Straight to the Heart

... or how inflammation aids our bodies to police against heart disease.
Heart disease has only gained recognition as a major cause of death in the last 125 years, studies on Egyptian Mummies have shown that this disease has been affecting humans for centuries. Our understanding has rapidly progressed since then and our research involves examining if specific proteins on inflammatory cells (macrophages) may determine whether macrophages are helpful (good) or make things worse (bad). We aim to target bad macrophages to protect heart disease patients and preventing people having heart attacks.

Heart surgery has only been around as a speciality for a little over 50 years. What was initially a small high focus group of surgeons exploring the boundary of science and surgery has now exploded to new developments such as robotic, minimally invasive valve and coronary surgery, gene and stem cell therapy and much more.
We must embrace new technology but at the same time maintain a basic science foundation and not forget that after all this is still a craft speciality. We have to “take engineering back to the heart”.