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Cardiovascular Research Group

The Cardiovascular Research Group brings together highly complementary expertise, enabling collaborative multi- and interdisciplinary research. Expertise within the group includes the fundamental biology of cardiovascular health and the molecular mechanisms involved in cardiovascular disease. Specific areas of research interests encompass endothelial and smooth muscle cell biology, cellular signalling, membrane biology and electrophysiology. The group performs cutting-edge research into a range of diseases and conditions associated with the malfunction of the cardiovascular system, including atherosclerosis, cardiac and vascular fibrosis, arrhythmias, type 2 and gestational diabetes, as well as pulmonary hypertension. To increase the impact of our research we work with vascular surgeons, structural biologists, computational scientists, as well as members of the public.

Blood cells travelling through blood vessels

Northern Cardiovascular Research Group Meeting 2023

The Bradford Cardiovascular Research Group attended the Northern Cardiovascular Research Group (NCRG) meeting in Manchester on 28 April 2023. This long-standing annual conference draws together the greatest minds in cardiovascular research from the northern region, regularly attracting up to 100 delegates. Our PIs Jurgen Muller, Munir Hussain and Jacobo Elies were in attendance and Kirsten Riches-Suman gave an excellent presentation covering her research into vascular dysfunction in type 2 diabetes. As a comparatively small and friendly conference, it is a great training ground for young researchers. First year PhD student Courtney Riley attended, and second year students Alisah Hussain and Yaw Asare-Amankwah presented posters of their PhD work.

Collage of scientists from the CVRG attending a meeting

Recent news

Public Event: Café Scientifique
On Thursday 22 June 2023 Dr Kirsten Riches-Suman will discuss with the public how diabetes affects heart health, in a session entitled "The confused blood vessel".

Public Event: Pint of Science
PhD student Courtney Riley and Dr Jacobo Elies took part in the 'Pint of Science' Bradford event on 22 May 2023. The discussed how air pollution can induce cardiac arrhythmias and what can be done to change this: "How can air pollution affect my heart health?"

Biochemical Society: Clinical and Translational Research Theme Panel
Dr Talat Nasim has been appointed as a Panel Member for the Clinical and Translational Research Theme Panel of the Biochemical Society. The panel works to provide an opportunity to develop interdisciplinary activities and to collaborate with other organizations. Talat will be reviewing and commissioning events focussing on clinical and translational research topics. 

Leducq Foundation network grant
Professor Mark Boyett is part of a multinational network grant from the Leducq Foundation entitled "Fighting against sinus node dysfunction and associated arrhythmias". The 6 million USD grant will investigate sinus node dysfunction (also known as sick sinus syndrome) with the aim to develop better therapeutics.

Northern Cell Biology Forum 2022
On 23 September 2022, many members of the Cardiovascular Research Group attended the North of England Cell Biology Forum in Manchester. Interest into the research carried out at Bradford was high and PhD students from the group presented four posters and one talk.

Please also follow us on Twitter: @CardiovascBfd.

Recent publications

VEGF Stimulates Activation of ERK5 in the Absence of C-Terminal Phosphorylation Preventing Nuclear Localization and Facilitating AKT Activation in Endothelial Cells
Mondru AK, Aljasir MA, Alrumayh A, Nithianandarajah GN, Ahmed K, Müller J, Goldring CEP, Wilm B, Cross MJ
Cells: 12(6): 967.

Atrioventricular node dysfunction in pressure overload-induced heart failure Involvement of the immune system and transcriptomic remodelling
Wilson, C., Zi, M., Smith, M., Hussain, M., D’Souza, A., Dobrzynski, H., Boyett, M.R.
Frontiers in Pharmacology, 14:1083910.

Development and Optimisation of Inhalable EGCG Nano-Liposomes as a Potential Treatment for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension by Implementation of the Design of Experiments Approach
Haddad F, Mohammed N, Gopalan RC, Ayoub YA, Nasim MT, Assi KH
Pharmaceutics. 2023; 15(2):539. 

Non-canonical role of the sympathetic nervous system in the circadian rhythm in heart rate
Anderson C, Forte G, Hu W, Zhang H, Boyett MR, D’Souza A
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences 378(1879):20220179

Remodelling and dysfunction of the sinus node in pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Logantha SJRJ, Yamanushi TT, Absi M, Temple IP, Kabuto H, Hirakawa E, Quigley G, Zhang X, Gurney AM, Hart G, Zhang H, Dobrzynski H, Boyett MR, Yanni J
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences 378(1879):20220178.

Please follow this link for additional publications: Full list of our recent publications

Our PhD students

The Cardiovascular Research Group has a vibrant PhD student population. The group currently includes 16 PhD students working on a range of cardiovascular research projects. The individual projects can be viewed on the PhD students pages.

If you are interested in working with us, please visit the PhD projects pages for a list of currently available PhD projects in the group.

Cardiovascular Research Group members

The group currently consists of 8 academic research teams that perform collaborative, multi-disciplinary work to advance cardiovascular research at the University of Bradford. To inquire about our research, please email the group lead, Jürgen Müller.