The Heart Foundation will fund eight UNSW projects to help drive breakthroughs in preventing heart disease and to improve the treatment and care of people living with it.
Seven UNSW Sydney academics have received $1.76 million in funding from The Heart Foundation to address some of the most complex challenges in heart disease research.
Heart disease is Australia's leading cause of mortality, responsible for one in four deaths each year. The Heart Foundation is investing $13.7 million for 67 new projects as part of its ongoing commitment to support research into cardiovascular health.
The eight UNSW projects funded will unlock critical insights into preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including understanding how the gut microbiome promotes CVD, developing new types of heart valves using silk materials and improving stroke diagnoses.
UNSW Dean of Medicine & Health, Professor Cheryl Jones, congratulated the successful funding recipients.
"We're delighted that seven of our outstanding researchers have received Heart Foundation funding. This recognition highlights the exceptional calibre of cardiovascular research at UNSW and our commitment to advancing the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart and vascular disease," Prof. Jones said.
The UNSW recipients are:
Associate Professor Alexandra Jones from The George Institute for Global Health received a Future Leader Fellowship to investigate whether Australian law can be strengthened to reduce diet-related diseases in the country.
Poor diets are responsible for one in every five deaths worldwide, most of which are related to cardiovascular disease.
A/Prof. Jones is a public health lawyer and researcher currently leading pioneering work on regulatory strategies to promote healthier diets. Her research has shown that current government initiatives to create a healthier food supply haven't made a real difference because they rely on voluntary action.
A/Prof. Jones will generate new evidence to support stronger regulation in nutrition labelling, including speeding up the mandate for the Health Star Rating label so that it appears on the front of all packaged foods.
She will also gather evidence to support the development of new regulatory proposals to set limits on how much salt and sugar can be added to popular packaged foods like bread and soft drinks.
Professor Jelena Rnjack-Kovacina was awarded a Future Leadership Fellowship and a two-year Vanguard grant to look at innovative ways to improve the treatment of heart valve disease.
Aortic stenosis is a serious heart condition where the aortic valve narrows, blocking blood flow from the heart, leading to heart failure and sudden death. The main treatment is to replace the damaged valve with one made from chemically treated animal tissue. These valves carry blood clotting risks and fail within 7-10 years.
Silk is nature's toughest material that can be engineered to mimic the intricate and complex structure and mechanical properties of natural valves. It's also known to support the growth of the body's own tissues.
Prof. Rnjack-Kovacina and her team will engineer silk into biomimetic materials for a new generation of heart valves, potentially transforming the treatment of aortic stenosis.
Her projects will also create lab-grown models of heart valves that closely mimic the real thing, using advanced materials and robotics. It's hoped the models will help researchers better understand heart valve disease and develop new treatments.
Associate Professor Shane Thomas was awarded a two-year Vanguard Grant to look at how an unhealthy gut microbiome might promote atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ACVD).
ACVD is a chronic inflammatory condition that can lead to heart attacks. In people with ACVD, the balance and function of gut bacteria changes, allowing harmful microbes to leak into the bloodstream and produce substances that worsen the disease. However, scientists still don't fully understand how these changes in the gut lead to ACVD.
A/Prof. Thomas will use AI to analyse the data of gut microbial genes in healthy individuals and ACVD patients. The study will also trial a new mouse model with human gut bacteria to study how gut changes cause disease and pinpoint which bacteria might be responsible.
The research could lead to the development of a new stool test that checks gut health and helps predict heart attack risk in ACVD patients. It could also help create personalised probiotics to improve gut health and lower the risk of heart attacks.
This recognition highlights the exceptional calibre of cardiovascular research at UNSW and our commitment to advancing the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart and vascular disease.
Conjoint Senior Lecturer Dr Angela Xuan Nan Chen from The George Institute for Global Health will investigate whether an existing medication can be used to prevent heart failure in people who are at high risk. She received a Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Dapagliflozin is a medication currently used to treat diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease. Dr Chen's research trial will test whether starting dapagliflozin before any symptoms of heart failure appear could help prevent heart failure altogether.
The study will also test whether using simple blood tests can help find people at the highest risk of developing heart failure before they show symptoms.
The research could lead to a new way of preventing heart failure, changing how physicians identify and treat people before heart damage occurs.
Dr Shaun Khanna from The George Institute for Global Health was awarded a Postgraduate Scholarship to investigate whether the layer of fat surrounding the heart - known as epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) - contributes to heart failure.
Heart failure occurs when the heart can't pump blood efficiently to meet the body's demands, leading to fatigue, fluid retention and poor circulation. A growing area of research suggests that EAT could be progressing heart failure in patients.
Dr Khanna's project will look at how EAT levels influence heart function in patients with heart failure, the role of EAT in heart failure recovery and the link between EAT and anti-diabetic and weight loss drugs.
Conjoint Associate Professor Cheryl Carcel from The George Institute for Global Health was awarded a one-year Vanguard grant to assess the feasibility of better detecting a type of stroke while a patient is in the ambulance.
Intracerebral haemorrhage, commonly known as bleeding in the brain, is a severe and often untreatable type of stroke, which affects millions of people globally each year. Over 60% of intracerebral haemorrhage patients suffer from high blood pressure, which worsens the likelihood of death and disability.
Studies have shown that controlling blood pressure ideally within 3 hours of the stroke can improve future outcomes for patients.
A/Prof. Carcel's study will look at whether a blood test can be used to diagnose intracerebral haemorrhage in an ambulance. The study's findings will be used to potentially develop a device that could safely administer blood pressure-lowering medication while a patient is in transit.
Dr Joyce Chiu was awarded a Vanguard grant to test a new therapy to reduce inflammation and heart muscle damage after a heart attack.
When a heart muscle is injured during a heart attack, it triggers acute inflammation to help the body repair and heal. Excessive inflammation, however, can cause further damage to the heart, increasing the risk of arrhythmias, heart failure and hospitalisation.
Dr Chiu and her team have discovered a novel mechanism that regulates inflammation. Her project will test these new strategies and potentially lead to the development of therapies to enhance heart injury recovery.
