The goal of the Pilot Core is to galvanize research within and outside the Yale Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science (TCORS) and to allow investigators to develop preliminary evidence that would enable submission of highly competitive extramural funding applications. The 4 research components of the Yale TCORS focus on understanding the role of tobacco additives and modified risk tobacco products through behavioral, molecular, pharmacological, epidemiological, and economic sciences that involve humans (in clinical, economic, and epidemiological research) and animals (basic research). Projects funded by the Pilot Core will reflect and complement these goals. The Pilot Core will be responsible for review, funding, and oversight of up to 5 TCORS pilot projects per year that are relevant to the goals of the Yale TCORS of reducing the addiction to tobacco products, to the goals of the other TCORS sites, and to the regulatory needs ofthe FDA. Further, in conjunction with the Laboratory and Administrative Cores, the Pilot Core will facilitate the training of junior investigators in the Education and Training Core by providing them with funds to initiate independent research projects that are relevant to tobacco regulatory science. Researchers involved in this proposed TCORS at Yale University have an established history of conducting programs of multidisciplinary research in tobacco use. From 2000-2011, we led an NIH Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center (TTURC) focused on tobacco dependence and risk factors for treatment failure in order to ultimately develop new approaches for treatment. As part of this effort we successfully solicited and reviewed pilot projects, and supported funding for 33 pilot projects. Fifty-two publications and 14 NIH funded grants resulted from these pilots. Moreover, the TTURC and its pilot mechanism led to the creation and cohesiveness of the Center for Tobacco Use Research at Yale (CENTURY), a core group of more than 25 faculty members who focus on tobacco research (CENTURY website: http://centurv.vale.edu) and has further stimulated tobacco research and collaborations within and outside the Yale community. Thus, our previous experience demonstrates our ability to successfully accomplish the proposed activities.
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