Who We Are
The Iowa Superfund Research Program (ISRP) works with communities, government partners, and other Superfund Research Programs to address public health problems associated with Superfund chemicals.
Supported with funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, ISRP is a highly integrated center comprising 18 scientists and engineers, 10 staff members, and 21 trainees. Our multi-disciplinary approach allows us to answer key questions such as the following:
- 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?
ISRP's five research projects are supported by six program and research support cores. The program, which began in 2006, is directed by Dr. Keri Hornbuckle.
PCB Research
Sources
The ISRP is 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.
Toxicities
The ISRP's elucidation of metabolic pathways involved in toxification mechanisms aids in understanding targets and levels of pollutants that cause adverse health effects.
Exposure
The ISRP has demonstrated that inhalation is an important route of exposure to PCBs and has discovered which congeners dominate exposure.
Remediation
The ISRP is striving to understand the mechanisms whereby plants and associated rhizosphere bacteria may provide bioremediation of lower chlorinated PCBs from contaminated soils and sediments.
Our 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 account 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).
