Baker Heart & Diabetes Institute
In 2025, the Foundation commenced a funding relationship with the Baker Heart & Diabetes Institute focused on research to prevent heart attacks. Atherosclerosis, which involves the build-up of fats and cell debris inside artery walls, is a progressive and often silent disease. Heart attacks are typically caused by the rupture of atherosclerotic plaques in the heart’s arteries, which can occur without warning. This leads to blood clots that block the flow of blood and oxygen, resulting in death or substantial long-term damage to the heart. Currently around one in three of us will suffer a heart attack during our lifetime and many of us will die of it.
The Institute’s researchers are seeking to unlock how and why these plaques rupture which is critical to stopping heart attacks before they happen. Their work is transforming the understanding of atherosclerosis and paving the way for the development of game changing new therapeutics that block T cells to prevent plaque rupture and thereby, prevent heart attacks.
To block these T cell responses, the team will use state-of-the-art technologies to identify the exact molecules within atherosclerotic plaques that drive inflammatory T cell responses in the arteries. They then aim to harness mRNA technology to create a vaccine that reprograms these harmful T cells, stopping them from doing damage and causing plaque rupture and heart attacks.
Not only this work significantly improve the understanding of the application of mRNA vaccines and therapeutics for cardiovascular disease, but the findings may also be applied to treat other deadly diseases.
