Building an imaging toolbox for metabolic heart disease (RENEWAL)
Metabolism is defined as the chemical processes that occur within the body. Changes to the heart’s metabolism are often linked to the development of heart disease. Professor Damian Tyler and his team are looking to develop a new imaging technique to show how the heart is turning sugar into energy. This will help to reveal how metabolism goes wrong in certain diseases like diabetes and heart attacks. The scan is based on existing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology, which is already being used by doctors. But a more powerful version, called hyperpolarized MRI, is much more sensitive, making it possible to directly look at the metabolism processes in the body. MRI is also excellent for showing structural and functional detail of the heart, and can therefore show whether changes in structure and function are associated with changes in metabolism. Professor Tyler and his team will develop new ways to take clearer and faster pictures of the heart to give a more accurate picture of when and where different metabolic processes are occurring. They will also make new chemical ‘probes’ that can measure several metabolism pathways at the same time, such as how the heart uses sugars and fats for energy. This new ‘imaging toolbox’ may one day help doctors to more accurately diagnose heart diseases and monitor how patients respond to treatments.
Project details
| Grant amount | £769,404 |
|---|---|
| Grant type | Fellowships |
| Application type | Senior Basic Science Research Fellowship |
| Start Date | 01 May 2019 |
| Duration | 5 years |
| Reference | FS/19/18/34252 |
| Status | In Progress |
