Mending a Broken Heart

White blood cells form an essential part of our immune system. They are incredibly skilled at fighting off infection but are really poor at helping us heal certain types of damage, such as a heart attack. The mission of my lab is to find out why. We use microscopes to delve into the lives of white blood cells and use this information to help us to develop ways in which we can drive healing and improve patient outcome after a heart attack.

The most common cause of disease in the UK is a heart attack, where loss of blood flow in the heart causes sudden loss of heart rhythm that cut off blood supply to the brain. I have spent 35 years of my life in the fruitless pursuit of a drug to stop this. A few years ago, a young cardiologist read some of my old papers, wistfully outlining what a safe and effective drug would look like, armed with information about a small company making ischaemia-selective cancer drugs. Six years later we are now seeking funding to make our new drug ready for human trials. Why don’t I tell you about it?