Matthew Kerr, a British Heart Foundation DPhil student in the Heather Group, has been awarded the William C Stanley Early Investigator Award.
He will be presented with the award for his work at the 17th Annual Scientific Session of the Society for Heart and Vascular Metabolism, to be held in Amsterdam in June 2019. This year's meeting theme is "Targeting metabolic pathways to treat cardiovascular diseases."
Matthew will present his work entitled "Energetic dysfunction in the type 2 diabetic myocardium is rescued by the deacetylase activator honokiol."
Type 2 diabetes impairs the normal functioning of the heart, and this is linked to abnormal metabolism of substrates. Matthew's work is investigating why increased metabolism of fat impairs energy production in the heart. He is investigating novel therapeutic strategies to counteract the effects of abnormal fat metabolism, to try to improve energy production and function of the diabetic heart.
This award both recognises and highlights Matthew's scientific accomplishments as a promising young researcher in this field.