Call for Proposal
Basic information of the Research Area
Molecular Mechanisms of Complex Environmental Exposures Shaping Present and Future Life [Exposome]
Research Supervisor
Toshikazu UshijimaPresident, Hoshi University
Strategic Objective
Organism–Environment Interactions: Elucidating the Interplay Between Organisms and the Exposome
Overview
This Research Area aims to elucidate, across multiple layers from molecules to ecosystems, the mechanisms underlying the complex and diverse interplay between organisms and their environments, the biological memory of environmental exposures, and their transgenerational inheritance, ultimately contributing to human health and environmental sustainability.
Organisms, including humans, are exposed to a wide variety of environmental factors throughout their lives, and these exposures continue to change over time. At the same time, it has become evident that some phenotypes cannot be explained by genomic information alone. Moreover, exposure to certain environmental factors can be biologically memorized over a lifetime and, in some cases, exert effects across generations. In this context, the concept of the exposome—defined as the totality of environmental exposures encountered by an organism throughout its life course—has emerged as a major and compelling challenge in the life sciences. In addition, it is increasingly important to deepen our understanding of how organisms, through their biological activities, influence the environment, and how these changes in turn modify the impacts of environmental factors on organisms.
Against this backdrop, advances in measurement technologies, information processing, and modeling approaches—including artificial intelligence—built upon a strong foundation of the life sciences, have opened a new era of exposome research. Leveraging the accumulation of research resources such as cohort studies, diverse databases, biobanks, and computational infrastructure, we can now begin to decipher the biological impacts of complex environmental factors and their interplay, which were previously difficult to characterize. Taking into account the scale, duration, and future potential of the Research Area, this program will support studies with novel perspectives on technologies for measuring environmental exposures and biological responses; elucidation of the significance of combined exposures and exposure timing; clarification of mechanisms underlying exposure memory and transgenerational inheritance in biological systems; and the construction of models aimed at health maintenance and disease prevention.
Research Area Advisors
| Manami Inoue | Dean & Professor, Graduate School of Public Health, St.Luke's International University |
|---|---|
| Yoichi Kamagata | Senior Researcher, Department of Life Sciences, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology |
| Akiko Satake | Professor, Faculty of Science, Kyushu University |
| Tatsuhiro Shibata | Professor, Laboratory of Molecular Medicine, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo |
| Takafumi Seto | Dearn & Professor, Institute of Science and Engineering, Kanazawa University |
| Makoto Tachibana | Professor, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, The University of Osaka |
| Takayuki Tohge | Professor, Division of Biological Science, Nara Institute of Science and Technology |
| Shinya Toyokuni | Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University |
| Koji Hase | Professor, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo / Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, Keio University |
| Atsushi Mochizuki | Professor, Institute for Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University |
Schedule of Selection Process
| Deadline for application | 2026/06/02 at 12:00 noon, Japan time |
|---|---|
| Document-based review | 2026/07/11 |
| JST will contact to the interviewees no later than | 2026/07/21 |
| Interview-based review（ONLINE） ※Interview date and time will be assigned by JST. |
2026/08/03, 04 |
Research Supervisor's Policy
Research Supervisor's Policy of this Research Area can be downloaded from below.