The Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) is soliciting applications for 2009, the program’s 18th annual funding cycle.

TRDRP’s mission is to support research on the prevention, causes, and treatment of tobacco-related disease and the reduction of the human and economic costs of tobacco use in California.

TRDRP funds research in all relevant scientific disciplines designed to improve tobacco control (i.e., public policies and programs for the prevention and cessation of tobacco use and nicotine addiction, and for reduction of exposure to secondhand smoke), and the prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of tobacco-related disease (i.e., cancer, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, pulmonary disease, and reproductive and other adverse health effects).

Approximately $12.5 million is expected to be available for new grants in 2009. Only applications screened as relevant to TRDRP’s mission will be considered for funding. All relevant applications, will compete for funding through peer review. A scientific merit score assigned by peer reviewers will be the primary factor in the funding decision.

Program Changes
TRDRP has made a number of significant changes, including the introduction of two new award mechanisms. Please read the descriptions in this Call carefully and contact TRDRP staff if you
have any questions.

• *California Research Awards will focus on California-specific research questions. These replace Research Project Awards. Caps of $510,000 direct costs over 3 years.Total direct costs are capped at $420,000; $510,000 for research involving human subjects. Maximum duration: 3 years.

• Exploratory/Developmental Research Awards are intended for gathering preliminary data or proof-of-principle (i.e., pilot projects) or conducting a research project within the specified limits of money and time (cap of $250,000 direct costs over 2 years). These are similar to NIH R21 awards. These subsume Innovative and Developmental Exploratory Awards (IDEAs), which will no longer be offered.

• Complementary research areas are not eligible for Exploratory/Developmental Research Awards. Proposals for Exploratory/Developmental Awards must address one of TRDRP’s primary research areas. In past years, Research Project Award proposals would be considered for funding, albeit with lower priority, if they addressed Complementary research areas.

• Postdoctoral Fellowship Award budget cap has been increased from $37,500 to $45,000 per year and the maximum duration from 2 to 3 years.

• Community-Academic Pilot Awards and School-Academic Pilot Awards budget cap has been increased from $75,000 to $250,000 and the maximum duration from 18 months to 2 years.

*Areas of inquiry not listed as primary research areas that are nonetheless relevant to TRDRP’s mission.

Eligibility
Institutions and Principal Investigators. Principal Investigators from California not-for-profit organizations are eligible for funding. Research undertaken with TRDRP funds must be conducted primarily in California. The Principal Investigator must conduct and supervise the research project directly and in person.

Relevance. All submitted applications will be screened for their direct relevance to tobacco use or tobacco-related disease. Proposed research that is not relevant will not undergo peer review for scientific merit. It is incumbent on the applicant to make a compelling case that the proposed work is directly relevant to the mission of TRDRP.

With regard to biomedical research, relevant proposals either address the etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, or treatment of a tobacco-related disease or investigate the impact of tobacco use or secondhand tobacco smoke exposure on disease. If a clear link between tobacco use and a disease is not well-established and accepted in the scientific literature, the investigator must propose an appropriate epidemiological or biological study to investigate a possible association. If the focus of a study (e.g., a molecule, pathway, or physiological mechanism) has not been shown in the scientific literature to be affected by tobacco use, the proposal must either provide preliminary data demonstrating such an effect or include experiments to examine this link as a first stage of the project. The latter will require a justification in support of the likelihood of an association with or causation by tobacco use or tobacco smoke components.

TRDRP reserves the right to return applications that do not fit the program’s relevance criterion. Investigators who are uncertain whether a project is relevant are strongly encouraged to contact the program’s research administrator most closely familiar with the proposed area of study.

Investigators from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups
TRDRP recognizes the value to science and society of increasing the number of investigators who are members of racial and ethnic groups underrepresented among tobacco-related researchers. Underrepresented racial and ethnic investigators are encouraged to submit applications.

Primary Research Areas
Since 2004, Research Project Award applications have been prioritized based on whether or not they addressed a Primary research area. In 2009, Research Project Awards will not be offered but this prioritization will apply to Exploratory/Developmental Research Awards. Only proposals addressing a Primary area will be eligible for funding. Proposals in Complementary areas (i.e., areas other than the Primary areas) will not be eligible for Exploratory/Developmental Research Awards.

Applications for the other award mechanisms are not limited to the Primary areas and will continue to be considered for funding in all areas relevant to tobacco-related disease and tobacco control:

Proposal Evaluation and Funding
Applications from eligible institutions and principal investigators that are judged relevant to this call will be assigned to a scientific peer review committee (i.e., study section). Each study section will be comprised of peer reviewers recruited from outside California specifically for their expertise in the scientific disciplines and topics of the proposed research projects.

The study sections will evaluate each proposal and assign it a scientific merit score on the scale used by the National Institutes of Health, where 1.0 is outstanding and 5.0 is acceptable. If a study section decides that an application is not competitive, they have the option of not assigning it a score. Such an application will not be considered further for funding.

TRDRP’s Scientific Advisory Committee will recommend proposals for funding to the University, which will make the final decisions. The committee will consider the scientific merit scores as the primary factor, along with available funds, relevance to TRDRP’s mission, and distribution of numbers and dollar amounts across all areas. Funding decisions will be announced in early June 2009.

TEROC Research Strategies
The Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee (TEROC) provides State oversight of TRDRP and other programs funded by the Health Education and Research Accounts of the Tobacco Tax and Health Protection Act of 1988 (Proposition 99). TEROC members are appointed by the Governor, the Legislature, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction. TRDRP encourages researchers in the relevant disciplines to consider submitting research proposals that address the research priorities in TEROC’s Master Plan. TEROC’s current Master Plan, “Confronting a Relentless Adversary: A Plan for Success. Toward a Tobacco-Free California, 2006-2008” includes defined objectives and strategies for research. The next Master Plan, for 2009-2011, is expected to be issued in early January. The current plan is accessible and the next one will be on TEROC’s Web site http://www.cdph.ca.gov/services/boards/teroc/.

Source of Funds
The Tobacco Tax and Health Protection Act (Proposition 99) was passed by California voters in 1988. The collected revenue is deposited into the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Surtax Fund consisting of six accounts, one of which is the Research Account. The Research Account is designated to receive 5% of the revenue to be used only for tobacco-related disease research. At the request of the California State Legislature, the University of California created TRDRP to administer an allocation from the Research Account to fund research on the prevention, causes, and treatment of tobacco-related diseases.

The collection of the surtax began on January 1, 1989. TRDRP was established in October, 1989 and the first grants were funded on July 1, 1990. 2009 marks the program’s 18th funding cycle. TRDRP has awarded more than 1,200 grants to more than 80 institutions across California for a total of almost $390 million.

Contact Information If you have questions about your potential application, the relevance of your research, the award mechanisms, program policies, or submission issues, you are urged to contact the appropriate research administrator directly:
Cardiovascular Disease and General Biomedical Sciences Kamlesh Asotra, Ph.D. (510) 287-3366 kamlesh.asotra@ucop.edu		Cancer and Pulmonary Disease M.F. Bowen, Ph.D. (510) 987-9811 mf.bowen@ucop.edu
Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nicotine Dependence, and Public Policy, Public Health, and Economics Phillip Gardiner, Dr.P.H. (510) 987-9853 phillip.gardiner@ucop.edu
Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program University of California—Office of the President 300 Lakeside Drive, 6th Floor Oakland, California 94612-3550 Phone: (510) 987-9870 Fax: (510) 835-4740 www.trdrp.org