Cardiovascular disease

Coronary heart disease kills more Australians than any other single disease. It also shows a strong association with Type II diabetes, which has emerged as a global public health crisis. Many people survive a heart attack (myocardial infarction) only to live shorter lives of reduced quality because of damage to the heart that occurred during the infarction. Heart failure, in which the damaged heart cannot eject sufficient blood, or sudden death due to electrical dysfunction in scarred regions of the heart, are common problems after myocardial infarction.

Our work focuses on developing new treatments for heart failure resulting from interruptions in coronary blood supply (such as in heart attack) or as a result of diabetes. We are currently identifying and developing G protein-coupled receptor ligands that show desired disease-specific signalling with reduced side effects.

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Research laboratories