University of Iowa Engineering Professor Keri Hornbuckle was a key witness in a recent jury trial that led to an $857 million verdict against Monsanto, which manufactured toxic chemicals used for decades in schools and other buildings. The verdict brings attention to the risks of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, releasing gases that can cause cancer and other illnesses.

Promising research being conducted in the University of Iowa’s College of Engineering is raising the possibility for another use for corn: using bacteria through a bioremediation process to clean up toxic chemicals in sediments contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.