Science
University of Manchester receives BHF Research Accelerator Award
Published:
24 October 2019
Published:
24 October 2019
We have awarded the University of Manchester £1million to support world-leading research into heart and circulatory diseases.
These conditions cause more than one in four (28%) deaths in Manchester.
The Accelerator Award will empower researchers to undertake innovative science, break down boundaries and spark new collaborations in heart and circulatory disease research. The award will be used to support three areas of world-leading research at the University of Manchester: the genetics of cardiovascular disease, normal and abnormal heart function, and high blood pressure and its consequences, which include stroke and vascular dementia.
Professor Bernard Keavney, BHF Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Manchester, will be directing the Accelerator Grant. He specialises in the genetics of congenital heart defects, which affect around eight in every 1,000 babies born. Often they are life-threatening and require complex surgery.
Professor Keavney’s team use the latest technology to screen families to find possible genetic causes of disease, which in the longer-term may lead to better counselling for families and more effective treatments. This work brings together the efforts of around fifty scientific groups and aims to find ways in which Manchester’s world-leading scientists in areas such as advanced materials and graphene can bring their skills to bear on cardiovascular problems.
Professor Keavney said: “This major BHF investment in cardiovascular research in Manchester will allow us to ‘turbo-charge’ our work in our three priority areas. It will provide the glue to bring together innovative new collaborations, and better enable us to support some of our young rising stars in research – of whom we have no shortage in Manchester. Winning this award is a great tribute to the excellent research being done by many outstanding colleagues in the University.”
The University of Manchester is one of just six universities in the UK to receive an Accelerator Award. The University is matching our investment with £750,000 of its own money, illustrating the importance of this award.
BHF Medical Director, Professor Sir Nilesh Samani commented: “The flexible funding offered by these awards breaks down scientific barriers and injects creativity into the UK’s heart and circulatory disease research community.
“Our investment through these awards will bring together the best and brightest minds across medicine, tech and engineering to foster collaboration and encourage innovative thinking.
“We are very proud to have made this award to the University of Manchester, which is only possible through the continued generosity of the public who support us. The awards not only recognise the world-leading research already being carried out into heart and circulatory diseases in the UK, but also help to safeguard our future as a global scientific leader in this area.”