine and has research programs in the areas of redox systems biology, clinical metabolomics and environmental health. His research uses a range of molecular and cell biology approaches, mass spectrometry-based proteomics and transgenic mouse models designed to understand redox mechanisms. The clinical metabolomics program involves multiple collaborations and uses ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry to understand nutritional, environmental, genetic and therapeutic aspects of disease. In recent years, he has also developed an exposome research program, building upon the metabolomics and mass spectrometry programs for affordable, high-throughput environmental chemical biomonitoring.

Krystal Pollitt, PhD, Yale School of Public Health. Krystal Pollitt, Ph.D, is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale School of Public Health. Dr. Pollitt’s research explores the human exposome through characterisation of environmental and biological samples using analytical and mass spectrometry (MS) techniques. Her group has developed various mass spectrometry (ICP-MS, LC-MS and GC-MS) to measure exposure to complex mixtures of trace elements and organic compounds. She has applied these exposure assessment methods in numerous epidemiological studies. Dr. Pollitt is a co- lead of  the Network for Exposomics in the United States (NEXUS) Chembio Hub.

Chirag Patel, PhD, Harvard Medical School. Chirag Patel,Ph.D is an associate Professor of Biomedical Informatic at  Harvard Medical School Blavatnik Institute Biomedical Informatics. Dr. Patel's long-term research goal is to address problems in human health and disease by developing computational and bioinformatics methods to reproducibly and efficiently reason over high-throughput data streams spanning molecules to populations. Patel's group aims to dissect inter-individual differences in human phenomes through strategies that integrate data sources that capture the comprehensive clinical experience (e.g., through the electronic medical record), the complex phenomena of environmental exposure (e.g., high-throughput measures of the exposome), and inherited genomic variation. Dr. Patel is an MPI of Network for Exposomics in the United States (NEXUS) and co-leads the NEXUS Data Science Hub.

Shuzhao Li, PhD, The Jackson Laboratory. Shuzhao Li, Ph.D is an Associate Professor at the Jackson Laboratory. Dr. Li’s research focuses on Metabolomics for precision medicine, ImmunoMetabolomics and multi-omics modeling of the immune system. His research combines experimental approaches with computational algorithms that identify pathway patterns and integrate chemical reactions and biology.

Yunjia Lai, PhD, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Yunjia Lai, Ph.D, is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Lai's work focuses on exposome analysis, microbiomics, and neurotoxicant-oriented toxicological research topics to elucidate the environmental drivers of neurodegeneration, including Parkinson's disease. She is also involved in the BCL Core Lab due to her background as analytical chemist and toxicologist and her extensive research experience in leveraging high-resolution mass spectrometry technologies for systems toxicological insights. She develops novel omics assays and informatics pipelines.

Vrinda Kalia, PhD, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Vrinda Kalia, Ph.D is an associate research scientist at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Kalia’s expertise is metabolomics, bioinformatics and statistical analysis. Her PhD dissertation work, supervised by Dr. Gary Miller, determined the metabolic consequences of proteotoxicity and exposure to the persistent pesticide DDT in Caenorhabditis elegans. During her postdoc, supervised by Dr. Andrea Baccarelli, she trained in the use of extracellular vesicles in EHS research and approaches to use an exposomic framework to discover environmental drivers of aging. She is currently working with Dr. Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou to discover the longitudinal effects of air pollution exposure on circulating metabolites and with Dr. Miller to uncover environmental chemicals associated with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Training scholarships are available for the Exposome Boot Camp.

"The Exposome Boot Camp allowed me to completely understand the definition of the exposome and helped me clarify certain doubts I had before. Also, I learned that the exposome is more than just the identification of small molecules but also the general/spatiotemporal and internal environment of each individual. The methodology/workflows and bioinformatic strategies were also very helpful to make the most of the data collected with spatiotemporal and omics instrumentation." - Graduate Research Assistant at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, 2025

"The course was very well designed for the two days. Breaking the first day into data generation, processing and the second day into more epi and biostats was a great touch." - Lead Research Specialist at Emory University, 2025

"The presentations and materials prepared by the session instructors were of outstanding quality, reflecting a high level of preparation and leaving a strong impression. I believe the pioneers of exposome research are highly credible, and I am confident that this field will play a pivotal role in addressing unmet needs and advancing our understanding of various diseases." - PhD Candidate at Yeungnam University, 2025

"This was a great introduction to the field of exposomics! The practical application of the methodology through labs helped to demystify how one might begin to engage in this field and collaborate with others." - Faculty Member at University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2024

"I came in knowing very little about the Exposome and was blown away! Faculty are extremely knowledgeable and helped me apply the technology to my project." - Faculty Member at University of Florida, 2024

"The Exposome Boot Camp provided access to solid experiential learning activities and lectures by leaders in this relatively nascent but rapidly growing field of exposure science. If you're interested in the field of exposure science and its relationship to understanding environmental health outcomes, I strongly recommend it." - Faculty Member at North Carolina State University, 2024

"Fantastic introductory overview of the theory and methods of exposomic research". - Assistant Professor, Keck School of Medicine, USC  2023

"The Exposome Boot Camp provides a great overview of the burgeoning field of exposomics and opportunities for hands on practice with key exposomic techniques. " - Assistant Professor, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, 2023

"This was a very thorough overview of the Exposome field, inclusive of what's been done and what needs to get done to advance the field. Not only did I learn a lot, I also feel better equipped to tackle questions related to the Exposome in my own work!" - Doctoral Student, Columbia University, 2023

Registration Fee is based on your category and includes course material, breakfast, and lunch on training days. Course material will be available to all attendees during and after the workshop. Lodging and transportation are not included. 

2026 Registration Category Rates: 

• ​​​Student/Postdoc/Trainee:
  • Early-bird rate: $1,195
  • Regular rate: $1,395
• Faculty/Academic Staff/Non-Profit Organizations/Government Agencies:
  • Early-bird rate: $1,395
  • Regular rate: $1,595
• Corporate/For-Profit Organizations:
  • Early-bird rate: $1,595
  • Regular rate: $1,795

$200 early-bird discount is automatically applied if you register before the May 15 deadline.  

• $200 Early-bird Discount: This is automatically applied if you register before the May 15 early-bird deadline.  

• 10% Columbia Discount: This is valid for any active student, postdoc, staff, or faculty at Columbia University. If paying by credit card, use your Columbia email address during the registration process to automatically have the discount applied. If paying by internal transfer within Columbia, see below.  

• 10% Mailman Alumni Discount: This is valid for any individual who graduated from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. To access the Mailman Alumni discount and receive a registration code, please email sharp_program@cumc.columbia.edu your graduation year and degree.  

• Group discounts are available for organizations sending 5+ participants. Please contact us directly at sharp_program@cumc.columbia.edu for more information.  

If paying by internal transfer within Columbia, submit this Columbia Internal Transfer Request form (link to form coming soon) to receive further instructions. Please note: filling out this form is not the same as registering for a training and does not guarantee a training seat.

If you would prefer to pay by invoice/check, please submit this Invoice Request form (link to form coming soon) to receive further instructions. Please note: filling out this form is not the same as registering for a training and does not guarantee a training seat.

Cancellation notices must be received via email at least 30 days prior to the training start date in order to receive a full refund, minus a $75 administrative fee. Cancellation notices received via email 14-29 days prior to the training will receive a 75% refund, minus a $75 administrative fee. Please email your cancellation notice to Columbia.Exposome@gmail.com. Due to workshop capacity and preparation, we regret that we are unable to refund registration fees for cancellations less than 14 days prior to the training.  

If you are unable to attend the training, we encourage you to send a substitute within the same registration category. Please inform us of the substitute via email at least one week prior to the training so we can include them on attendee communications, gather registration details, and provide materials. Should the substitute fall within a different registration category (e.g., you are a faculty member and they are a postdoc), the credit card on file will be credited/charged respectively. Please email substitute inquiries to Columbia.Exposome@gmail.com. In the event Columbia must cancel the event, your registration fee will be fully refunded.