Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) today announced it is sponsoring a
free scientific symposium on exposomics
and the etiology of disease. A panel of scientists from Duquesne
University, The Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh and The Heinz
Endowments will discuss analytical strategies for measuring how
environmental exposure impacts human health and chronic disease. The
half-day event, “Regional
Perspectives to Integrate Exposure and Exposome Measurement with Effects
on Human Health,” will be held Wednesday, Oct. 16, at Duquesne.
“The human exposome initiative is a fast-growing field of research that
has captured worldwide attention and is driving a new research
paradigm,” said Dr. Anthony Macherone, symposium co-host, senior
applications chemist for Agilent, and visiting scientist at Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine. “There is growing evidence that
70 to 90 percent of chronic human diseases result from exposure to
exogenous and endogenous chemical entities and are not directly
attributable to genetic origin.”
“Children in western Pennsylvania, for example, appear to be exposed to
more toxic chemicals than other children nationwide, and children with
autism may process these chemicals differently from other children,”
added co-host Dr. H.M. “Skip” Kingston, professor of analytical
chemistry at Duquesne and co-director of the University’s Agilent Center
of Excellence for Mass Spectrometry.
Dr. Kingston and co-researcher Dr. Scott Faber, a developmental
pediatrician, have examined environmental pollutants and autism in
children and will each conduct separate presentations at the Oct. 16
event.
With more than 20 years of experience in the fields of forensics,
biotechnology and drug discovery, Dr. Macherone has developed
specialized liquid and gas phase chromatography/mass spectrometry
techniques and other core laboratory methods for the identification and
quantification of chemicals in biological matrices.
“The exposome is comprised of an estimated 100,000 chemical entities
circulating in the human body that are outside of genetic control and
may offer insight into reducing exposure and developing pathways to
personalized medicine,” he said.
Also at the event, guest scientist Dr. Philip R. S. Johnson from The
Heinz Endowments will discuss air quality, health impacts and exposure
assessment in the Pittsburgh region. A team of Agilent scientists will
present current trends in exposomics and their multidisciplinary work in
the field.
“The nascent field of exposomics may provide some of the missing pieces
to help understand disease causality by offering an integrated view of
biochemical measurements for which Agilent provides a complete set of
analytical solutions,” said Leo Bonilla, Ph.D., Agilent’s market
director for Life Science Research/Integrated Biology.
To register for the event and view the complete symposium agenda,
abstracts and speaker biographies, visit Agilent’s Environmental
Exposure Science Symposium website.
About Agilent’s Integrated Biology Solutions
Agilent provides researchers with analytical products that span all four
major “omics” disciplines. These combined hardware/software and
informatics solutions are fueling the next generation of pathway-centric
multi-omics research and yielding valuable information about drug
responses, drug resistance, diagnostic markers, and fundamental
disease/toxicity pathways. For more information about Agilent’s complete
portfolio of integrated biology solutions, visit http://biology.chem.agilent.com.
About Duquesne University
Founded in 1878, Duquesne is consistently ranked among the nation’s top
Catholic research universities for its award-winning faculty and
tradition of academic excellence. Duquesne, a campus of more than 10,000
graduate and undergraduate students, has been nationally recognized for
its academic programs, community service and commitment to
sustainability. www.duq.edu.
Duquesne University media contacts: Rose Ravasio, (412) 396-6051, cell
(412) 818-0234; and Karen Ferrick-Roman, (412) 396-1154, cell (412)
736-1877.
For more information on The Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh, visit www.amazingkids.org.
For more information on The Heinz Endowments, visit www.heinz.org.
About Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is the world’s premier measurement
company and a technology leader in chemical analysis, life sciences,
diagnostics, electronics and communications. The company’s 20,500
employees serve customers in more than 100 countries. Agilent had
revenues of $6.9 billion in fiscal 2012. Information about Agilent is
available at www.agilent.com.
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Copyright Business Wire 2013