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RESEARCH

Investigating new ways to prevent thrombosis

University of Cambridge | Dr Stephanie Jung

Many types of heart and circulatory disease occur because of the build-up of dangerous ‘fatty’ plaques in the walls of blood vessels. During this process blood cells and fatty material become trapped in an area of the vessel wall. Some plaq...

RESEARCH

Can a new drug prevent vein graft failure?

University of Bristol | Professor Sarah Jane George

Professor Sarah Jane George and her team at the University of Bristol want to improve the long term success of vein grafts, when a vein is used to bypass a blocked coronary artery in coronary artery bypass. Up to half of vein grafts used in...

RESEARCH

What keeps mitochondria healthy in the heart?

King's College London | Professor Ajay Shah

BHF Professor Ajay Shah and his team at Kings College London are studying whether manipulating a stress pathway in the mitochondria of heart muscle cells could help treat heart disease. Mitochondria are ‘powerhouses’ within cells that gene...

RESEARCH

Can we target the cancer-like growth of cells to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension?

Imperial College London | Professor Lan Zhao

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a life-threatening disease with no cure where high blood pressure in the lungs puts strain on the right side of the heart and leads to heart failure. PAH involves the over-production of cells in the ...

RESEARCH

Going inside the heart to make pacemakers benefit more people with heart failure

King's College London | Professor Reza Razavi

Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) is a procedure that’s commonly used in patients with heart failure, which occurs when the heart is not pumping blood around the body as well as it should. This happens most commonly when the heart mus...

RESEARCH

What do bright spots in pregnancy scans tell us about children’s hearts?

Cardiff University | Dr Lisa Hurt

Each day in the UK, 12 babies are diagnosed with a heart defect that occurs as the baby develops in the womb. Pregnant women have an ultrasound scan when they are about 20 weeks pregnant, and nearly half of all serious heart defects are det...

RESEARCH

Understanding how genetic alterations lead to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

University of Leeds | Professor Michelle Peckham

Professor Michelle Peckham and her team at the University of Leeds are looking at how changes in genes cause a common inherited heart disease called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM. HCM is the most common reason for sudden death in a...

RESEARCH

Finding new ways to treat aortic aneurysms

University of Bristol | Dr Jason L Johnson

Dr Jason Johnson is working out what causes aortic aneurysms – when the wall of the aorta, the main blood vessel carrying blood from the heart, becomes damaged and weak, and bulges like a balloon. If aneurysms become large they can ruptur...