Environmental Health Sciences Research Center

University of Iowa College of Public Health

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Core Facilities

Exposure Science Facility

Director: Patrick T. O’Shaughnessy, PhD
Occupational & Environmental Health

Analytical Chemistry Specialist: Hans- Joachim Lehmler, PhD
Occupational & Environmental Health

Aerosol Measurement Specialist: Thomas M. Peters, PhD
Occupational & Environmental Health

Computational Fluid Dynamics Specialist: Ching Long-Lin, PhD
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

The primary goal of the Exposure Science Facility (ESF) is to facilitate the research efforts of EHSRC investigators by providing a variety of unique services and equipment needed to understand the relationship between contaminants and other agents found in rural environments and their impact on human health. The ESF accomplishes this goal by offering EHSRC investigators:

  • Aid in research design, grant writing, and data analysis
  • A cost-effective exposure assessment instrumentation lending service,
  • Guidance on modeling and display of contaminants and affected populations,
  • Expertise in measuring individual environmental contaminants and complex mixtures

 

PDF Presentation about the Exposure Science Facility

 

Specific Aims:

Well-coordinated, interdisciplinary studies are essential for determining how to best protect and enhance the health of rural residents. These studies will necessarily involve research design; state-of-the-art instruments for measuring contaminant concentrations and multipollutant mixtures; methods for assessing typical time-weighted-average and extreme exposure levels; and statistical methods for evaluating data accrued. The ESF has been created to address these and other Center needs through the following specific aims:

  1. Enhance resources and expertise for modeling of airborne contaminants and exposure assessment;
  2. Support EHSRC thematic areas, pilot studies, and mentored Associate Members;
  3. Facilitate multidisciplinary research among EHSRC investigators
  4. Provide expertise, as well as facilitate interaction, in the continuum of exposure assessment and epidemiological investigation;
  5. Facilitate pre-doctoral, post-doctoral and Associate Member training.

Equipment

The ESF has a wide variety of instruments used to sample gases, vapors, aerosols and radon. Additional instruments used for sampling and analysis of organic dusts, microbes, endotoxins and glucans are jointly administered by this facility and the PTF. General categories of instruments, associated equipment, and software models available to Center investigators includes:

  • Aerosol measurement – particle counters, gravimetric samplers, size-distribution analyzers
  • Airflow calibrators and pressure sensors
  • Gas and air measurement – temperature, humidity, H2S, NH3, multi-gas meters
  • Radon measurement – continuous and passive monitors
  • Recording devices and computers – PCs, cameras, camcorders, dataloggers
  • Sampling pumps – personal and high-volume
  • Modeling software – MATLAB, AERMOD, FLUENT, ArcGIS
  • Refrigerators and freezers for sample storage.

Several instruments are available in the Analytical Toxicology and Biomonitoring Laboratory directed by Dr. Lehmler to analyze various chemical compounds in complex matrices, including water, food, air, blood and tissue samples.  These include:

  • Shimadzu high pressure-liquid chromatography system consisting of a DGU-14A degaser, LC-10ATvp liquid chromatograph, SIL-10ADvp auto injector, SCL-10Avp system controller, CTO-20AC column oven, SPD-10Avp UV-VIS detector and FRC-10A fraction collector. The instrument is operated with LabSolutions software installed on a dedicated personal computer.
  • Accelerated Solvent Extractor (ASE 200, Dionex) for the extraction of environmental contaminants from complex matrices.
  • Agilent Technologies 7890 gas chromatograph with 5975 single quadruple mass spectrometer, inert EI ion source, and a CombiPAL sampler with SPME capability and a SPME fiber conditioning station. The instrument is operated with Chemstation software installed on a dedicated, networked personal computer.
  • Agilent Technologies 6890N gas chromatograph with 5975 inert mass selective detector with EI or NCI ion sources, a micro electron capture detector and a Gerstel MPS MulitPurpose Sampler with SPME capability. The instrument is operated with Chemstation/Maestro software installed on a dedicated, networked personal computer.
  • Agilent Technologies 7890A gas chromatograph with two 7693A Autoinjectors, two inlets and two micro electron capture detectors. One of the inlets is a capillary S/SI inlet that allows large volume injections. The instrument is operated with Chemstation software installed on a dedicated, networked personal computer.
  • Agilent Technologies 6850 Network GC System equipped with a flame ionization detector. The instrument is operated with Chemstation software installed on a dedicated personal computer.
Pulmonary Toxicology Facility

Director: Peter S. Thorne, PhD
Occupational & Environmental Health

Exposure Generation Specialist: Patrick T. O’Shaughnessy, PhD
Occupational & Environmental Health

Biochemist: Nervana Metwali, PhD

Toxicologist: Andrea Adamcakova-Dodd, PhD

Neurobehavioral Testing: Hui Wang, PhD

The overarching goal of the Pulmonary Toxicology Facility (PTF) is to provide the facilities and expertise for investigators to enhance the productivity and quality of their pulmonary toxicology research and to assist them in exploring new investigative areas in asthma, pulmonary biology, inhalation toxicology, or aerosol science. In addition, investigators are supported with expertise and assays to evaluate exposures to rural airborne toxicants, asthma triggers and microorganism-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) such as endotoxin and fungal glucans. This facility provides assistance to test hypotheses regarding the pulmonary biology of asthma and other environmental lung diseases adopting an adverse outcomes approach, and the physicochemical properties and toxicologic effects of endotoxin, allergens, bioaerosols, engineered nanomaterials and airborne chemical toxicants. The work of the PTF is conducted applying the highest quality assurance standards and modern concepts of scientific rigor and transparency.

 

PDF Presentation about the Pulmonary Toxicology Facility

 

 

Specific Aims

The Specific Aims for the Pulmonary Toxicology Facility are to:

  1. Provide expertise and facilities for the use of animal models to elucidate adverse outcome pathways of xenobiotics or to test novel inhalation therapies;
  2. Design and perform inhalation exposure studies to groups of laboratory animals under rigidly controlled exposure conditions;
  3. Assess biomarkers and sensitive physiologic endpoints to identify biological response profiles, low-dose functional changes, and susceptibility factors;
  4. Provide high-content in vitro studies using pulmonary epithelial cells exposed at the air-liquid interface;
  5. Perform exposure assessment of endotoxins, glucans, allergens, and metagonomics of microbial communities in support of epidemiologic studies of environmental lung diseases; and
  6. Facilitate pre-doctoral, post-doctoral and Associate Member training.
Translational Research Support Core

Director: Alejandro Comellas, MD
Internal Medicine

Associate Director- Imaging: Eric A. Hoffman, PhD
Radiology

The overall goal of the Translational Research Support Core is:

  1. To facilitate translational findings bi-directionally along the spectrum from basic and/or clinical research to the applied or public health arenas.
  2. To encourage, support and enhance clinical and translational studies relevant to environmental health science.

PDF Presentation on Translational Research Support Core

 

Dr. Alejandro Comellas and Dr. Emma Stapleton

 

Part of the Translational Research Support Core is the Advanced Pulmonary Physiomic Imaging Laboratory (APPIL). This space has several resources that investigators can access. To find out more visit the APPIL website here. 

Dr. Hoffman standing next to a Dual Source Multiple Detector Computed Tomography Scanner. This machine is just one of the several instruments available for research use.

 

Specific Aims:

Aim 1)    Provide the infrastructure to carry out clinical and translational studies relevant to environmental health science.

  1. Recruit human subjects for clinical and translational studies relevant to environmental health science.
  2. Provide resources to assist in obtaining approval for the use of human subjects for clinical and translational studies relevant to environmental health science.
  3. Assess and monitor pulmonary and systemic physiologic responses.
  4. Obtain and process biologic samples.
  5. Assess and quantify radiographic manifestations of lung injury (airway and parenchymal) and response.

Aim 2)    Ensure that clinical and translational studies relevant to environmental health science are carried out safely and that subject confidentiality is maintained.
Aim 3)    Provide the infrastructure for training of young clinical/translational investigators with an interest in environmental health science.
Aim 4)    Enhance experience and support for EHSRC investigators who utilize the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS) and promote new multidisciplinary research collaborations.