Thrombo-inflammation

Analysing large sets of information (large-scale data) and testing new drugs to understand the effects of inflammation and blood clotting in cardiovascular diseases such heart attack, stroke, vascular dementia, hypertension and venous thrombosis.

The prevention of heart and circulatory diseases remains one of the UK’s most important public health issues, with one death occurring every three minutes, twice as many people suffering these conditions than cancer and Alzheimer’s combined, and a cost of £19 billion to the UK economy each year. The interaction between inflammation and blood clotting is critical in nearly all of these diseases. New understanding in this field is a major opportunity for development of treatments that can improve patient outcomes or prevent disease.

In the thrombo-inflammation theme we are seeking to find more powerful ways to stop blood clotting and to minimise side-effects such as bleeding.

We are also analysing large sets of information and testing new drugs to improve treatment of heart attacks, stroke, vascular dementia, hypertension and blood clots. We are achieving this through the study of the interplay of inflammation and blood clotting using samples taken in the clinic from patients, and through the development of new ways to change inflammation and clotting in people.

This includes clinical trials, for example with a new drug in patients who have recently suffered a heart attack. We also use routine NHS data from our local and national networks, in combination with artificial intelligence, to support better use of existing drugs and to develop new ways to target and prevent long-term health issues such as vascular dementia.