Product Evaluation and Manipulation Core (PEMC)

PROJECT SUMMARY – PRODUCT EVALUATION AND MANIPULATION CORE The goal of the Product Evaluation and Manipulation Core (PEMC) is to support and complement the human research conducted in the Projects (P1-P4) and pilot studies needed to inform the evidence base surrounding how the three nicotine dimensions (concentration, form, and isomer) affect tobacco product appeal, addictiveness, and toxicity. Our Center focuses on novel tobacco products that have a credible potential for harm reduction in established cigarette smokers or smokeless tobacco users. However, there are significant data gaps regarding key product characteristics and appeal to nonusers, which is concerning given their high prevalence of use and recent rapid increase in sales. The PEMC will generate product characterization data, which, in concert with P1-P4 results, will accomplish our Center’s objective: provide the evidence needed to clarify a pathway for meaningful harm reduction in established tobacco product use, while limiting the appeal of novel tobacco products for youth and adult never smokers. A firm understanding of tobacco product design characteristics, including chemical, physical, and bacterial properties, is central to the Industry’s Consumer Response Model. Therefore, the PEMC plays a critical role in our Center’s theme “Flipping the Script”: Using the Industry’s Nicotine Playbook to Maximize Public Health, as we endeavor to generate the data needed to fuel regulatory policies that maximize public health and not industry sales. The PEMC specific aims are to 1) Precisely manipulate the three nicotine dimensions in EC liquids to evaluate their effect on human behaviors, mainstream emissions, and cellular toxicity; and 2) Employ an array of physicochemical analytical methods to quantify nicotine dimensions, other ingredients, and contaminants, in tobacco products, and 3) harmful and potentially harmful constituents and other toxicants in their emissions. The PEMC will be led by Prof. Marielle Brinkman and Dr. Ahmad El Hellani, who have extensive experience manipulating and characterizing tobacco products to inform tobacco regulation in both Tobacco Regulatory Science Center and standalone grants. The OSU-TCORS PEMC proposes a varied set of physicochemical analytical capabilities, a successful track record in the manipulation of tobacco products to inform regulation, and a strong emphasis on qualifying all measurements with a robust quality control program.