Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Centers

The summary for the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Centers grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the National Institutes of Health, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Centers: The National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) invite center grant applications (P50) for Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Centers (TTURCs). The reissue of this RFA reflects recognition of the public health impact of tobacco use and the scientific need for integrative transdisciplinary research across the full spectrum of basic and applied research on tobacco use and control. Tobacco use control and addiction research spans diverse areas ranging from molecular biology, genetics, neuroscience and epidemiology to imaging, primary care, behavioral science, communication, health policy, biostatistics, economics and marketing. Collaborative research across disciplinary boundaries permits scientific exploration of the complex and interactive determinants of tobacco use. Transdisciplinarity is a process by which researchers work jointly using a shared conceptual framework that draws together discipline-specific theories, concepts, and approaches to address a common problem. A TTURC is required to have a minimum of three major research projects; must provide career development opportunities for new investigators and established investigators who wish to pursue active research careers in transdisciplinary tobacco use research; provide developmental funds for innovative pilot projects; and participate with other TTURCs on a regular basis to share information, assess scientific progress in the field, identify new research opportunities, and promote inter-TTURC collaborations to promote discovery and to resolve areas of scientific controversy. The use of shared methodologies between TTURCs will promote collection of comparable data across several lines of research and allow greater generalizability of results. The centers also are encouraged to form partnerships with industry, e.g., to advance medication development. Collaborations with NIH intramural programs also are encouraged. In addition, collaborations also should be considered with universities, public health agencies, and other organizations that have strong ties to minority communities with high smoking rates. Each TTURC and the "network" of TTURCs are expected to conduct research that will lead to major scientific advances in knowledge about tobacco use and its prevention and treatment. The centers funded by this initiative are expected to both broaden and integrate the expertise required to advance the science of tobacco use and control. Centers are expected to be creative, innovative, and involve investigators from a broad range of disciplines and perspectives. It is expected that the research will engage the appropriate range of transdisciplinary tools and approaches to allow significant advances to be made, and to translate research findings to the next step in utility and application. The purpose of the TTURCs is to facilitate a transdisciplinary approach to the full spectrum of basic and applied research on tobacco use, including: etiology of tobacco use and addiction (including the impact of advertising and marketing), prevention of tobacco use, the treatment of tobacco use and addiction, the identification of biomarkers of tobacco exposure, and the identification of genes related both to addiction and susceptibility to harm from tobacco. The translational nature of these research programs will inform public health efforts to reduce the disease burden of tobacco use.