Tracy Punshon, Ph.D., co-Leader of our SRP’s Trace Element Anaylysis Core (TEAC), gave a talk on “Complimentary Techniques: Laser Ablation ICP-MS and the new Biomedical National Elemental Imaging Resource at Dartmouth” at the July 28-29, 2021 CHESS 2030 meeting.
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Tracy Punshon and Pianpian Wu Present at Risk E-Learning Webinars
Tracy Punshon, Ph.D., co-Leader of our Trace Element Anaylysis Core (TEAC) and Pianpian Wu, Ph.D., Project 2 Trainee, presented as part of SRP’s Risk E-Learning Webinar series on “Enhancing Integration, Interoperability and Resuse of Data.” Dr. Punshon presented at the May 17 session on “Data Sharing Tools, Workflows, and Platforms” and Dr. Wu spoke at the June 1 session on “Geospatial Platforms for Anaylysis and Visualization Across Environmental Data.”
Brian Jackson Presents at American Chemical Society Webinar
Brian Jackson, Ph.D., co-Leader of our Trace Element Anaylsis Core (TEAC), presented at a May 13, 2021 webinar sponsored by the Chemical and Engineering News, American Chemical Society. His topic was “Advances and Applications of ICP-MS: Food and Environmental Applications.”
Nutrient-Toxic Element Mixtures and the Early Postnatal Gut Microbiome…
Dartmouth Superfund Program (SRP) researchers Brian Jackson and Margaret Karagas and Trainee Hannah Laue (lead author) are co-authors of the paper Nutrient-Toxic Element Mixtures and the Early Postnatal Gut Microbiome and in a United States Longitudinal Birth Cohort. The study concluded that “Early postnatal toxic and nutrient elemental exposures are associated with differences in the infant microbiome. Further research is needed to clarify the whether these alterations are a biomarker of exposure or if they have implications for child and lifelong health.” The paper was published in the journal Environment International.
Mercury Levels in Freshwater Fish: Estimating Concentration with Fish Length…
Dartmouth Superfund Research Program (SRP) researchers Celia Chen and Kate Buckman are co-authors of the paper Mercury Levels in Freshwater Fish: Estimating Concentration with Fish Length to Determine Exposures Through Fish Consumption. According to the paper, “…many studies only measure adults to characterize the health of locally fished populations, omitting information about how local fish bioaccumulate mercury relative to their growth. In this study, we sought to establish length: total mercury (THg) concentration relationships in juvenile and adult fish of four genera (sunfish, yellow perch, white perch, and killifish) across six freshwater pond systems of Nantucket Island to determine safe consumption sizes across species and environmental conditions.” the paper was published in the journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.
Mainers May Be Exposed to Excessive Levels of Arsenic
Tens of thousands of people in Maine may be exposed to very high levels of As (Arsenic) in their drinking water. In response, ME legislators are considering legislation “…that would help low-income Mainers get wells tested for the substance and require the state to consider lowering the currently acceptable contaminant level for arsenic in water provided by municipal systems.” More information.
NH Cancer Registry Data Informs NH Regulatory Change
Research from the Dartmouth Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program, supported by data from the New Hampshire (NH) State Cancer Registry, informed the passage of 2019 legislation which decreased the arsenic maximum contaminant level for public drinking water from 10 to 5 parts per billion in NH. House Bill 261, signed by Governor Sununu, will be effective July 2021. Read More.
Mary Lou Guerinot Profiled in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Dr. Mary Lou Guerinot, Dartmouth SRP researcher and Dartmouth Professor of Biological Sciences, is profiled in the January 13, 2020 
issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The profile of her career accompanies the publication of Dr. Guerinot’s recent paper, “The iron deficiency response in Arabidopsis thaliana requires the phosphorylated transcription factor URI.” According to the study, researchers have discovered a gene that controls the regulation of iron uptake in plants. This discovery could be important to increasing the iron potency of crops such as rice, wheat and cassava that form the staple diets of more than half the world’s population.
Dartmouth SRP Dragonfly Poster Session a Success
176 people attended the annual Poster Session for the Dartmouth 
Superfund Research Program’s Dragonfly Mercury Monitoring Project which was held on January 10, 2020 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. Students from Woodstock High School in VT and Stevens High School, Rivendell Academy and Pelham High School in NH presented excellent posters. The keynote speaker, Dr. Jennifer Brentrup, Postdoctoral Fellow at University of VT and Dartmouth College, spoke about her work sampling lakes to understand climate change. This community engagement effort puts mercury research into the hands of local 
high school students to educate them about mercury in our world and the importance of clear, data-based scientific research and communication to mitigate mercury risks. The Dragonfly Project is supported by the Dartmouth Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program and the Wellborn Ecology Fund. More event photos. More information about the Dragonfly Project.
Dragonfly Larvae Biosentinels of Mercury Bioaccumulation in Northeastern & Adirondack Lakes…
Dartmouth Superfund Research Program (SRP) researcher and director Celia Chen is co-author of the paper Dragonfly Larvae as Biosentinels of Hg Bioaccumulation in Northeastern and Adirondack Lakes: Relationships to Abiotic Factors. The study sampled lake water and dragonfly larvae in 74 northeastern US lakes that are part of the US EPA Long-Term Monitoring Network to examine whether Dragonfly larvae can serve as biosentinels for Mercury (Hg) in biota. The paper was published in the journal Ecotoxicology.