BHF CRE / Cambridge Cardiovascular Annual Symposium 30 April 2026 - Programme
Programme
| 08:45 | Registration and refreshments | Auditorium Foyer |
| 09:10 | Welcome and overview of the event Martin Bennett: Director, BHF Cambridge Centre for Cardiovascular Research Excellence | Auditorium (all talks/ unless otherwise specified) |
| 09:15 | Distinguished guest speaker: Marianna Fontana, Professor of Cardiology, University College London | Understanding mechanisms and precision treatment of amyloid cardiomyopathy |
| Session 1: New Insights from Multimodality Studies in Cardiovascular and Cardiometabolic Disease | Chair: Sue Ozanne | |
| 09:55 | Sam Lambert, Assistant Professor, Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge | Liver fat accumulation contributes to discordant genetic risk between coronary artery disease and type 2 diabetes |
| 10:10 | Antonio Vidal Puig, Professor of Molecular Nutrition and Metabolism, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge | Cardiometabolic disease as a systems problem: a vision for Cambridge and beyond |
| 10:25 | Mayank Dalakoti, PhD candidate, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge | Cardiometabolic disease prevention from a global context |
| 10:40 | Poster previews session Theme 1: Jennifer Jardine Theme 2: Nikolai Pakhomov Theme 3: Stefano Boriati Theme 4: Rachael Crew Theme 5: Sheikh Umara Zoni | Lightning talks from selected poster presenters |
| 10:55 | Refreshments and poster session A | Dining Hall |
| Session 2: Prevention, Treatment and Regeneration in Heart Failure | Chair: Catherine Wilson | |
| 11:30 | Lay Ping Ong, AstraZeneca Research Fellow, Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge | Form and Function of the Regenerated Rat Heart: CX43 Reveals a Druggable Axis Linking Regeneration to Rhythm Control |
| 11:45 | Ana Vujic, Assistant Professor and BHF Intermediate Fellow, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge | Exercise and cardiometabolic disease |
| 12:00 | Robert Fletcher, PhD candidate, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge | Contemporary Epidemiology of hospitalised heart failure with reduced versus preserved ejection fraction in England |
| 12:15 | Laura Donnelly, Associate Director, Technology Development and Licensing, Cambridge Enterprise and Ash Earl, Senior Associate, Gill Jennings and Every LLP | From ideas to impact: making the most of your IP |
| 12:35 | James Leiper, Director of Research and Metin Avkiran, Director of International Research Partnerships and Special Programmes, British Heart Foundation | BHF Research Strategy - Our portfolio of funding opportunities |
| 13:00 | Lunch Chat to our 'Making the most of your IP' session speakers from 13:30 - 14:00 Poster session B from 13:40 - 14:15 | Dining Hall and Dining Hall Balcony |
| 14.25 | Rouchelle Sriranjan Rothwell, NIHR clinical lecturer in Cardiology, Department of Medicine and Nick Evans, Senior Clinical Lecturer, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge | East of England Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement in cardiovascular research |
| Session 3: Small Vessel Disease and Development | Chair: Tian Zhao | |
| 14:45 | Wei Li, Research Professor and BHF Senior Basic Science Research Fellow, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge | Does endoglin play a role in endothelial and adipose tissue crosstalk? |
| 15:00 | Maria Köhne, Research Associate, Cambridge Stem Cell Institute | Spatiotemporal benchmarking of endocardial sprouting and state dynamics during human coronary vessel development |
| 15:15 | Oriane Marguet, PhD candidate, Dept Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge | Inflammation and cerebral small vessel disease severity – insights from the INSVD study |
| 15:30 | Refreshments | Dining Hall |
Session 4: Inherited, acquired and Immune drivers of CVD | Chair: James Cranley | |
| 16:00 | Emanuele Di Angelantonio, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Donor Health, BHF Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge | Integrating imaging and genetic markers in cardiovascular risk stratification |
| 16:15 | Paul Carter, Clinical Lecturer, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge | Clonal haematopoiesis in cardiovascular disease: how the genetic driver, sex, and disease context matter |
| 16:30 | James 0`Brien, Clinical Research Associate, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge | The impact of modulating the adaptive immune system on the B cell repertoire in acute coronary syndromes |
| 16:45 | Distinguished guest speaker Muredach Reilly, Professor of Medicine at Columbia University, New York | Stromal cells in atherosclerosis: a genomics perspective |
| 17:25 | Poster prizes and closing remarks | Martin Bennett |
| 17:45 | Post-event networking with drinks and nibbles. Please stay to catch up with anyone you may have missed earlier | Dining Hall |