Cambridge BHF Centre of Research Excellence: Centre aims and strategy

Please ensure that applications for Pump Priming funds from the BHF Cambridge CRE align with the aims and strategy set out in our original application (extract below).

Major research aims to be addressed by the themes and the approaches to be employed include:

1. Population Sciences will identify and evaluate new predictive tools and risk factors in cardiovascular disease (CVD) through multi-dimensional integrative population studies to address strategic areas of unmet need in relation to a) understanding disease aetiology, b) therapeutic target prioritisation, and c) population screening.

2. Functional Genomics will a) discover and prioritise gene targets for vascular disease through integrative analyses of genetic and functional genomics datasets; b) experimentally validate mechanism of action for gene targets of importance for vascular disease.

3. Vascular Medicine will a) harness the immune system to treat athero-thrombotic disease; b) use innovative molecular genetic and imaging techniques to develop new treatments for genetic vascular diseases (e.g. aortic dissection and stroke); c) develop a stratified medicine approach to the treatment of systemic hypertension; d) explore the genetic basis and validate new therapies in PAH.

4. Cardiometabolic Medicine will identify mechanisms linking obesity and diabetes with CVD both within an individual and across generations and use this knowledge for therapeutic strategies and improved biomarkers for CVD.

The main scientific strategy is to transform the approaches required to exploit future developments and discoveries in cardiovascular science. We will catalyse new collaborations between leading investigators and cross-cutting disciplines, and direct new disciplines and foci of excellence to work in the cardiovascular field.

We aim to recruit and develop the most talented investigators, create key joint appointments between Institutes at a junior level, embed scientists providing different skill sets into new interdisciplinary hubs, fund interdisciplinary research to allow new questions to be formulated and tackled, and provide education and training programmes to facilitate and establish collaborations. The Centre will enable translation of population genetic and functional genomic studies that require efficient crosstalk between computational biology, statistical genomics and biologists, through subsequent in vivo validation and experimental medicine.