Translational Studies on Smoking in Schizophrenia

这是NIDA K02独立调查员奖的重新提交。申请书建议在未来五年(2004-2009年)为候选人Tony P.George医学博士提供薪资支持。乔治博士目前是耶鲁大学医学院精神病学系六年级的助理教授。自1998年加入耶鲁大学教职以来，乔治博士制定了一项独特的研究计划，重点是了解尼古丁和烟草的使用对包括精神分裂症在内的严重精神障碍患者的认知和临床功能的影响。他在尼古丁和精神疾病领域建立了重要出版物、国家认可和独立资金支持的早期记录， 包括两个NARSAD青年研究员奖，耶鲁-VA MIRECC的试点研究和 NIDA资助的耶鲁跨学科烟草使用研究中心，多纳格医学研究基金会的赠款，以及NIDA的两笔R01赠款。R01拨款明确了他对吸烟和精神疾病的翻译关注，包括对精神分裂症患者吸烟和认知功能的人体实验室研究(DA-14039，工资20%的努力)，以及开发一种药物治疗，优化使用尼古丁贴片、安非他酮和非典型抗精神病药物的精神分裂症患者的戒烟策略(DA-13672；20%的努力，工资)。因此，获得K02奖将使他能够：1)继续在耶鲁发展他的独立研究项目，并从这些项目中解除R01资金支持他的工资的承诺；2)获得知识和专业知识 来自耶鲁大学和其他地方的资深同事的新技术对他来说并不熟悉，包括对新的神经心理学和心理生理学内表型的评估，人类分子遗传和生化药理学技术，以及用于戒烟临床试验的先进生物统计学方法。为了实现这些目标，他将组织一个正式的培训计划，包括教学指导、资深同事的指导以及在这些感兴趣的领域工作的合作者的实验室中的简要培训经验。最终，K02将支持两个新的综合项目，这两个项目将把神经认知、遗传和生化评估与精神分裂症患者的戒烟治疗反应联系起来。

This is a resubmission of a NIDA K02 Independent Investigator Award. The application proposes to provide the candidate, Tony P. George, M.D., with salary support over the next five years (2004-2009). Dr. George is currently an Assistant Professor in his sixth year on the psychiatry faculty at Yale University School of Medicine. Since joining the Yale faculty in 1998, Dr. George has developed a unique research program with a focus on understanding the effects of nicotine and tobacco use on cognitive and clinical function in patients with major psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia. He has established an early record of significant publications, national recognition, and independent funding support in the area of nicotine and mental illness, including two NARSAD Young Investigator Awards, pilot studies in the Yale-VA MIRECC and the NIDA-funded Yale Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center, a Donaghue Medical Research Foundation grant, and two R01 grants from NIDA. The R01 grants have defined his translational focus on smoking and mental illness, and include a human laboratory study of smoking and cognitive function in schizophrenia (DA-14039, 20% effort with salary), and the development of a pharmacological treatment optimizing strategy for smoking cessation in schizophrenic patients using nicotine patch, bupropion and atypical antipsychotic drugs (DA-13672; 20% effort with salary). Accordingly, the receipt of a K02 award would allow him to: 1) continue to develop his independent research program at Yale and relieve the commitment of R01 funds from these projects to support his salary, and; 2) acquire knowledge and expertise in novel techniques from senior colleagues at Yale and elsewhere that are unfamiliar to him, including assessment of novel neuropsychological and psychophysiological endophenotypes, human molecular genetic and biochemical pharmacology techniques, and advanced biostatistical methods for smoking cessation clinical trials. To achieve these goals, he will organize a formal training program consisting of didactic instruction, guidance from senior colleagues and brief training experiences in the laboratories of collaborators working in these areas of interest. Ultimately, this K02 would support two new and integrated projects that will correlate neurocognitive, genetic and biochemical assessments with smoking cessation treatment response in schizophrenic patients.