Research Projects

Each year, the ExposUM Institute funds research projects focused on the exposome. For each cycle, a priority theme is selected collectively by the Institute’s three councils: the Executive Committee (CoDir), the Research Guidance and Evaluation Council (COER), and the Scientific and Strategic Guidance Council (COSS).

Calls for proposals provide funding for two categories of research projects:

  • Standard Research Projects
    This category corresponds to the standard project format that provides funding for personnel and operating expenses necessary to produce original results that can be commercialized or published.
    Maximum funding amount and duration:250 k€ over 2 years.
  • Exploratory Research Projects
    These projects are designed to launch exploratory and original research initiatives, test hypotheses and approaches that are not typically supported by standard calls for proposals, and produce preliminary results with a view to applying for more ambitious grants at a later stage.
    Funding and duration limits:50 k€ over 2 years.

The research projects are led by the research division of the ExposUM Institute.

Winning Projects

2025 campaign 

As it does every year, the AAPR focuses on a priority theme chosen collectively by the Institute’s three councils. For 2025, this theme was: “ Anticipating exposomic health risks.”

Standard Projects

FAMEXP

Title: Impact of the External and Internal Exposome on Pregnancy and Maternal-Fetal Complications in Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)

Acronym:FAMEXP

Project Leader: Yves-MariePERS

UMR:FHU REGENHAB 2 IRMB

POLLU-DEFECT

Title: Is exposure to pollutants during pregnancy a risk factor for birth defects?

Acronym: POLLU-DEFECT

Project Leader: Benoît TESSIER

UMR: IDESP

UnMUtE

Title: Unraveling and Modeling the Worsening of ASD Symptoms Following In Utero Exposure to Environmental Pollutant Residues

Acronym: UnMUtE

Project Leader: Karine LOULIER

UMR: INM

Wa3ve

Title: Workflow for Antibody-Based Analysis and Prediction of Virulence and Emergence

Acronym: Wa3ve

Project Leader: Antoine GROSS

UMR : IRIM

IMPACT-Gen

Title: The Impact of Reservoir Depletion on Plasmodium falciparum Genetic Diversity

Acronym: IMPACT-Gen

Project Leader: Antoine CLAESSENS

UMR: LPHI

EXALTOX

Title: Exposure to emerging algal toxins, with a focus on ciguatoxins in vulnerable marine ecosystems around the world: threats to human health, diversity and ecology of benthic toxic species, and risk assessment.

Acronym: EXALTOX

Project Leader: Alain LACAMPAGNE

UMR: PHYMEDEXP


RAMAC-One

Title: Antimicrobial Resistance and Street Drugs in Central Africa: A One-Health Approach

Acronym: RAMAC-One

Project Leader: Jérémy CAMPILLO

UMR: TRANSVIHMI

Exploratory projects

PExAR

Title: Exposure to Air Pollution and the Risk of Preeclampsia During Pregnancy: Current Status in France Over 6 Years (2018–2023)

Project acronym: PExAR

Project Leader: Sylvie BOUVIER

UMR: IDESP

COLOPIFAS

Title: Exposure to PFAS and Colorectal Cancer Metastasis

Acronym: COLOPIFAS

Project Leader: Audrey CASTET-NICOLAS

UMR: IRCM

Evaluation of the Effects of Environmental Pollutants (EPs) and Air Samples on the Pregnane X Receptor (PXR)-Mediated Mitogenic Activity of Colorectal and Hepatic Cancer Cells

Title: Evaluation of the Effects of Environmental Pollutants (EPs) and Air Samples on the Pregnane X Receptor (PXR)-Mediated Mitogenic Activity of Colorectal and Hepatic Cancer Cells

Project Leader: Philippe POURQUIER

UMR: IRCM

An Exposome-Driven Approach to Sustainable Aquaculture: Addressing Environmental Pollution and Health Risks in West Africa.

Title: An Exposome-Driven Approach to Sustainable Aquaculture: Addressing Environmental Pollution and Health Risks in West Africa.

Project Leader: Jean-Christophe AVARRE

UMR: ISEM

Urban-EXAM

Title: Exposure to Arboviruses in Urban Areas

Acronym: Urban-EXAM

Project Leader: Rodolphe HAMEL

UMR: MIVEGEC

CryptENVI

Title: Genetic diversity, resistance, virulence, and inflammation of Cryptococcus strains isolated from the environment

Project acronym: CryptENVI

Project leaders: Sébastien BERTOUT, Virginie BELLET, Pascal DRAKULOVSKI

UMR: TRANSVIHMI

2024 campaign 

As it does every year, the AAPR focuses on a priority theme selected collectively by the Institute’s three councils. For 2024, this theme was: “Exposome & Major Societal Challenges.”

Standard Projects

ACTS

Title: Animal Contribution to Schistosomiasis Transmission

Acronym: ACTS  

Project Leader: Richard GALINIER

UMR: IHPE

AEISTSA

Title: Environmental Quality, Social Inequality, and Autism Spectrum Disorder: Toward a Better Understanding of Socio-Environmental Inequalities During the Perinatal Period in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Acronym: AEISTSA  

Project Leader: Amaria BAGHDADLI

UMR: FHU Neur-Expo  

ARrbOCC

Title: Exploration of innovative approaches for ARBovirus detection in the Occitanie region.

Acronym: ARrbOCC  

Project Leader: Yannick SIMONIN

UMR: PCCEI

EAD

Title: Environmental Anomaly Detection and Health Impacts: Addressing PFAS Risks  

Acronym: EAD  

Project Leader: Pascal NEVEU

UMR: MISTEA  

ExpLoRA

Title: The Exposome and Gut Flora as Risk Factors for Rheumatoid Arthritis   

Acronym: ExpLoRA

Project Leader: Claire DAIEN

UMR: PhyMedExp  

MBUSTANI

Title: The Last Sip of the Mosquitoes in a Garden: Designing and Testing a Low-Tech Device

Acronym: MBUSTANI  

Project Leader: Christophe BOETE

UMR: ISEM  

PEACH

Title: Pathogen Exposure from Aquifers: An Interdisciplinary Health Case Study in Cambodia

Acronym:PEACH  

Project Leader: Sylvain MASSUEL

UMR: G-Eau  

PeRSee

Title: Pesticides, Replication Stress, and Cancer

Acronym: PeRSee  

Project Leader: Jérôme POLI 

UMR: IGH

ROTEXPO

Title: Rotavirus, Environmental Heterogeneity, and Zoonotic Exposure: Implications for Human Health  

Acronym: ROTEXPO

Project Leader: Stéphanie JACQUET

UMR: MIVEGEC  

THREATS

Title: Health and Food Security Risks Associated with Marine Aquaculture Practices and Their Influence on the Circulation of Antibiotic-Resistant Microorganisms and Pathogens in Floating Farm Socio-Ecosystems

Acronym: THREATS

Project Leader: Gwen PULLIAT

UMR: ARTDev  

Exploratory projects

AquaBiocontrol

Title: Aquaculture-Based Approaches for Schistosome Biocontrol in Madagascar  

Acronym: AquaBiocontrol  

Project Leader: Paula SENFF

UMR: ISEM  


AquaAMR

Project Title: Assessing exposome factors in aquatic environments for the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR)

Acronym: AquaAMR  

Project Leader: Julia MOUGIN 

UMR: IHPE

BLOODPOL

Title: Blood Characterization of Environmental Pollutants After Exercise in Different Air Quality Conditions: A Field Study  

Acronym: BLOODPOL  

Project Leader: François FAVIER

UMR: Euromov

ExpoViro

Title: Metagenomics: A Closer Look at Early-Life Exposure to Viruses

Acronym: ExpoViro  

Project Leader: Ilka ENGLEMANN

UMR: PCCEI  

NoiseHear

Title: Prolonged exposure to noise or combined exposure to noise and pollutants during pregnancy and hearing disorders in children

Acronym: NoiseHear

Project Leader: Jin WANG

UMR: INM

2023 campaign 

As it does every year, the call for research proposals (AAP-R) focuses on a priority theme chosen collectively by the Institute’s three councils: the Executive Committee (CoDir), the Research Guidance and Evaluation Council (COER), and the Scientific and Strategic Guidance Council (COSS). For this first year, the theme was: “Emerging Exposome”.

Standard Projects

ZAMBA

Title: Rapid Landscape Changes and Their Impact on Vectors and Zoonotic Pathogens in Wildlife, Humans, and Domestic Animals in the Megadiverse Pantanal and Cerrado Biomes of Brazil

Acronym: ZAMBA

Project Leader: Julio BENAVIDES

UMR: MIVEGEC

ROBOPUSA

Title: Rodent-Borne Diseases and Pesticide Use in Southeast Asia

Acronym: ROBOPUSA

Project Leader: Julien CLAUDE

Joint Research Unit: ISE-M

RoCoCity

Title: Rodent Control in the City: Health, Ecology, and (Re)exposure to Rodent-Borne Infectious Agents and Vectors

Acronym: RoCoCity

Project Leader: Gauthier DOBIGNY

UMR: CBGP

PMTfocus

Title: Focus on Persistent, Mobile, and Toxic Chemicals as Substances of Very High Concern: An Emerging Exposome from Resource and Drinking Waters to Humans

Acronym: PMTfocus

Project Leader: Elena GOMEZ

UMR: HSM

EXPOSAHR

Title: Towards a Better Understanding of the Emerging Chemical Exposome: Illuminating the Interplay Between Different Classes of Xenobiotics and the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor-Dependent Signaling Pathway

Acronym: EXPOSAHR

Project Leader: Jakub GRUSZCZYK

UMR: CBS

WATERISK


Title: The growing concern over emerging antibiotic resistance in public health-
s in aquatic environments: toward a genomic, phenotypic, and evolutionary-
-based proxy for exposure risk in a specific region

Acronym: WATERISK

Project Leader: Estelle JUMAS-BILAK

UMR: HSM

EXPOMITE

Title: Human exposure to bird-associated blood-feeding mites: ultimate and proximate causes of an emerging contrast between urban and rural environments

Acronym: EXPOMITE

Project Leader: Lise ROY

UMR: CEFE