We are delighted to share that Associate Professor Lisa Heather has been awarded an International Cardiovascular Research Partnership Award (ICRPA). The ICRPA scheme supports high-quality international research collaborations that have the potential to accelerate progress towards improved understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease.
This award will fund a new research study: SHEA-META - Sex-Specific Heart-Adipose Communication Driving Metabolic Dysfunction in Diabetic Cardiomyopathy.
People with type 2 diabetes are at higher risk of developing a condition called diabetic cardiomyopathy, where the heart muscle doesn’t work as well as it should, which can lead to heart failure.
Before menopause, women are largely protected from diabetic cardiomyopathy, yet after menopause they become more vulnerable than men, and more susceptible to heart failure.
Researchers still don’t fully understand why this happens, but believe changing hormone levels after the menopause may disrupt cell signals sent out by fat tissue. This may lead to diabetic cardiomyopathy and trigger damage to the heart.
This study aims to pinpoint how the heart and adipose tissue of women with type 2 diabetes are different before and after the menopause, using human cells, animal models, and patient data. This could lead to a blood test for earlier diagnosis, and better treatments for women living with type 2 diabetes.
This international award will be a collaboration between the Universities of Oxford, Maastricht (the Netherlands) and Lille (France), and is funded by the British Heart Foundation, Dutch Heart Foundation and Lefoulon-Delalande Foundation (LDF).
Associate Professor Heather comments, “Despite being disproportionately affected, females remain understudied in diabetes pathophysiology; this international cardiovascular award is a crucial opportunity to begin correcting that imbalance”
Read more about the awards here