Home | Iowa Superfund Research Program

Sources

The ISRP has been a leader in finding sources of airborne PCBs-whether it be from outdoor sources such as hazardous waste sites or contaminated waterways or indoor sources such as light ballasts, caulking, kitchen cabinets, or paint. (Picture of Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal courtesy of Lloyd Degrane and Great Lakes Echo).

Getting PCBs Out of Schools Explained (in 3 Minutes)

ISRP trainee Moala Keshei wins the 2020 University of Iowa Graduate College's Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. The 3MT competition challenges graduate students to clearly and concisely... Read more

Passive Samplers Tackle PCB Flux

Project 4 researchers have developed a method to measure the movement, or flux, of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from water to air using passive sampling devices.The team, led by Andres Martinez,... Read more

Releasing Our Data

ISRP investigators and the Research Translation Core began placing complete environmental data sets in public data repositories and journals. We have created a list by topic area. Airborne PCBs... Read more

Project 6 Outreach in East Chicago

Project 6 Leader Dr. Peter Thorne, staff member Barb Mendenhall, and trainees Ezazul Haque and Tuo Lan attended an EPA meeting in East Chicago, Indiana on April 6, 2019. The EPA debriefed East... Read more

Human Metabolism of PCBs to OH-PCBs in Human Liver Cells

ISRP trainee Eric Uwimana and colleagues from ISRP Synthesis Core, Project 1 and Project 3 investigated the biotransformation of PCB 91 to OH-PCBs by human liver microsomes (HLMs) Human liver... Read more

PCBs Found in Kitchen Cabinets

In a study released in Environmental Science & Technology, Dr. Keri Hornbuckle and trainees Jacob Jahnke and Nick Herkert discovered that kitchen cabinets built within the last five years emit... Read more

PUF Sampling Rates for Any Place in the World

The Research Translation Core released the first in a series of web-based applications designed to transfer ISRP research methods and data to researchers, regulators, government, the general public,... Read more

Isrp Assists in the Community Reporting of Air PCBs

The Iowa Superfund Research Program, the Boston University Superfund Program (BUSRP), and three community groups formed a partnership of five project leaders to measure the amount of airborne PCBs in... Read more

New Study on PCBs in Schools

Isrp researchers Dr. Keri Hornbuckle and Dr. Peter Thorne were interviewed by numerous newspapers and National Public Radio after the release of their findings of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in... Read more

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Who We Are

Supported with funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Iowa Superfund Research Program is a highly integrated Center comprised of 22 scientists and engineers, 10 staff, and 25 trainees.

Working with communities, government partners, and other Superfund Research Programs we bring a broad range of expertise to bear on public health problems associated with Superfund chemicals. The multi-disciplinary approach allows to answer key questions, such as:

Where are the sources of airborne PCBs?
What are the levels of human exposures to these types of PCBs?
What are the potential roles of metabolism in biological responses to airborne PCBs?
What are the human health effects?
How can we remediate PCB contaminated sites?

The program started in 2006 and is directed by Dr. Keri Hornbuckle.

Data

The Iowa Superfund Research Program (ISRP) is committed to making its data, methods, and technologies available to communities, researchers, and policy makers.

Examples include placing complete environmental data sets in public data repositories and on the NIEHS Iowa Superfund Research Program website.

We have created a web-based application to provide information on environmental pollutants. It can accurately predict the sampling volume of passive air samplers deployed anywhere in the world.

Our twitter site shares isrp publications, findings, and data.

The ISRP is partnering with data managers and data analysts from the University of Iowa Library to make data more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR).