Topic: Mass Spectrometry in Environmental Exposure Assessment: Advances, Applications, and Future Perspectives

Both genetic and environmental factors affect the risk of developing health risks. In addition to genetic factors, exposure to chemicals from the environment has been recognized to contribute to more than half of the risk for human diseases. Global Burden of Disease (GBD) project indicated that 84 environmental risk factors contributed to approximately 60% of deaths from 1990 to 2015 in 195 countries. Mass Spectrometry has been used as an essential tool in the investigation of environmental exposure. The strategies for qualitative/quantitative analysis and biomonitoring of environmental contaminants, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, phthalates, and heavy metals based on mass spectrometry have been reported in previous publications. In recent years, high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) has been proposed as a powerful technique for characterizing exogenous and endogenous chemicals in the human body. The chemical exposome analyzed by HRMS could be integrated with biostatistics and bioinformatics tools and elucidate the intricate relationship between environmental exposures and their impact on human health.

This Special Issue, entitled "Mass Spectrometry in Environmental Exposure Assessment: Advances, Applications, and Future Perspectives", will focus on collecting the advances, applications, and future perspectives about mass spectrometry in environmental exposure assessment. Various approaches and their applications of mass spectrometry in environmental exposure assessment are of particular interest. Potential topics include:
● Innovative approaches for human biomonitoring and human exposome analysis using mass spectrometry;
● Applications of mass spectrometry for the human biomonitoring of environmental exposures in specific areas;
● Assessment of environmental exposure in such as air, diet, or water using mass spectrometry;
● Advances in mass spectrometry-related analytical procedures to enhance the efficiency of environmental exposure assessment;
● Review of recent advances and applications in the mass spectrometry-based environmental exposure assessment.

We cordially invite all scholars and researchers in these fields to submit your contributions (i.e., original research papers, review articles, commentaries, and editorials) for publication in this Special Issue.

Mass spectrometry, environmental exposure assessment, biomonitoring, exposome

31 May 2024