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With the third grant,
we aim to improve
the heart’s ability to
recover from injury
and regenerate itself,
which we envisage
will become a clinical
reality within the next
10 years.
Being a young discipline in this country,
relative to eye and cancer research, for
example, we have managed to raise
cardiovascular research to greater
heights in Singapore.
What are CVRI’s plans moving
forward?
We will continue playing to our
strengths and focus on heart failure.
To tackle a national issue, the cardio-
vascular research community needs
to come together to ght on the same
side. Thus, we wish to next clinch a
S$25 million Open Fund - Large Col-
laborative Grant under National Medi-
cal Research Council working along-
side NHCS, NUHCS, NTU, multiple
A*STAR research institutes and multiple
industry partners. This grant will launch a
major national research initiative address-
ing Singapore’s emerging epidemic of
premature arterial disease from epidemi-
ology and basic vascular biology all the
way through to therapeutic interventions.
This will inevitably overlap with under-
lying problems including diabetes and
high blood pressure. The two domains
of heart failure and arterial disease are
intimately related to one another and
Singapore requires this broadening of
its cardiovascular research focus.•
By Prof. A. Mark Richards Director, Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI), NUHCS Prof. Richards has taken up the Directorship of the Cardiovascular Research Institute, Singapore, since October 2010. He leads a group focused on discovery and assay of cardiovascular biomarkers to assess an array of cardiovascular conditions including acute and chronic phases of heart failure, heart valve disease and coronary artery disease.1
Changes in a chromosome that affect gene activity and expression.
2
A measurable indicator of a biological state or condition.
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