# The AESOP Study: Airborne Exposures to Semi-volatile Organic Pollutants

> **NIH NIH P42** · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · 2024 · $219,722

## Abstract

SUMMARY: Project 3 – The AESOP Study
The Iowa Superfund Research Program (ISRP) AESOP Study (Airborne Exposures to Semi-volatile Organic
Pollutants) is a community-based participatory research study that assesses inhalation and dietary exposures
to PCBs, PCB metabolites, and potential biomarkers among cohorts of adolescent children and their mothers
in three Midwest U.S. communities. We previously reported that although intentional production of PCBs as
legacy Superfund chemicals ended in the 1970s, production continues as building material byproducts. The
AESOP Study identifies the determinants of PCB exposures, including dietary intake and airborne exposure
levels indoors and outdoors. In the proposed new funding cycle, the AESOP Study will have an unparalleled
opportunity to characterize the role of personal inhalation exposures to PCBs at home and in schools for their
contribution to the exposure burden that could result in elevated risks for hormone disruption, metabolic
syndrome, and neurobehavioral outcomes. The Specific Aims are: Aim 1: Collect and analyze demographic,
residential, occupational, activity, dietary, and health data from AESOP Study participants. Aim 2: Characterize
personal exposures to PCB congeners among children and their mothers and apportion exposures to
inhalation and diet at the congener level. The study will analyze blood and urine for 209 PCBs and 74
metabolites as well as for biomarkers of thyroid hormone dysfunction, inflammation, and metabolic syndrome.
Aim 3: Assess adolescent children’s time-integrated personal exposure to airborne PCBs. Aim 4: Model PCB
congener exposures and body burdens; compare modeled and measured data. The study enjoys strong
community support garnered through our Community Advisory Boards working with AESOP Study staff and
the ISRP Community Engagement Core; this support will help facilitate these aims. The AESOP Study
employs bilingual community-based field staff and has enrolled and followed 381 subjects in racially and
ethnically diverse communities, providing new insights into airborne exposures and resulting body burdens.
The AESOP Study provides human samples and data to other projects within the ISRP, providing enhanced
relevance for those projects. De-identified data are widely shared with study participants, the scientific
community, and stakeholders at EPA and ATSDR. The AESOP Study has already changed the prevailing
views on how most Americans are exposed to PCBs. We have demonstrated that children have substantial
exposure to PCB congeners from inhalation at school; their blood shows enrichment with inhaled lower-
chlorinated congeners. This has important implications for children’s environmental health that the AESOP
Study will further elucidate during the next five years.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10767904
- **Project number:** 5P42ES013661-19
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
- **Principal Investigator:** Peter S Thorne
- **Activity code:** P42 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $219,722
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2006-05-12 → 2025-05-04

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10767904

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10767904, The AESOP Study: Airborne Exposures to Semi-volatile Organic Pollutants (5P42ES013661-19). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10767904. Licensed CC0.

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