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RE: "CURRENT CHALLENGES AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR GENE-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION STUDIES OF COMPLEX DISEASES".

The recent article by McAllister et al. (1) highlighted some of the challenges involved in conducting epidemiologic geneenvironment studies of complex diseases, such as cancer. There is a clear need for innovative technologies with which to reliably measure exposures on a population level. Ideally, such technologies would be low-cost, user-friendly, amenable to highthroughput analyses, and suitable for measuring exposures in biospecimens that are easy to acquire in a noninvasive or minimally invasive manner. Technologies geared towards detecting specific exposures include activity monitors, biomarkers of exposure, biological response trackers, biological and chemical sensors, and targeted or untargeted metabolomics, amongmany others. Other technologies are geared toward agnostic discoverybased exposure assessments. New technologies are needed to enable further incorporation of exposures into human population studies. As the authors state, “[S]tudies may focus on measurements to capture internal versus external exposure, earlymarkers of disease, or an ultimate biological response” (1, p. 755). To do so, investigators will need innovative technologies. Establishment of partnerships between technology developers and epidemiologists is crucial for moving the gene-environment field forward. The National Cancer Institute hopes to encourage such partnerships through efforts such as the Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) program (2). IMAT was established by the National Cancer Institute to support the development, technical maturation, and validation of novel and potentially transformative next-generation technologies. In support of its mission, the IMAT program utilizes a variety of investigator-initiated research project grant mechanisms, with a strong commitment to addressing diversity and training of scientists in cross-cutting, research-enabling disciplines. Recently, IMAT administrators created a new series of funding opportunities to accelerate the uptake of new technologies by supplementing and enhancing current R01, P01, U01, P50, and U54 grants (3–7). Investigators looking for new exposure, molecular, cellular, and histopathological analysis technologies with which to accelerate their cancer epidemiology studies can begin by perusing the list of grants funded by the IMAT program (2). They can look through the list of funded IMAT grants to find new and emerging technologies that may be appropriate for conducting studies in cancer epidemiology and identify technology developers for potential collaboration. IMAT opportunities are not limited to exposure assessment but also include the development of molecular analysis technologies supporting epigenetics, genomics, transcriptomics, and biospecimen procurement and preservation. Technologies applicable to cancer etiology and epidemiology, the early detection of cancer and risk assessment, and cancer screening are just some of the areas of interest for IMAT (see reference 2 for a longer list of IMAT interest areas and the scope of supported technologies). Additionally, the IMAT program continues to offer early-stage technology development research grants to support the development of the tools required (8–11). Bringing together epidemiologists and technology developers will help to advance the field of gene-environment research by fostering the development of innovative exposure assessment technologies suitable for population-level studies.