Rising stars of research

With a range of backgrounds and expertise, these young researchers are funded by the BHF to do pioneering work that could make huge advances in heart health.

Looking to the future

All these young men and women have been funded through the BHF’s initiative to support heart research and attract the next generation of scientists who may make tomorrow’s breakthroughs. The unique scheme has created four BHF Centres of Research Excellence which use the charity’s investment to jump-start innovative research projects, attract and retain elite young doctors and scientists into heart research, and forge new research partnerships between experts from different fields. The centres are based at Oxford University, Edinburgh University, Imperial College, London and Kings College, London.

None of these scientists’ research requires volunteer patients taking part in trials.

• Elizabeth Gardner, 30, biophysical chemist, Imperial College, London, researching biomarkers
• Lizzie Skinner, 24, molecular biologist, Edinburgh University, researching atherosclerosis
• Gemma White, 29, biologist, Oxford University, researching atherosclerosis
• Chris Cantwell, 28, applied mathematician, Imperial College, London, working on atrial fibrillation
• Mariola Zaleska, 25, biochemist, Kings College, London, researching cardiac hypertrophy
• Ignat Drozdov, 26, systems biologist, Kings College, London, researching thickening of heart muscle
• Jonathan Emberson, 34, medical statistician, Oxford University, working on drug trial results

Elizabeth Gardner, 30, biophysical chemist, Imperial College, London, researching biomarkers

“I guess it was inevitable I’d want to carry on doing science after I left school,” says Elizabeth, whose childhood in Cheshire was filled with doing fun experiments with her father, also a scientist. At Halloween he’d create smoke and she and her sister would make crystals in the microwave which, she says, used to annoy her mother.

With a PhD already under her belt, she’s now working in a laser lab at Imperial College, London. This means being in the dark all day working on huge pieces of technical equipment with other scientists.
“I’m building and developing instruments for identifying proteins and seeing how they interact with each other. We want to be able to identify proteins that can indicate if a person is at risk of disease. They are called biomarkers and can alert doctors to problems before a patient even has symptoms,” she says.

I’m always happiest in the lab.

“You can lose yourself in your work in the lab because there’s no natural light so you don’t know what time of day it is.

“A lot of the time, it’s very frustrating work because things aren’t developing quite the way you want them to. But it just makes you work harder, trying to get it right. I’m always happiest in the lab.”

Lizzie Skinner, 24, molecular biologist, Edinburgh University, researching atherosclerosis

Lizzie's research would not have been possible, even five years ago, because she's using cutting-edge technology.

She's working with cells that have been produced in a new and exciting way: derived from skin cells, not embryos - a method devised in Japan, only in 2006.

Some of her cells originate from the skin of healthy people and some from people who have atherosclerosis – the building up of fatty plaque in coronary artery walls.

“I'm interested in finding out if there are genetic causes for atherosclerosis,” says PhD student Lizzie, “so I need to see if there's a genetic difference between cells grown from healthy people and from people with atherosclerosis.” She hopes by comparing the two, she can identify if some people's blood vessel walls are genetically prone to gathering plaque and causing atherosclerosis. “So you can see my work is centred on the very start of heart disease,” she says.

“I love the fact this technology is so new and that I will be collaborating with people in the USA on my work,” says Lizzie. “I'm also quite excited to be working in the same building as the man behind Dolly the sheep.”

Gemma White, 29, biologist, Oxford University, researching atherosclerosis

Fascinated from an early age about how things work, Gemma, who’s originally from Leicestershire, had spent a summer holiday in a science laboratory even before she went to university.  Now, with her PhD behind her, she works in a lab at Oxford University’s Sir William Dunn School of Pathology.

“What I love about science research,” she says, “is knowing that whatever you do, no-one has done it before, which is quite a good feeling.”

Her research will benefit people with coronary heart disease because she is looking at atherosclerosis – the building up of fatty plaque in coronary artery walls.

What I love about science research is knowing that whatever you do, no-one has done it before.

“I’m interested in the chemical ‘signposts’ that direct cells around the body,” she says. “When cells are directed to the walls of coronary arteries walls they accumulate and plaque forms, narrowing the arteries and restricting the supply of blood and oxygen to the heart muscle. To put it very simply, I’m working on covering up these chemical signposts, or chemokines as they’re called, but there are 40-50 different types of them.

“Our ultimate aim is to get the chemokines to redirect cells, which have already accumulated, back out of the artery walls. This would reverse the creation of plaque, thus improving the flow of blood to the heart.”

In studies of how chemokines work, Gemma is also one of the first academic researchers in the UK to take advantage of new technology provided by the Roche xCelligence machine. Until recently such machines were only in the hands of private drug companies who used them in the screening of new medicines. But by using their BHF-funded Roche xCelligence for a different purpose, Gemma and her team are hoping that they can make medical advances that could ultimately help people living with heart disease.

Chris Cantwell, 28, applied mathematician, Imperial College, London, working on treatment for atrial fibrillation

“I have zero medical background,” says Chris, who has brought his mathematical and computing expertise into the world of cardiology.

He is trying to develop computer simulations that can help cardiologists treating patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) so they know exactly where to ablate.

He explains: “Some people with AF may be successfully treated with pulmonary vein isolation. But for others, their AF is due to electrical activity somewhere else in the heart. With these patients, it is very hard for doctors to pinpoint exactly where to ablate.

“We're hoping to provide patient-specific computer models to give doctors much-needed information about the finer details of their patient's heart. The models will use information gained from scans plus readings taken in the operating theatre.”

Growing up in Liverpool, Chris had always liked computers. He went on to study maths and computing to PhD level, and now he's built his career around this childhood interest. But he says the knowledge that his work will help others gives him even more motivation.

Mariola Zaleska, 25, biochemist, Kings College, London, researching cardiac hypertrophy

Mariola arrived in the UK from Poland, aged 21, to study at the University of Huddersfield. She’s now in London, investigating a protein that was only discovered ten years ago but plays a very important role in cardiac hypertrophy - the thickening of the heart muscle.

“I’m trying to understand how this protein is involved in ‘good’ and ‘bad’ heart muscle growth in mice,” she says. “Good heart growth is the heart’s normal development and bad growth is when, as the heart muscle thickens, it gets less efficient and so the chance of heart failure is increased.

I certainly believe there's hope for people with heart problems.

“I know the protein I’m studying must be involved in normal growth because it is switched on during the embryonic stage of development. But it is also switched on again as a result of hypertension. Understanding this protein’s role could help one day in preventing the ‘bad growth’.

“I find the process of discovering new things really, really amazing. For many days you may make no discoveries at all but then you get something and it’s really worth the wait.

“I’m currently doing my PhD but I can see myself doing this kind of work for the rest of my life and there is lots to do. I certainly believe there’s hope for people with heart problems.”

Ignat Drozdov, 26, systems biologist, Kings College, London, researching thickening of heart muscle and heart failure

After an education in Lithuania and the USA, Ignat came to the UK two years ago to do his PhD.
He’s looking at what happens when heart muscle thickens. “It’s a response to stress,” he explains. “It enables top athletes to push themselves and perform well. But their hearts return back to normal when they stop their activity,” he says.

“However, in patients with high blood pressure the muscle thickens but may not go back to normal after the stress is taken away. Instead there’s a likelihood of heart failure. I’m investigating the molecules involved in both groups by comparing exercising mice and mice whose hearts are subject to pressure overload.”

His work has shown that although the same molecules are present in both groups of mice under stress, these molecules communicate differently. “It’s these different patterns of molecular communication that determines whether increased physical performance can be supported or whether heart failure will set in,” he explains.

“The next step is to develop a kind of drug that will modify these communication patterns and ultimately protect the heart. To achieve this I’ve been studying the crosstalk between 20,000 different molecules underpinned by 100 million interactions.”

Jonathan Emberson, 34, medical statistician, Oxford University, working on drug trial results

Jonathan has made his career in cardiovascular disease research focusing on drug trials of cholesterol-lowering statins.

He applies his statistics expertise to trial results, thus enabling a better understanding of the effects of drugs on people.

“What’s exciting for me is that, without having a medical background, I’ve been able to make a difference in medicine,” he says.  He explains how: “When you get results from drug trials, you need to work out the extent to which the results are real and the extent to which they could be due to the play of chance. That’s what statisticians do.

I've been very fortunate to work on projects that are going to make a difference.

“In the case of statins, I’ve been involved in a collaboration that has brought together data from all of the trials, involving hundreds of thousands of patients and helped to make sense of the data so we properly understand the benefits of the drug, both overall, and in different types of people.”

His work has previously taken him to Sydney, Australia, where he was involved in the then biggest trial of the statin pravastatin. More recently he worked on the world's largest kidney disease trial involving almost 9,500 volunteers aged 40 or over with chronic kidney disease.

Jonathan is now based in Oxford at the Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit, where he works entirely in vascular disease research. “I’ve been very fortunate to work on projects that are going to make a difference,” he says.