£1.4 million grant to help advance research into the causes of heart failure in people with type 2 diabetes

Researchers have been awarded a £1.4 million grant to continue their work to detect and prevent heart failure in those living with type 2 diabetes. 

The grant, from the British Heart Foundation, has been awarded to a team in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, the Leicester Diabetes Centre at the University of Leicester and NIHR Leicester BRC, and will be led by Professor Gerry McCann. Collaborators from the University of Edinburgh will also be involved in the work over the next five years.

The funding builds upon a decade of research at the University of Leicester aiming to detect and prevent heart failure in people living with type 2 diabetes. 

For reasons not yet fully understood, people with type 2 diabetes have twice the risk of developing heart failure than those without diabetes. Now, using state-of-the-art heart and whole-body MRI imaging techniques and intricate analysis of proteins in the blood performed over time, all harnessed using powerful artificial intelligence techniques, researchers will restudy 200 people five years after initial assessment of their heart function and assess whether they are on a trajectory towards developing heart failure.

The award funding will help pay for detailed heart and body scans and powerful machines to analyse blood tests in ways beyond those typically used for patients with type 2 diabetes in the NHS. It will also be used to employ expert researchers bringing together a wealth of knowledge in heart disease and diabetes, and supercomputing technology for unparalleled artificial intelligence analysis.

Professor McCann said: “This programme of research could help us identify which people with type 2 diabetes are most susceptible to developing heart failure, why this occurs, and develop new treatment solutions to prevent heart disease. We aim to build on the work that’s already taken place and that’s why this award is so vital to helping us achieve our goals.”

Abigail Woodfin, Senior Research Advisor at the British Heart Foundation, said: “We are delighted to award this grant to tackle why people with type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop heart failure. Over the next five years this research will use sophisticated artificial intelligence scanning techniques and blood tests, catapulting us towards potential new treatments. It is only with donations from our generous supporters that we can continue funding lifesaving research like this, to help us better prevent and treat heart disease.”