Prof. Andy Baker (Dept of Pathology) has been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant of €2,5M for his research project PolymiRize: Poly-miRNA targeting to prevent and reverse complex tissue remodelling after acute cardiovascular events', which will be executed at the University of Edinburgh, Andy’s primary appointment. Andy is among 255 researchers (out of 1829 applications in all domains) in Europe to receive the grant, and he is one of the few researchers who received this grant twice.

About the project

Gene therapy for cardiovascular complications remains a realistic goal to help prevent or treat diverse cardiovascular complications. There remain many obstacles to overcome, including optimisation of delivery, control of transcription and so on. Further, many cardiovascular complications have complex mechanisms that initiate and/or progress the disease processes. PolymiRize is positioned to exploit the power of miRNA to control such complex mechanisms through a process of innovative and iterative multiplexing design, testing that will lead to the development of new viral-based vector systems.