14 December 2009

Dundee scientists receive healthy boost from nation's heart charity

Scientists at the University of Dundee have been awarded a prestigious grant of £168,000 by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) as part of a £4.2 million boost for heart research across the UK.

The charity's special grants are made several times a year to fund research into the causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease, Scotland's biggest killer.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the BHF said: "Research helps us to understand how our hearts and blood vessels work, what can go wrong to cause disease, and how we can diagnose and treat it effectively. Research helps to save lives and improve patients' quality of life in Scotland, the UK and across the world.

"We would like to thank everyone in and around Dundee who has generously given their time and money to help fund this vital work because, without donations from the public, we would not be able to continue with our ground-breaking research."

Details of the grant announced to researchers at the University of Dundee:

• Grant recipient : Dr Kei Sakamoto (1) and Prof Aleksandar Jovanovic
• Research institution : MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit and Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, University of Dundee
• Grant amount : £168,075
• What the project will aim to achieve : Heart and circulatory disease is Scotland's biggest killer, and new treatments are urgently needed to combat it. Some people develop heart disease because of genetic errors that affect the normal function of the heart and circulatory system. This research duo from the University of Dundee will study an enzyme called AMPK, which functions to co-ordinate energy balance in our bodies. Some people inherit errors in AMPK, which can damage the heart by causing it to store too much energy in the form of glucose. This can lead to the debilitating conditions called glycogen-storage disease and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. They will look at ways to restore normal energy balance, potentially leading to novel new treatments for these heart conditions.

For more information about any of these project grants or to arrange an interview with a scientist, contact Clare Shaw (shawc@bhf.org.uk, 0131 561 3355) or Marjory Wood (woodm@bhf.org.uk, 0131 561 3351) at BHF Scotland.

Notes to editors
(1) The main grant recipient, Dr Kei Sakamoto, previously hosted a fitness program on Japanese TV, but he was keen to find out how exercise could help people fight obesity and metabolic disease at the molecular levels. He decided to undertake PhD study at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, USA, where he became an expert on the molecular physiology of exercise and muscle metabolism. After completing his PhD, he moved to Dundee to join Dario Alessi's group at the MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit in 2003. He set up his own independent research group in the MRC Unit in 2006. His team currently studies the molecular pathways by which nutrients, hormones, and exercise coordinately regulate healthy energy balance in our bodies, and how deregulation of these systems causes metabolic disorders including cardiovascular disease.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is the nation's heart charity, dedicated to saving lives through pioneering research, patient care, campaigning for change and by providing vital information. But we urgently need help. We rely on donations of time and money to continue our life-saving work. Because together we can beat heart disease.

For the latest news, visit www.bhf.org.uk/scotland.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
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University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
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E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk
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