Targeting Pollutants as Drivers of Chronic Disease
Many major chronic diseases in the US are labeled “idiopathic,” which is clinical shorthand for unknown causes of the disease. There has been limited attention on environmental factors that contribute to these diseases beyond lifestyle choices. Decades of research have indicated that anthropogenic chemicals such as air pollutants, pesticides, and heavy metals act as active agents of disease. Approximately 15% of the chronic disease burden in the U.S. is attributable to known pollutant exposures.
At the same time, there is a clear gap in funding, talent, and applied research focused on biotech applications that respond to the cumulative effects of exposures to pollutants.
The biology of pollutant exposure offers a window into the earliest phases of chronic illnesses. These exposures act as molecular probes that help us understand the damage to DNA, proteins, and cellular systems which contribute to disease onset. Yet this relationship remains underutilized by both biotech and major research institutions.
At Homeworld, Sarah Daniels led the Pollution Program to test how existing biotech tools could be used to measure and act on the biological effects of pollutant exposures. This builds on the longstanding vision from Daniel Goodwin, who helped shape the thesis and pushed for swift experimental validation. A key question arose during our roadmapping: Can biotechnology be used to detect and act on pollutant-driven damage before disease onset?
This grew into a compelling human health thesis that requires sustained focus beyond Homeworld’s scope, which led to the creation of Engineered Resilience as Homeworld’s first spinout.
The Thesis
Many chronic diseases are managed after symptoms appear. Even though earlier biological signals are presented, they are not routinely measured or acted on. Engineered Resilience focuses on identifying these signals in the context of exposures to pollutants and translating them into actionable biology, thereby increasing protection against these threats. If successful, this work could shift a meaningful share of chronic disease from downstream treatment to earlier intervention, improving millions of lives and avoiding trillions of dollars in healthcare costs over time. By focusing on human health as the fulcrum, pollution that is often treated as an externality becomes measurable and has solutions that carry a price tag. This can then be the lever to hold polluters accountable.
In the near term, the roadmap focuses on using advanced biotech platforms to detect early biological signals from pollutant exposures and transfer them to biopharma-relevant applications. Sarah will lead this field-building effort by advancing R&D through partnerships and new applications that explore molecular pathways which have been undervalued in biotech. The aim is to generate outputs, including biomarkers, molecular targets, and early-stage models, that improve understanding of chronic disease etiology and enable earlier intervention. Ultimately, the goal is to reduce the burden of chronic disease driven by pollutant exposures. Achieving this will require connecting practitioners across a fragmented solution space to building a cohesive pipeline that integrates complementary approaches, moving promising findings into real-world use.
What We’ve Built So Far
Over the past year, Sarah built the Pollution Program into a set of active projects, collaborations and field-building opportunities:
- The first-ever Target Product Profile for a diagnostic targeting an environmental contaminant, developed with Renaissance Philanthropy and Pahle India Foundation
- A proteomics project funded by the Center for Global Development to identify blood markers from early-life exposure to pollutants in collaboration with two exceptional teams; The Diagnostic Accelerator at Harvard’s Wyss Institute and the ELEMENT study across University of Southern California, University of Michigan, and the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico
- A community health pilot near the Moss Landing battery fire, generating rapid-response immunological signatures by single-cell sequencing in partnership with ImYoo, demonstrating first-of-a-kind data that can indicate health impacts after such an event
- The “Trends to Targets” workshop, convening biotech founders, environmental health scientists, clinicians, and funders to identify tractable research priorities, helping to shape the thesis
Turning Learnings into Action: The Release Series and White Paper
The culmination of learnings from the Pollution Program will be disseminated through a series of essays on the new website during Q2 of 2026, showcasing the inner workings of the impact model, thesis and research priorities:
- Release 1 — The Impact Model: The share of chronic disease attributable to environmental exposures, the R&D investments required for early intervention, and why these numbers remain largely invisible to the healthcare system.
- Release 2 — The Funding Gap: Why the space between NIH, EPA, and NSF has become a graveyard for translational science—and what kind of capital is needed to fill it.
- Release 3 — The Thesis: Defining “Engineered Resilience” and the four domains that must rotate toward a biotech-builder orientation: bench science, clinical translation, policy reform, and chemical defense.
- Release 4 — What Can We Do Today: Tractable research priorities and a model for identifying the problems most worth solving right now.
- Release 5 — The White Paper: The full thesis in long form.
Get Involved with Engineered Resilience
Even as Engineered Resilience becomes its own initiative, it will remain closely connected to the broader ecosystem that Homeworld convenes.There is significant work ahead. We encourage interested funders or builders/scientists to:
- Reach out to Sarah Daniels to explore partnerships and funding opportunities
- Subscribe to the Engineered Resilience newsletter to stay updated on upcoming releases
- Share the initiative with collaborators working on pollutant exposures or related biotech areas