The race for another round of tobacco money is on.

Some 120 biotech research teams have sent letters of intent to apply for grants from the Life Sciences Discovery Fund, which will disburse $18 million to $20 million from Washington state's tobacco settlement.

The full proposals are due October 24, the agency said in a statement.

The agency, which seeks to foster health care-related research in Washington state, will select a subset of applicants in January for a second round of review that will include interviews. Winners, selected from interviewed applicants, will be announced in April.