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A drug used to treat epilepsy patients could help prevent stroke in people whose arteries show signs of atherosclerosis – furring of the arteries – scientists will tell audiences at the Cambridge Festival.

Cambridge scientists have grown beating heart cells in the lab and shown how they are vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection. In a study published in Communications Biology, they used this system to show that an experimental peptide drug called DX600 can prevent the virus entering the heart cells.

A new risk calculator will better predict people at high risk of heart and circulatory diseases years before they strike, and is ready for use across the UK and Europe, according to research published in the journal European Heart Journal.

Switching off a heart muscle protein could provide a new way for drugs to combat heart failure in people who’ve had a heart attack, according to research led by the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge and published in the journal Nature.

Professor Ziad Mallat and his team have been shortlisted for a £30 million grant from the British Heart Foundation. If successful, atherosclerosis – hardening of the arteries – could become a thing of the past.

Autistic people have far greater risks of long term physical health conditions than others, but the reasons for this remain unclear. New research from the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge suggests that unhealthy lifestyle habits may be an important contributing factor. 

Scientists have identified new genetic clues in people who have had small and often apparently ‘silent’ strokes that are difficult to treat and a major cause of vascular dementia, according to research led by the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge and published in ̽»¨Ö±²¥Lancet Neurology.

Poor awareness of a condition known as Heart Failure with preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF) – the cause of a half of all cases of heart failure in England – could be hindering opportunities to improve care for patients, say researchers from the Universities of Cambridge, Manchester, and Keele.

Over-activity in a single brain region called the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) underlies several key symptoms of mood and anxiety disorders, but an antidepressant only successfully treats some of the symptoms. 

Mitochondrial therapy in complicated pregnancies lowers the chance of cardiovascular problems in the offspring.