BHF announces shortlist for £30m research prize at start of defining decade for CVD

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) today announced its shortlist of four research projects competing for a single £30 million award. The charity says it is one of many radical new approaches needed to address a frightening mismatch in research funding compared with the burden of heart and circulatory diseases. Each of the four teams have been awarded £50,000 in seed funding to develop their full applications.

With the World Health Organization forecasting an increase in cardiovascular deaths worldwide, the charity’s Big Beat Challenge is a global initiative to galvanise researchers and inspire transformational solutions to tackle the world’s biggest killer.

The shortlist of research proposals features a genetic cure for inherited heart conditions that often kill without warning, as well as a soft biocompatible robotic heart to provide a viable cure for the escalating epidemic of heart failure. A ‘google map’ of atherosclerosis to find and develop immunotherapies against heart attack and stroke also makes the shortlist, along with a project harnessing new technologies – including AI and wearable tech – to create a cardiovascular digital twin.

Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Heart and circulatory diseases remain the number one cause of death worldwide. We’re taking small steps forward every year but what’s needed is a giant leap, which won’t be achieved by a business-as-usual approach. The Big Beat Challenge embodies our ambition to turbo-charge progress and could lead to its own ‘man on the moon’ moment. I have absolutely no doubt the winning idea will define the decade in their area.”

The BHF’s Big Beat Challenge, launched in August 2018, is a global competition offering a single research award of up to £30 million. The initiative was designed to push the international research community to identify a real-world challenge, significant unmet need or opportunity for game-changing innovation in cardiovascular science or medicine.

The BHF challenged researchers to form international, multi-disciplinary teams and submit outline research proposals that would be transformative, with a clear route to patient benefit, and that would only be possible with funding on this scale. The ideas could completely transform the lives of a few or provide a smaller but important change for many.

The BHF received 75 applications, featuring team members from 40 countries. Since the call for applications closed in June 2019, these proposals have been rigorously reviewed to get down to the four most compelling ideas.

Three separate panels independently scored the applications. A patient and public panel gave their perspective, a special panel of independent researchers and medical professionals scrutinised the scientific rigour of the proposals, and the final decision was made by the International Advisory Panel (IAP) comprised of leading international figures from the world of science, medicine and beyond.

Four international teams have been invited to submit full applications with the hope of winning the £30 million funding award from the BHF:

Soft robotic heart: The researchers plan to create a solution for heart failure by developing a hybrid heart. They will design, build, test and implant a hybrid heart that consists of a soft robotic shell that forms the soft artificial muscles and sensors to enable natural motion, and a tissue-engineered lining to make sure all the surfaces in contact with blood are safe. The energy transfer will be wireless. The vision is that this could replace the need for human heart transplantation and give hope to those around the world who are desperately waiting for a donated organ. Led by Jolanda Kluin, Professor of Translational Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Mapping and treating atherosclerosis: The team will use cutting-edge technologies to build the first 3D “google map” of human atherosclerosis – the fatty deposits that develop in arteries – and gain new understanding into how and why the immune defence system goes awry and causes the disease. This deep mapping work will reveal new targets for immunotherapy to combat atherosclerosis, and may lead to a new wave of medicines and vaccines that can prevent heart attacks and strokes. Led by Professor Ziad Mallat, BHF Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Next generation cardiovascular health tech: The team will develop wearable technology that can be used in daily life to capture more data than ever before. From symptoms and physical activity to heart function and air quality, this information could be used alongside genetic and healthcare data to transform diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of heart and circulatory diseases through the creation of a digital twin. Led by Professor Frank Rademakers, Chief Medical Technology Officer at University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium.

A cure for inherited, killer heart muscle diseases: The researchers will develop a treatment that targets and silences the faulty genes responsible for cardiomyopathies – diseases of the heart muscle that can lead to sudden death or heart failure at an early age. By combining a deep understanding of underlying genetic mechanisms with new technologies, the team aims to stop the progressive damage caused by genetic heart muscle diseases, and even stop it before it starts. Led by Professor Hugh Watkins FRS, Radcliffe Professor of Medicine, and BHF chairholder, at the University of Oxford, UK.

The teams will now start work on full applications, with a winner expected to be announced at the end of 2020.

The four shortlisted teams have been given a small amount of seed funding and will spend the next six months putting together their full applications. These will be reviewed by subject experts and the three panels, and the teams will be interviewed by the IAP. Together, they will decide which proposal has the most promising chance of delivering a revolutionary advance towards better cardiovascular health.

Dame Anne Glover, President of The Royal Society of Edinburgh and Independent Advisory Panel member, said: “All four shortlisted applications have identified big problems that desperately need to be addressed. They’ve submitted ideas that are different to anything the BHF has funded before, and the raw ambition, boldness and creativity of all teams is inspirational.

“Each member of the International Advisory Panel brings unique expertise and vision from the world of science, research and beyond. We’re intrigued to see the teams’ ideas flourish into full proposals and decide who will be given the chance to write their names into the history books by transforming heart and circulatory disease research.”

Professor Sir Nilesh Samani added: “This is high-risk, high-reward research. We whole-heartedly believe in the transformational potential of the Big Beat Challenge to save and improve lives, both here in the UK and around the world. It represents the single biggest investment in pioneering science in the BHF’s 60-year history. In an ideal world, we’d like to fund all four as each one has the chance to make a monumental impact.”

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To request interviews or for more information please contact the BHF press office on 020 7554 0164 (07764 290 381 – out of hours) or email [email protected]

Notes to editors:

Video footage from the media briefing will be made available on Thursday 23rd January. Please contact the BHF press office for more information.

The Big Beat Challenge is a unique research funding award of £30m (around €35m, $39m USD) that has brought together world-leading researchers and innovators to look beyond incremental gains and accelerate breakthroughs in heart and circulatory disease that could transform lives across the globe. The shortlisted teams are international and multidisciplinary, with experts from countries across the world spanning the domains of academia, industry and technology.

Find out more at bhf.org.uk/bigbeatchallenge

With donations from the public, the BHF funds ground-breaking research that will get us closer than ever to a world free from the fear of heart and circulatory diseases. A world where broken hearts are mended, where more people survive a heart attack, where the number of people prematurely dying from or disabled by a stroke is slashed in half. A world where people affected by heart and circulatory diseases get the support they need. And a world of cures and treatments we can’t even imagine today. We are backing the best ideas, the brightest minds and the biggest ambitions – because that’s how we’ll beat heartbreak forever.

Find out more at bhf.org.uk