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The BHF Leicester Centre of Research Excellence is currently advertising a studentship opportunity for a September 2026 start. 

This interdisciplinary studentship offers exceptional opportunities to engage in cross-theme and cross-disciplinary research. The successful candidate will join a vibrant and supportive research community designed to stimulate collaboration and innovation, connect with leading experts across disciplines, and participate in events that open doors to future collaborations and research partnerships.

Application deadline: Thursday 2 July 2026

Projects to choose from include: 

Translational development of cardiac diffusion tensor imaging in cardiometabolic and valvular disease using machine learning (PDF, 157kb), Dr Maryam Afzali

Physics-Informed AI for Multi-Modal Cardiac Imaging and Prognostic Phenotyping (PDF, 136kb), Professor Ashiq Anjum

Understanding Why Failing Hearts Become Electrically Unstable: 3D Optical Mapping and AI Approaches (PDF, 159kb), Dr Reshma Chauhan: 

Find out how to apply

Blood vessel genes could be targets for heart disease drugs: new study

18 genes related to multiple vascular diseases have been identified by Â鶹ÊÓƵ scientists.

This is the first study by the British Heart Foundation Leicester Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) Fellows, published in the Journal Nature Communications.

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Dr Fiona Newberry explains how gut microbes may influence cardiovascular disease

BHF CRE Research Fellow Dr Fiona Newberry has published a new article in The Conversation, exploring the emerging science linking gut health to heart health.

In her piece, Why your gut microbiome and heart are closer than you think, Dr Newberry explains how the gut microbiome may play a greater role in cardiovascular disease than previously understood. She highlights growing evidence that people with cardiovascular disease tend to have reduced microbial diversity, fewer beneficial bacteria, and increased levels of microbes associated with inflammation.

The article also outlines how gut microbes produce metabolites, some of which can be harmful in excess, including TMAO (trimethylamine N-oxide), a molecule increasingly linked to poor cardiovascular outcomes. Dr Newberry’s commentary offers an accessible overview of current research and reinforces the importance of interdisciplinary investigation into the gut–heart axis—an emerging area with implications for prevention and treatment of heart disease.

Prediction of mortality, bleeding, and ischaemic events in patients with cancer and acute coronary syndrome: a model development and validation study

The Lancet. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)02020-3

An international team of researchers from England, Switzerland, and Sweden, including BHF CRE Investigator Prof David Adlam, has now developed the first risk prediction model designed specifically for cancer patients who have a heart attack. The study, published in The Lancet, analysed more than one million heart attack patients from England, Sweden and Switzerland, including over 47,000 with cancer.

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