Discover the mechanisms by which brain-heart disease is connected
Leads: Ruth Slack & Katey Rayner
It is known that in many cases when a patient has a heart condition, a condition of the brain also co-evolves (and vice versa), such that brain-heart conditions interact to accelerate disease progression. It is of utmost importance to determine how these brain-heart conditions co-occur and co-progress. To do this, genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors will be investigated with a focus on determining how co-morbidities such as hypertension and muscle wasting, as well as variables such as sex, gender, age and social stress converge to accelerate brain-heart disease. Identifying key signaling pathways which link the brain and heart will help to define how these systems become disrupted to propagate brain-heart diseases. To do this, preclinical models, such as induced pluripotent stem cells, organoids, and animal models, will be developed to study brain-heart conditions. This will also enable the discovery of novel molecular mediators which cause multi-organ disease progression and new molecular targets which can be used to treat brain-heart conditions.
Deliverables: Finding potential new targets that link brain and heart disease to develop new pharmaceuticals. The derivation of new biomarker candidates that predict and define brain-heart disease co-progression.