Christchurch researchers are playing a key role in a new company aiming to revolutionise the accurate diagnosis of heart conditions.
Upstream Medical Technologies (UMT) is a partnership between the University of Otago and Powerhouse Ventures Ltd. Researchers from the University’s Christchurch Heart Institute are developing a range of tests to speed up the diagnosis of potentially deadly heart conditions, which will be patented and ultimately sold to hospitals worldwide.
The lead researchers are internationally-recognised scientists Associate Professor Chris Pemberton (2011 HRC Liley Medal recipient for his contribution to cardiovascular medicine) and Professor Mark Richards. Both these researchers are involved in the $5 million HRC-funded programme 'Heart failure: markers and management' . This programme, which is led by Professor Richards, includes a controlled trial of intensified, immediate post-discharge management using special blood tests to individually grade risk and guide intervention to improve outcomes in heart failure.
Associate Professor Pemberton says Christchurch Heart Institute researchers were first to identify the importance to heart health of protein fragments in the blood known as signal peptides.
“These protein fragments, once identified, can be monitored for medical diagnostics relating to heart health,” he says.
“UMT has developed a world-first test to potentially speed up the diagnosis of unstable angina, a serious cardiac condition that is difficult and time consuming for doctors and is a major area of unmet clinical diagnostics.”
News article courtesy of the University of Otago, Christchurch