More than 140 scientists, clinicians, trainees, and public health leaders from 20 countries gathered in Bordeaux, France, June 17–19, 2026, for the 2026 Global Exposome Symposium for Brain Health. This premier international meeting focused on advancing research into how environmental exposures across the lifespan shape the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD).
Hosted by the Mount Sinai Institute for Exposomic Research, the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the University of Bordeaux, and INSERM, the symposium marked the 11th Exposome Symposium organized by Mount Sinai since 2018, and the first to be held in France. The meeting was further supported by the collective expertise of partners at EIRENE, IHEN, NEXUS, GECC, the Latin American and Caribbean Exposome Network, and the Global Exposome Forum.
Over three days, the event brought together leaders in environmental health, neurology, geriatrics, epidemiology, toxicology, public health, and computational biology to explore how exposomic science is transforming our understanding of brain health. Through keynote lectures, scientific presentations, panel discussions, workshops, and poster sessions, participants examined the latest research aimed at understanding—and ultimately preventing—neurodegenerative diseases.
A Meeting Focused on the Future of Brain Health
The scientific program highlighted the remarkable progress made in exposomics over the past two decades while outlining an ambitious vision for the future. Keynote speakers reflected on the evolution of the exposome concept and emphasized the need to move beyond studying individual environmental risk factors toward measuring the full range of environmental influences experienced throughout life.
Presentations demonstrated how environmental exposures beginning before birth—and continuing through childhood, adulthood, and older age—may contribute to cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disease. Key sessions explored:
- Developmental origins of Alzheimer’s disease
- Nutrition and its direct link to cognition
- Sleep architecture and neurodegeneration
- Environmental mixtures and pregnancy exposures
- The microbiome-gut-brain axis
Innovative Technologies Driving the Field
Researchers showcased cutting-edge technologies that are rapidly transforming exposomic research:
- High-resolution metabolomics and untargeted chemical analysis.
- Wearable sensors and geospatial exposure modeling.
- Exposome-wide association studies (EWAS) powered by artificial intelligence and advanced computational tools.
Throughout the meeting, speakers emphasized that these advances are moving the science closer to precision prevention—using biomarkers, molecular signatures, and predictive risk models to identify individuals at elevated risk for Alzheimer’s disease years before symptoms appear, creating vital new windows for early intervention.
Supporting the Next Generation of Scientists
A defining feature of the symposium was its deep investment in early-career investigators. Through NIH-supported travel awards, 15 trainees and junior faculty representing eight countries across Europe, the Middle East, North America, and South America presented their work in poster sessions, connecting directly with international leaders and building collaborations that will extend well beyond this meeting.
The symposium featured 50 scientific posters, highlighting cutting-edge research spanning environmental epidemiology, aging, biomarker discovery, and artificial intelligence.
Poster Award Winners
| Award | Name | Project Title |
| First Place | Chenshuang Li, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health | Exposome-Wide Association Study and Predictive Risk Score for Incident Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias |
| Second Place | Ima Bernada PhD Student, INSERM Bordeaux Population Health | Mapping Diet-Metabolome Relationships with Network Methods in Relation to Subsequent Cognitive Decline in Older Adults |
| Third Place | Annika Opperbeck, MSc, RN Doctoral Researcher, University of Jyväskylä, Finland | Exploring the Exposome and the Unexplained Variance in Biological Ageing – Insights from a Genetically Controlled Twin Study in Adolescence and Early Adulthood |
Building a Global Exposome Community
Beyond the scientific program, the symposium created fertile ground for researchers across disciplines and continents to forge new partnerships.
The meeting concluded with a forward-looking session focused on advancing a Global Human Exposome Project. This initiative brought together leaders from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and international research networks to discuss opportunities for harmonizing data, strengthening regional partnerships, and accelerating discoveries through collaborative science.
The discussions underscored a shared vision: addressing complex diseases like Alzheimer’s will require coordinated, highly localized, and internationally unified efforts spanning environmental health, clinical medicine, computational science, and public health.
Global Vision, Regional Impact
One of the central goals of this symposium series is to build scientific capacity and foster collaboration at the local, regional, and global levels by bringing together leaders in exposomics with researchers, practitioners, and clinicians in Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegeneration. At the same time, major initiatives including NEXUS, EIRENE, IHEN, GECC, and the Global Exposome Forum, are creating tremendous momentum across the field. Our next challenge is to ensure that these efforts are coordinated and complementary by clarifying their respective roles, sharing knowledge and infrastructure, harmonizing approaches where appropriate, and working together to expand our collective impact rather than duplicate effort.
The environmental factors that influence brain health—ranging from climate, diet, and industrial pollutants to social determinants and healthcare infrastructure—vary drastically across the globe. The location for this year’s symposium in Europe reflects a core, founding philosophy of these meetings: we gather regionally to engage regionally. By rotating our symposia to different regional hubs, we are able to ground our global scientific framework in local realities, directly engage regional communities and researchers, and better understand the unique exposomic topics specific to each geography. Previous meetings have been held in Chile, Japan, Mexico, Italy and in the US. Future meetings will be held in Morocco (2027) and Australia (2028).
To extend the impact of the symposium beyond Bordeaux, presentations were livestreamed with more than 300 viewers, recordings are available through the symposium YouTube playlist, and the complete symposium booklet—including the scientific agenda and all 50 poster abstracts—is available online.
Looking Ahead
The momentum will continue from May 24-27, 2027, when the next ADRD/Exposome Symposium convenes in Benguerir, Morocco. We hope to see you there.
Acknowledgments
This event is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH): Grant #R13AG087672, #P30AG028741, #P01AG066605, and #U24AG088894 from the National Institute on Aging (NIA); Grant #P30ES023515 and #U24ES036819 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS); Grant #UL1TR004419 from the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program under the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).
Additional support provided by LinusBio.