CAsToR Bi-Monthly e-Announcements

View this email in your browser

CAsToR

e-Announcements

A Bi-MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER OF CASTOR HIGHLIGHTS, EVENTS & MORE

ISSUE II VOLUME VII November 13, 2025 U54 CA229974

CAsToR Investigators, Nargiz Travis and Dr. Jamie Hartmann-Boyce recently interviewed with the Guardian to discuss experts' concerns over the health effects of high-dose nicotine pouches as sales soar in UK

“Even more concerning is that in addition to the total nicotine content being high, they have a very high proportion of freebase nicotine, which facilitates faster delivery into the bloodstream. This makes them even more effective in delivering higher levels of nicotine compared to cigarettes.” — Nargiz Travis, MScPH (CAsToR Project Director, Georgetown University)
“A lot of the challenge in regulating in this space is recognising you have a reduced-risk product, but not a risk-free product. So how do we make sure it’s helping the people it can help, and isn’t harming the people who wouldn’t have otherwise used tobacco or nicotine?” — Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, DPhil (Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts - Amherst and Co-Lead, CAsToR Policy Analysis and Dissemination (PAD) Core)

View the Full Interview Here

CAsToR has over 80 investigators; to date we have published over 170 publications in many leading public health journals, discussing findings ranging from Sociodemographic Patterns of Tobacco Use to the Dynamics of Smoking and E-cigarettes Use Prevalence

Below are links to recent publications.
Please access the CAsToR Website for a more complete listing.

CAsToR Investigator, Dr. James Buskiewicz, et al, discuss the publication, "Longitudinal association of exclusive and dual use of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars with cigarette and cigar smoking cessation among U.S. adults - population assessment of tobacco and health study waves 1-5 (2013-2019)", recently published in Drug Alcohol Dependency.

The authors found that menthol cigarette and flavored cigar use, alone or in combination, was not associated with short-term cigarette and cigar smoking cessation.

View the Full Publication Here

CAsToR Investigator Dr. Luz Sanchez Romero presented a population simulation model for tobacco control, using an example from her work on developing a COPD Natural History Model on Thursday, October 9, 2025.

View the Webinar Presentation Here

View Dr. Durney's Featured Video Here

Through the CAsToR’s Career Enhancement Core (CEC), five Junior Investigators were funded for the 2025-2026 funding period, totaling $140,000.

To date, CAsToR has funded 32 pilot projects led by graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-stage investigators. Additional details regarding current and past pilot projects can be found on our CAsToR website here

The CAsToR Policy Analysis Dissemination (PAD) core released its second brief,

"FAQs: Addressin

g common misconceptions about systematic evidence reviews of tobacco control interventions."

The brief addresses common questions and corrects misconceptions about the research methods used in systematic reviews, with a focus on the standards used in Cochrane reviews on tobacco and nicotine.

View the Full Briefing Here

New NIH public access policy effective July 1, 2025

The 2024 NIH Public Access Policy (NIH PAP) took effect on July 1, 2025, replacing the existing 2008 Public Access Policy. The 2024 Policy applies to any NIH-funded Author Accepted Manuscript (final peer-reviewed manuscript) accepted for publication in a journal on or after July 1, 2025.

The updated policy requires that manuscripts be submitted to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication and made publicly available without embargo. This represents a change from the prior policy, which allowed for a 12-month embargo period before public availability.

Compliance with the policy can be achieved by either 1) a journal submitting the Final Published Article to PubMed Central on the grantee's behalf, or 2) the grantee submitting their Author Accepted Manuscript (final peer-reviewed manuscript) to PubMed Central manually.

Non-compliance will interrupt disbursements of NIH grant funds.

View the University of Michigan's Library Services, Frequently Asked Questions Guide Here

CAsToR hosted its Fall Virtual Happy Hour on October 27, 2025. We had a great time enjoying competitive games that challenged our knowledge of each other and the tobacco research environment.

Dr. Chris Cadham, Assistant Professor at the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research and the Division of Public Health Sciences, and Ke 'Vicky' Xu, Data Analyst at BC Cancer Institute, tied to win the one-of-a-kind CAsToR Digital Award Badge, designed by Evelyn Jimenez Mendoza!!!

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY!

Tobacco Regulatory Science Small Grant Program for New Investigators
(R03 Clinical Trial Optional)

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) aims to support new biomedical, behavioral, and social science investigators who are in the early stages of establishing independent careers in tobacco regulatory research. The R03 grant mechanism supports different types of projects, including pilot and feasibility studies, secondary analysis of existing data, small, self-contained research projects, development of research methodology, and development of new research technology. Applicants are encouraged to conduct projects that ultimately have the potential to inform regulations on tobacco product manufacturing, distribution, and marketing. Research projects must address one or more High-Priority Research Topic(s) related to the regulatory authority of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) as mandated by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA), Public Law 111-31.
Application due dates: November 18, 2025 and July 14, 2026. Letter of intent due 60 days prior to the application due date.