Heart Foundation invests in heart disease research
Charles Perkins Centre member projects among the research funding into heart disease
The Heart Foundation has invested $13.9 million in heart disease research including six Charles Perkins Centre members who have been awarded funding for seven research collaborations.
Seven Charles Perkins Centre multidisciplinary projects have received Heart Foundation Research Award Recipients 2021 investment for projects commencing in 2022, providing funding for periods of six months to four years.
Despite improvements to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of coronary heart disease, it is still the single leading cause of death in Australia. The Charles Perkins Centre’s unique approach to research collaborations and partnerships focuses on the major lifestyle diseases – diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease – and their related conditions.
The projects range from creating new blood vessels made from silk to replace diseased arteries, to improvements in the early diagnosis of coronary heart disease, and strategies for point-of-care using biomedical engineering. The six recipients – Associate Professor Steven Wise, Dr Arnold Lining Ju, Dr John O’Sullivan, Professor Gemma Figtree, Professor Kazuaki Negishi, Dr Jessica Orchard – receive their awards in the categories of Future Leader Fellow, Vanguard Grant, and Collaboration and Exchange Award.
L-R: Steven Wise, Gemma Figtree, Kazuaki Negishi, Arnold Lining Ju, Jessica Orchard, John O’Sullivan
This recognition from the Heart Foundation for Charles Perkins Centre members for these key projects is testament to the unique solutions that come from our multidisciplinary approach
“This recognition from the Heart Foundation for Charles Perkins Centre members for these key projects is testament to the unique solutions that come from our multidisciplinary approach,” says Professor Stephen Simpson, Academic Director of the Charles Perkins Centre.
“We are immensely proud of our members’ achievements over the past decade, and this recognition from the Heart Foundation – as well as recent NHMRC funding – supports and stewards solutions to mitigate the human and economic cost of the lifestyle diseases.
“Huge congratulations to all of the 2021 recipients – I’m looking forward to working with them.”
Charles Perkins Centre Heart Foundation Research Award Recipients 2021
2021 Future Leader Fellow
Associate Professor Steven Wise
Charles Perkins Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney Nano Institute
Bioengineering new synthetic conduits for arterial revascularisation
“I’m delighted to receive this support from the National Heart Foundation which will allow me to continue developing improved biomaterials for bypass grafting. I am very fortunate to be so well supported in the School of Medical Sciences and for my lab to be located in a world-class facility such as the CPC, where the environment has pushed my research to the next level.”
Charles Perkins Centre, Faculty of Engineering, Heart Research Institute
Platelet mechanobiology inspired anti-thrombotic strategies and point-of-care biomedical engineering
“Inspired by my father’s heart attack 13 years ago I turned my engineering training to cardiovascular study, particularly blood clots and thrombotic diseases. I have had many mentors, family and colleagues who have supported my study and research, but I’d especially like to thank my colleagues at the Charles Perkins Centre, HRI Thrombosis Group, USYD cardiovascular network and Professor Steve Simpson whose pure interdisciplinary approach has been so important to my success as an EMCR.”
2021 Vanguard Grant
Charles Perkins Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health
Replenishing nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide to rescue heart failure with preserved ejection fraction
“The rich inter-disciplinary nature of the Charles Perkins Centre led by Professor Stephen Simpson laid the foundation upon which this grant was built. I am fortunate to work at a centre that focusses on the interaction of metabolic perturbation, nutrition, and heart disease; this interaction lays at the centre of the type of heart failure I study. The CPC also houses the Sydney Heart Bank, run by Dr Sean Lal, the largest biorepository of human heart tissue in the world, enabling fundamental insights into human heart failure.”
Associate Professor Steven Wise
Charles Perkins Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney Nano Institute
Engineering ‘arteries in a box’ from patient-derived cells to unravel novel mechanisms and treatment strategies for coronary artery disease
“I am appreciative of this funding to support an exciting new collaboration with Prof Gemma Figtree and her team. We will grow patient-derived cells in an advanced bioreactor system that mimics human vascular physiology. The unique environment of the CPC allowed us to connect clinical expertise with engineers, vascular biologists and our industry partner Codex Research to develop this new approach.”
Charles Perkins Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health
A new paradigm to tackle redox-mediated cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction
“This is terrific timing for some very generous support and allows us to pursue the clinical significance of a molecular switch that we have recently discovered that mediates heart muscle thickening and scar formation. We hope that this finding, and new drugs we are developing that act on this, may benefit the large number of patients with heart failure.”
Charles Perkins Centre Nepean, Faculty of Medicine and Health
Restoring microvascular circulation with diagnostic ultrasound and contrast agent: the REDUCE Trial: A multicentre pilot study at three high volume primary percutaneous coronary intervention centres
“We are thrilled to receive this support from the National Heart Foundation. This allows us to test if our novel non-invasive intervention can salvage more myocytes among the patients with heart attack in our multi-university trial. We greatly appreciate the continuous support from the Charles Perkins Centre, especially from CPC Nepean led by Professor Ralph Nanan.”
2021 Collaboration and Exchange Award
Charles Perkins Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health
Cardiac screening of athletes: building a national registry of screening electrocardiograms
“My research into cardiac screening has benefited enormously from the support and multi-disciplinary collaborations that have been made possible at the CPC. It’s an honour to work with international leaders in the field and to be part of academic life at CPC.”