A group led by investigators from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Advanced Materials for Bioengineering Research (AMBER) Centre has secured significant investment for its research on cardiovascual disease.
The AMCARE (Advanced Materials for CArdiac REgeneration) consortium involves 10 partners from five European countries and has received €8.7 million funding – €6.8 million coming from the EU as part of its seventh framework programme for supporting research.
AMCARE which will create 10 new positions for carrying out research to develop natural materials and new surgical devices to enhance the delivery of a body’s stem cells to the heart to promote healing after a heart attack and prevent premature death. The therapies being developed could replace heart cells that die due to the reduced blood flow that occurs during a heart attack, with new healthy cells derived from stem cells that come from the patient’s own bone marrow.
The Consortium represents a major interdisciplinary effort between stem cell biologists, experts in advanced drug delivery, research scientists, clinicians and research-active companies working together to develop novel therapeutics to address the challenges of treating acute heart disease. The researchers will optimise adult stem cell therapy using smart biomaterials and advanced drug delivery, and couple these therapeutics with minimally-invasive surgical devices.
The European Society of Cardiology estimates that one in every six men and one in every seven women in Europe will die from a myocardial infarction and according to the Irish Heart Foundation, approximately 10,000 people die in Ireland every year from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) including heart disease, stroke and other circulatory diseases.
The Consortium’s work will co-ordinated by Dr Garry Duffy of RCSI’s Department of Anatomy and Tissue Engineering Research Group, and AMBER Investigator.
Dr Duffy said: “Regenerative medicine and stem cell therapies have the potential to revolutionise the treatment of patients who have suffered a heart attack, and through AMCARE we will develop new technologies to enhance stem cell therapies for these patients by increasing targeting and ease of delivery using advanced biomaterials.”
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