Not Just a Bleeding Heart: Replacing Animal Research

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally, causing almost 18 million deaths a year. 80% of these are due to heart attacks and strokes, caused by blood clots blocking arteries. The same blood clotting processes however are critical to prevent life threatening bleeding. Sarah and Amelia are using animal-free approaches to understand how the body controls blood clotting and bleeding and test new treatments to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

One of the most common reasons for drugs to fail safety testing is side effects that cause issues with the heart, such as an irregular heartbeat. Andrew and Sylvia are developing a computer programme to simulate how drugs affect the ‘wires’ that make the heart muscle pump. With their virtual drug testing, they aim to replace some of the animals used for cardiac safety studies and speed up the development of new drugs.