A £5.5 million national research centre for heart disease in Leicester is the latest addition to the network of Biomedical Research Units (BRUs) set up under the umbrella of the UK’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
The Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit has been established at Glenfield Hospital, part of the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS (National Health Service) Trust. More than 100 doctors and scientists at the new centre will pursue research into cardiovascular genetics, hypertension, vascular damage and novel therapeutic interventions for cardiovascular disease.
The successful bid for NIHR funding was led by Professor Nilesh Samani, consultant cardiologist at Glenfield Hospital and British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiology at the University of Leicester.
The Leicester unit joins the fifteen BRUs previously established in Liverpool, London, Nottingham, Leeds, Oxford, Sheffield, Southampton, Bristol and Birmingham to pursue translational research in areas of high disease burden such as heart disease, asthma and obesity.
