Cardiovascular diseases affect about 30% of the European population and account approximately for 40% of deaths in Italy and 45% in Austria, according to 2015 Eurostat data.

Through a project targeted at research partners, researchers, students, medical doctors and health professionals, the ICGEB Cardiovascular Biology laboratory in Trieste, the Eurac Research -Institute for Biomedicine, Biology of Cardiac Health and Disease Group, Bolzano, the University Department of Visceral, Transplant and Thoracic Surgery, Innsbruck, and CUAS Engineering and IT in Klagenfurt, Austria, with Associated Partners, Hospital of Bolzano, Cardiology, University of Trieste, Medical Sciences, Surgery and Health, and the Merano Hospital, Cardiology, come together to create a virtual centre for excellence to target cardiovascular disease.

Collectively, the project combines multidisciplinary expertise in the fields of physiology, biology, heart transplant surgery, biomedical engineering and bioinformatics. In particular, the role of mechanical forces in controlling the heart cell characteristics will be studied. Further, cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) will be used to reintroduce the human context in the early stages of drug research and to explore the activity of compounds capable of modulating cardiac contractility and electrical activity.

The ICGEB Cardiovascular Biology lab has established skills in research and innovation capacities in the field to drive the development of innovative technologies and therapeutic concepts pivotal for this project. The Medical University of Innsbruck (MUI) will be developing training and knowledge exchange methodologies in the fields of ischemia-reperfusion and organ transplantation. Eurac Research will be driving the pilot actions including the search for novel cardioprotective factors and molecules controlling cardiac rhythm, and CUAS, will be responsible for the creation of a competence centre and a virtual platform for data exchange. The partnership represents pluriennial experience in Interreg projects.