Erik Melen is a Professor of Pediatrics and Head of the Department of Clinical Sciences and Education, Södersjukhuset, Sweden. He is also a pediatric allergist at Sachs Children’s Hospital. My research projects aim to advance the understanding of the complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors involved in lung growth and respiratory and allergic diseases in children. The projects are primarily based on a Swedish birth cohort, BAMSE, which allows for the unique investigation of lung function and respiratory and allergic diseases in a large number of children up to adulthood. Detailed information about perinatal events and environmental exposures such as air pollution and tobacco smoke exposure from birth and onwards has been collected. Currently, we are also performing a targeted COVID-19 follow-up of the cohort. In our ongoing genetics projects, genome-wide approaches (GWAS, global methylation analyses, and RNA sequencing/microarray approaches) and detailed clinical and epidemiological data are primarily used. Extensive national and international collaboration is established (e.g., through the PERMEABLE, GABRIEL, EAGLE, and MeDALL projects). Recently, we have engaged in exposome-related research within the EXPANSE consortium. From this translational platform for advanced studies using clinical and epidemiological data sets, we are performing projects that will generate exciting new information in areas that have been little explored so far. For example, the long-term consequence of preterm birth on lung function in young adulthood, identifying subgroups of the population that are particularly vulnerable to air pollution exposures and clarifying new genetic mechanisms for disease development.