Research excellence at King’s College London

Research Excellence (round2) - King's College London

In 2008 the BHF began a £34 million investment strategy to support four top UK universities as BHF Centres of Research Excellence, aiming to secure the UK’s future as a world-leading force in heart research. One of these institutions was King’s College London, which received £9 million from the BHF to establish the King’s BHF Centre of Research Excellence (CRE). Led by BHF Professor Ajay Shah, innovative research between different scientific disciplines is flourishing, and investigators from the physical sciences (particularly physicists, chemists and mathematicians) are now engaged in biomedical research. Since becoming a CRE, more talented scientists, including those working outside heart research, are training and working there, having access to state-of-the-art technologies. They have attracted £67 million worth of grants from other sources, and researchers have published more than 400 research papers revealing new knowledge about heart disease and ways to treat it. They have filed 26 patents so far, and established two spin-out companies. The BHF has now awarded £6 million to King’s to build on its success and continue the BHF CRE for the next five years. The Centre will drive forward internationally-leading multi-disciplinary heart research, and attract talented individuals to careers in heart research and academic medicine. Their science will focus on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart failure. The King’s researchers believe their world-class, ‘bench-to-bedside’ heart failure research is very likely to make significant advances, and deliver treatments to the clinic. Teams of multidisciplinary researchers will study heart failure, hold workshops to encourage researchers from different disciplines to interact, and provide technical resources (people and equipment) the researchers need. New junior research posts and collaborations with external groups will bring in expertise, such as ‘KCL BHF Crick Postdoctoral Fellowships’ to enhance interactions with the new Francis Crick Institute. They will identify projects with commercial potential and drive them forward. This funding will enable King’s to drive forward their research towards the bedside and work to make a real difference to people with heart disease.