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An image from Radcliffe Department of Medicine researchers has been voted the supporters favourite in the annual British Heart Foundation 'Reflection of Research' image competition. 

The competition aims to showcase cutting-edge heart and circulatory disease research by using captivating images, and DPhil students Cheryl Tan and Maryam Alsharqi, together with Drs Winok Lapidaire, Mariane Bertagnolli and Adam Lewandowski created a winning image representing the complex interactions between the heart and the brain. The image (main picture) portrays some of the different imaging techniques that researchers at the CCRF, OCMR and other places across the University use to investigate this relationship. These include magnetic resonance imaging of the heart and brain, ultrasound imaging of the heart and immunofluorescence imaging of the heart and blood vessel cells. 

The winning research team aims to better understand how the brain and heart’s structure and function are related. They are also investigating how these relationships differ in individuals with risk factors for heart and circulatory diseases, such as high blood pressure or a history of pregnancy complications including premature birth and preeclampsia. By using a variety of methods, the team is hoping to find out how diseases of the heart and brain develop in higher risk individuals, and how they can be prevented.

Another Oxford University researcher, Dr Richard Tyser, won the overall runner-up position, with an image showing a mouse heart within the developing embryo. The overall winner was an image from Iona Cuthbertson at Cambridge University, showing a sea of smooth muscle heart cells. 

Many congratulations to all the winners!

Read press coverage in:

The Times

BBC 

Oxford Mail