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Durham receives new round of research investment from the British Heart Foundation
(1 September 2006)
Scientists at Durham University have been awarded a major research grant by The British Heart Foundation (BHF).
Durham University’s Centre for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, part of the North-east England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI), won the grant, worth over £132,000, to help clarify the existence of stem cells in the heart so that their role and potential use in treating heart disease can be better understood. The awards are made every two months by the BHF’s Project Grants Committee, to fund research into the causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease, the UK’s biggest killer. In 2005, the BHF awarded 143 project grants totalling nearly £20 million. Andrew Owens, Honorary Reader in the School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Durham University and Heart Surgeon at the James Cook University Hospital, who is leading the research said: 'Until very recently we believed that the heart cannot repair itself when damaged or diseased, as, unlike other organs, it does not have a pool of stem cells to regenerate diseased tissues. There is now some evidence that the heart does, in fact, possess its own stem cells but we still have to properly identify and understand them. This grant will enable us to clearly identify and isolate these cells, gain a better understanding of their role in health and disease, and perhaps even identify targets for new therapies. We are grateful to the British Heart Foundation for supporting this exciting and important work.' Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the BHF, said: “We are delighted that scientists in Durham are helping us play an important part in our efforts to tackle the UK’s biggest killer.”
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