Metabolomics in Myocardial diseases

The heart is a highly active organ and requires a large amount of energy to pump blood. The process through which energy is generated from nutrient breakdown is termed metabolism. The science of studying metabolism is known as metabolomics.

We already know that abnormal heart metabolism likely contributes to the development of many heart muscle diseases including heart failure and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (an important disease of heart muscle thickening which is the commonest cause of sudden death in the young).

To do establish a detailed perspective on the metabolic changes in the heart, we use sophisticated techniques to collect blood samples closest to the beating heart (veins directly emptying the heart), thus telling the best possible story of heart disease. The metabolomic analysis of these samples is performed using state-of-the-art discovery technologies.

By developing an understanding about the change in metabolism which happens in patients with heart disease, we aim to identify new ways of diagnosing disease, make inferences about disease progression and possibly develop new drugs to treat heart diseases.

If you are a researcher and would like to know more about this study, or if you have similar research interests, please contact: 

Dr Nikhil Pal: Tel: 01865 572898 Email:  nikhil.pal@cardiov.ox.ac.uk