UC Irvine Receives $9.3 Million
From National Institutes of Health to Establish Center to
Study Why People Take Up Smoking
UCI Is One of
Seven Institutions Participating in
Nationwide Study of Tobacco Addiction
Irvine, Calif., Nov. 16, 1999 -- UC Irvine's College of Medicine and School of Social Ecology have received a $9.3 million award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a center to research why people take up smoking.
UCI is one of seven research institutions across the country selected to participate in the largest study of tobacco addiction ever sponsored by the NIH. Research at UCI's Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center will explore the reasons people smoke and eventually may result in more effective programs to keep people from smoking or help them quit.
The initial phase of the study will take five years to complete.
NIH's National Cancer Institute and National Institute on Drug Abuse each contributed to the award, which marks the first time the NIH has ever established a comprehensive, long-range project that addresses tobacco use.
The UCI center is headed by Frances Leslie, professor of pharmacology in the College of Medicine, and Daniel Stokols, professor of urban and regional planning in the School of Social Ecology.
Each of the seven centers is responsible for a specific area of research. UCI scientists will concentrate on what contributes to smoking during adolescence and young adulthood. They will examine the roles of age, gender, genes and environment in determining what leads an individual to smoke. They also will develop a computer model that will assess the effectiveness of current treatments for curbing tobacco use.
"One of the most frustrating facts in health care today is that most anti-smoking programs do not work," Leslie said. "The research conducted at this unique center should give us more insight into why these programs fail to keep people from smoking and how they can be more effective."
Tobacco-related disease causes more than 450,000 deaths in the United States each year, including 170,000 from cancer, according to the NIH. In addition to causing heart disease, cancer and other health problems in adults, smoking has been shown to disrupt development of the nervous system in children. About 10 percent of American eighth-graders and up to 35 percent of high school seniors smoke; those figures are much higher in countries such as Russia and China, Leslie said.
At the UCI center, researchers will be collaborating on four major projects:
Leslie will be looking at the neurobiology of smoking behavior, investigating how hormones, neurotransmitters and other chemicals in the brain may be altered by exposure to nicotine and how genes that control the production of these brain chemicals may contribute to addiction.
Tammy Tengs, assistant professor of urban and regional planning in the School of Social Ecology, will develop a computer model to measure which anti-smoking programs may be most effective, and analyze how such factors as age, race, gender and geographic location contribute to the success or failure of these programs.
Larry Jamner and Carol Whalen, professors of psychology and social behavior in the School of Social Ecology, will investigate what moods and behaviors in adolescents and young adults lead to smoking. Their study will involve tracking about 100 high school and college students over four years.
Dr. Steven Potkin, a professor in the College of Medicine and director of UCI's Brain Imaging Center, will conduct Positron Emission Tomography (PET) brain scans to examine how nicotine activates the central nervous system.
In addition, Stokols will head a group examining how effectively the researchers from widely varied disciplines collaborate on tobacco-related projects, and Dr. Rodman Shankle, professor of cognitive sciences, will study ways in which computer data can be integrated into the center's research. Center researchers John Whiteley, professor of environmental analysis and design in the School of Social Ecology, and Jim Fallon, professor of anatomy and neurobiology in the College of Medicine, also will develop interdisciplinary education and training programs for students studying tobacco susceptibility and use and anti-smoking programs.
The new center will give UCI researchers opportunities to expand their ongoing explorations into the reasons people smoke and why tobacco is addictive.
Leslie has conducted research for several years on the influences of drug abuse, including tobacco, on brain development, and Stokols' research has concentrated on the effects of environmental stresses on people's health and behavior and the design of community health promotion programs.
"With the establishment of the new center, we hope this merger of academic disciplines will provide us with more insight on what combinations of chemicals in the brain contribute to smoking, and what role is played by social factors like gender, peer pressure and cultural issues," Stokols said.
"These findings will provide the foundation for developing new and more effective strategies to reduce tobacco use, especially among adolescents."
"We hope the research that will be conducted at UCI's tobacco research center in collaboration with the other six national centers not only will give us a better picture of why smoking is addictive, but also will provide information that can be used to create more effective public policy to discourage smoking," Leslie added.
Contact:
Andrew Porterfield
(949) 824-3969
amporter@uci.edu