The funding will be spent over a 5 year period, from 2014 – 2019 and builds on a previous investment in the Centre of £8.4m by the BHF. The goal of the CRE is to emerge as one of the leading cardiovascular centres worldwide. It will forge new programmes in population genetics & genomic epidemiology, medicinal chemistry and target discovery, regenerative medicine and stem cell biology, and informatics. CRE funding will be used primarily to support talented individuals, with a focus on recruiting researchers into the field and on career development. Pump priming and infrastructure awards will foster multi-disciplinary research and support the most novel and exciting ideas arising from across the spectrum of population, clinical and basic science.
Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the BHF said: “Oxford is a melting pot of innovative research. Funding the £6 million Centre of Research Excellence here will ensure the University is a world leader in heart research. With the best and brightest minds on the job, we’ll be even closer to a world where people don’t die prematurely from heart disease.”
The University of Oxford is one of 6 Centres of Research Excellence to receive funding from the BHF.