Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 1-8, 1999

Volume 28, Number 11

Yale gets $10 million to study smoking

Researchers at the School of Medicine will examine why some smokers are resistant to current cessation treatments with a $10 million grant from The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The five-year grant is part of an $84 million initiative by the three organizations to create national Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Centers (TTURC) for studying tobacco use, as well as new ways to reduce its use and combat its consequences. Yale's new TTURC center, which consists of a multidisciplinary group of scientists conducting five major tobacco research projects, will be led by Stephanie S. O'Malley, as principal investigator.

"The goal of our center is to improve tobacco addiction treatment by studying why current treatments fail and developing new behavioral and drug treatments that address these factors," says O'Malley, professor of psychiatry and director of the division of substance abuse research at the medical school. "It is critically important that more effective smoking cessation treatments be developed, because most smokers try to quit only once every three to four years."

Despite trends that show declining smoking rates in the general population, rates are declining less in female smokers, those with depression and those who are heavy drinkers. The five Yale studies will focus on these often-overlooked segments of the smoking population.

"Given societal pressures against smoking, the majority of current smokers are either in the process of quitting or interested in stopping, but many find it difficult to quit and are treatment resistant," says Marina Picciotto, assistant professor of psychiatry and pharmacology. "In order to treat this group of smokers, we have to increase understanding of alcohol use and depression, which are known factors in treatment failure."

The center grant provides a rare opportunity to examine these risk factors across different disciplines, according to O'Malley. "In taking this approach, we believe that we will gain a more complete understanding of why these groups are at greater risk and how they can be more effectively treated," she says.

The five major projects use a range of methods to understand these issues from multiple perspectives, including animal models of nicotine dependence and molecular studies, human laboratory research, brain imaging techniques, and clinical trials.

In this respect, O'Malley says, the center has breadth in the tools and perspectives that will be applied to the research and depth in the center's focus on specific risk factors for treatment failure.

"This is pioneering medicine that can improve the way we think about and treat nicotine addiction," notes State Representative Pat Dillon (D-92), a member of Yale's TTURC Center community advisory group. "This is an exciting step forward for Yale and for public health."

In addition to the research projects, a key center objective is to interest new investigators in tobacco research. This will be accomplished through a variety of career development activities and funding for smaller pilot research projects.

The five major research projects funded by the grant include:

* A study on how the biological basis of depression, heavy alcohol use and female gender play a role in resistance to smoking cessation -- led by Picciotto.

* Research on why treatment-resistant smokers find it hard to quit smoking, which will focus on the effects of depression, heavy drinking and gender on behavioral, biochemical and endocrine responses that follow smoking cessation -- led by Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin, assistant professor of psychiatry.

* A project to increase understanding of why smoking cessation can lead to increases in depressive symptoms in some individuals who quit smoking by examining the brain systems that are known to be controlled by tobacco smoking and smoking cessation, using brain imaging techniques -- Robert B. Innis, professor of psychiatry and phamacology.

* A study that will build upon previous findings suggesting that the drug naltrexone, which is indicated for alcohol dependence, may also be effective for smoking cessation when combined with a nicotine patch -- led by O'Malley.

* Research comparing whether video and print messages that emphasize the benefits of quitting smoking are more effective than messages that emphasize the risk of not quitting, as a way of encouraging individuals who are trying to quit smoking -- led by Peter Salovey, professor of psychology.

-- By Karen Peart

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Yale gets $10 million to study smoking

Scientists offer their views on art in series

Divinity School honors washerwoman's legacy

'Hear Us' recalls influential words of six women

Yale President to be cited for community leadership

Study shows long-lasting effects of low-dose amphetamine use has long-lasting

Noted sports-world entrepreneur to visit as Gordon Grand Fellow

Support grant helps safeguard the Peabody's marine collection

Would-be advocates get lesson in fine art of lobbying

Robert Penn Warren Lecture to examine poet's observations about illness

Bridgeport school is now a showcase for Yale ideas

DMCA series will focus on high-tech projects in the arts

. . . In the News . . .

Campus Notes

Banding Together: A Photo Essay