In the first phase, researchers will test smoking-cessation techniques on 200 smokers between 14 and 20, an age when the brain is still developing. London said one focus is to understand why young people smoke, including whether depression or attention-deficit disorder contributes to the habit.
For the second phase, researchers will recruit 40 hard-core smokers, most of them from the first study group, as well as a control group of 40 nonsmokers, London said.
They will undergo functional MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans of their brains while they take psychological and personality tests.
The third phase will focus on animals. Researchers will administer liquid nicotine to adolescent and adult vervet monkeys, London said. The monkeys will undergo different behavioral tests and have PET (positron emission tomography) scans of their brains.
Eventually, six to 12 monkeys will be killed and their brains studied, Peccei said.
London, who has been at UCLA since 2001, hopes that the research will lead to a new understanding of how addiction works.
"It's very important to do animal studies," she said. "The animal studies are very focused on the effects of nicotine during development and the ability of the brain to do its work."
After the first attack on her house, London took the unusual step of standing up to the activists. She wrote an opinion piece for The Times contending that animal studies are a necessary part of research, saying it would "be immoral" to turn down the Philip Morris money and "decline an opportunity to increase our knowledge about addiction."
UCLA Chancellor Gene D. Block, a research scientist who generally uses mice for his own laboratory tests, defended London.
"All the evidence leads me to believe that the research supported by Philip Morris is independent research of high quality," the chancellor said. "Edythe London's program is celebrated. She is studying addiction, important issues, human issues, that have an enormous effect on people's lives."
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richard.paddock@latimes.com
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Philip Morris' grants
Tobacco company Philip Morris is sponsoring 23 tobacco-related research projects at seven University of California campuses. Here are the grants, by school, as of June 2007.
UCLA ...$7,674,604
UC Davis...$3,811,200
UC Berkeley...$2,066,867
UC San Diego...$1,537,813
UC Santa Barbara...$647,815
UC Irvine...$582,228
UC Riverside...$327,134
Total... $16,647,661
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Source: University of California
