Victorian Heart Hospital/Institute and Monash Biomedical Discovery Institute 
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Heart Disease, Fish Oil and the Heart Hackathon

What are you researching?

My research is looking at preventative treatment for cardiovascular disease (CVD), particularly ischemic heart disease - narrowing and blockage of small blood vessels that can lead to heart attacks. Ischemic heart disease is endemic in Australia, affecting mostly our older population. But what’s particularly striking is that we’re beginning to see young people affected as well. Therefore, there is a growing need to identify effective preventative treatments which can be recommended to those susceptible to heart disease.

Fish oil continues to be recommended by the American and Australian Heart Foundations as part of a heart-healthy diet, yet there is no strong preclinical data to demonstrate its effectiveness in those with ischemic heart disease.

My research is assessing whether omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (key component of fish oil tablets) can be an effective preventative treatment for those at risk of ischemic heart disease.

How will your PhD research create real-world impact?

To date I’ve demonstrated the potential for certain components of fish oil, when given in high doses, to restore blood flow when there are blood vessel blockages. Importantly I’ve found that the dose is crucial!

The fish oil you would find in supermarkets or over-the-counter products typically does not contain a high enough concentration of the beneficial components. Instead, it’s the pharmaceutical-grade fish oils which tend to have the most benefits.

My hope is that this work will support a recommendation for the widespread use of regulated pharmaceuticals using the beneficial components of fish oil, rather than over-the-counter supplements, as a promising preventative medication to combat our endemic of heart disease.

How else are you making an impact in Heart Health ?

My passion for cardiovascular health also led me to help co-create, design and implement the world’s first artificial heart competition, The Heart Hackathon.

The Hackathon has sponsorship from companies including Syncardia (USA), Hydrix (Aus), Virtonomy (Germany), Realheart (Sweden) and MagAssist (China) and organisations including the International Society for Mechanical Circulatory Support (ISMCS).

The competition sees interdisciplinary teams from universities across the world compete at designing total artificial hearts. A significant number of CVD patients will suffer heart failure and require a heart transplant. Total artificial hearts are a promising option for these patients while they wait for a donor heart, allowing their own heart to recover.

I’m now jointly-leading the Monash University team in the competition, and we hope to be selected as finalists and present our Total Artificial Heart design at the ISMCS Conference later this year.