UofG School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health

29/09/2025

Today is World Heart Day and Professor George Baillie discusses his teams current research focus.

The Baillie lab is developing novel therapies for heart disease that are more targeted than current treatments which tend to target systemically one enzyme or receptor that can have multiple functions in the cardiovascular system and other tissues. Alternatively, we target single cardiac protein complexes by mapping protein-protein interactions and we use this information to develop disruptor molecules that displace only a fraction of the global pool of one disease causing protein. This displacement strategy has advantages as it only affects a minute percentage of any specific protein that is highly localised within cardiac myocytes and there is no inhibition of its other functions. In this way we can manipulate cell signalling systems in one cellular "nano-domain" that positively regulates cardiac contractility or protects against maladaptions such as cardiac hypertrophy or fibrosis.

26/09/2025

On Monday 29th September, we're celebrating World Heart Day with a special evening hosted by BHF-funded researchers at Dram.

🧠 The night will feature engaging talks from researchers sharing insights into their life-saving work.
🎟️ There’ll be a raffle and a quiz during the breaks to keep things lively!
🕡 Doors open at 6:30pm, with talks starting at 7pm.
💷 Tickets are £10, which includes raffle entry.

We kindly ask everyone to book in advance to secure a spot.

👉 Book your ticket here: The Heart of the Matter – A Night with BHF Researchers

Let’s come together to support heart research and enjoy a great night out!

17/09/2025

We would like to congratulate Dr Gabriela Gerganova on being awarded the degree of PhD for the thesis titled 'Inflammatory mechanisms after ischaemic stroke: roles of central nervous system (CNS) border associated macrophages (BAMs) and dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH2)'

We wish you all the success in the future 🎉

10/09/2025

📢 Study Opportunity – Volunteers Wanted!

Are you aged 18 or over and living with one of the following conditions?

Rheumatoid Arthritis
Type 2 Diabetes
Gout
Coronary Heart Disease
Stroke

Researchers at the University of Glasgow are investigating whether a 12-week krill oil supplementation (or placebo) can help improve functional muscle mass.

🧪 What’s involved?

Two short visits to the University of Glasgow
A £50 voucher upon completion

Interested? Get in touch at mvls-kommstudy@glasgow.ac.uk to learn more or sign up!

03/09/2025

We would like to congratulate Dr Ahmad Salim M Binmahfoz on being awarded the degree of PhD for the thesis titled 'Development of a home based resistance exercise programme for muscle strength and function during weight loss'

We wish you all the best in the future

27/08/2025

We would like to welcome Ali Almutyif to SCMH.

"Hi, I’m Ali Almutyif, and I’m excited to join SCMH as a PhD researcher (PGR) with Dr. Matthew Lee and Prof. Paul Welsh, and Dr. Aleksandra Radjenovic . I’m from Saudi Arabia and have a background in cardiovascular technology. I’m passionate about finding new ways to improve heart failure prevention, detection, and treatment. Outside the lab, I enjoy exploring new places and meeting people from different cultures. If you see me around campus, please say hello—I’d love to connect!
My research focuses on finding early signs of heart failure before symptoms appear, both in people with and without diabetes. I use advanced protein analysis (proteomics) and heart imaging to better understand how the heart changes over time. The goal is to discover new ways to detect heart failure early and improve prevention and treatment."

We wish you all the best with your studies!

22/08/2025

Next in our Meet Our PhD series, we meet Anna, a BHF four year programme PhD student.

Can you please explain your project?

My PhD project is looking at the impacts of stroke on other organs of the body. We know that as well as brain injury, stroke survivors can have complications in a number of other organs such as the heart and kidneys and are interested in exploring some of these effects further. Specifically, I am interested in whether small signalling particles called extracellular vesicles (or EVs) could be having a role in causing some of this damage, initially focusing on the blood vessels and heart.

What does a typical week look like for you?

A typical week will vary based on what experiments I have running but will normally have a mix of long whole-day experiments, shorter jobs to do in the lab like looking after cells, and desk work in the office such as analysing data or writing.

What advice would you give yourself before you started your PhD?

I think the advice I’d give myself (or anyone at the start of a PhD!) is to have realistic expectations of how much you can get done in a week! We all know that lab work has a tendency to take longer than expected so it’s easy to feel de-railed when things go wrong but it’s always good to take a step back and look at the bigger picture and then it doesn’t feel so bad!

What is your biggest achievement while doing your PhD?

My biggest achievement so far is probably in my role as a PGR rep. We decided to organise a cross-school event for all of the PGR students within MVLS to share their research in an informal way, with pizza of course! It felt like a daunting task to get the message out to that many people and organise an event so large but we had great attendance and feedback which was really encouraging!

20/08/2025

🗺️ SCMH Treasure Hunt
📅 Thursday 4th September
🕐 1pm – 4pm

Join us for an end-of-summer adventure! Team up with colleagues to solve clues, explore the University, and enjoy some friendly competition.

✨ Sign up in advance to take part!

14/08/2025

New Research from Dr Heather Walker posted in Healthcare in Europe.

To find out more check out the article below ⬇

Researchers have found that a common tool used by clinicians for predicting kidney failure could be underestimating the risk of failure for some people.

14/08/2025

At the School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Health research is a prime activity an forms the central core around everything else that we do.

We do this research within the MVLS 2033 College Futures themes and work alongside our colleagues at the college.

07/08/2025

🎉 Congratulations to Professor John Cleland!

We’re delighted to share that Professor Cleland has been awarded the prestigious McKenzie Medal by the British Cardiovascular Society. This honour recognises his outstanding contributions to cardiovascular research and medicine.

👏 A well-deserved recognition for a remarkable career!

30/07/2025

We would like to invite you to register for this year's SCMH PGR Symposium on the 24th of October at the Advanced Research Centre. We will have a range of career talks, and you will have the opportunity to present your research in our poster sessions (there will also be prizes up for grabs!).

Register here or scan the QR code in the poster attached.

Abstract submission will open on the 8th of August, we will be in touch then to let you know how to submit this.

Full agenda coming soon!