Preclinical Grants leading to and supporting development of LifeMap

• British Heart Foundation funding granted to GAN as PI
  • Project Grant (PG/02/088): The role of the autonomic nervous system and nitric oxide in determining the susceptibility of ventricular myocardium to lethal arrhythmias. (2003-05)
  • Intermediate Basic Science Research Fellowship (FS/12/2/29300): investigating the significance of intrinsic cardiac ganglia in the control of cardiac performance in health and disease. (2012-16)
  • Clinical PhD Studentship (FS/12/52/29629): Investigating the autonomic modulation of ventricular arrhythmias in heart failure. (2013-16)
  • Project Grant (PG/13/57/30385): Structure-function mapping of spatial heterogeneities of the heart and their effects on sympathetic modulation of ventricular arrhythmias. (2014-16)
• Garfield Weston Trust Project Grant: The role of nitric oxide signalling pathways in mediating the autonomic modulation of ventricular fibrillation. (2008-11)
• Van Geest Fund: Investigating the link between ambulatory autonomic function and ventricular arrhythmia susceptibility in heart failure (2015-17)

LifeMap development Grants

The first clinical studies translating the preclinical mechanistic knowledge to develop the novel LifeMap ECG makers were ICD-IRS (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators – Improving Risk Stratification) and ICD-IRS II including retrospective and prospective cohorts, which were supported by several funding streams:

• Clinical Impact Da Vinci Award (2010);
• Sorin Research Fellowship and NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Unit PhD studentship (Dr Nicolson) supporting ICD-IRS research study. (2009-12);
• Bodyguard study; EMDA in collaboration with OptimaLife. (2011);
• East Midlands Pacemaker Fund Grant for body surface mapping equipment. (2013);
• University of Leicester Innovation Fellowship. (2013);
• IPEM Innovation and Research Award – towards the purchase of a ‘Biosemi ActiveTwo’ 128 electrode Body Surface Potential Mapping System (2014).
• NIHR Leicester Cardiovascular BRU grant – ULTIMATE study: (2013-2016). This is a prospective study of patient ECG data from intracardiac stimulation (invasive) and during exercise, aimed at developing a non-invasive method for LifeMap;
• Heart Research UK Novel and Emerging Technologies (NET) Grant: (2016-19). Multicentre Investigation of Novel Electrocardiogram Risk markers in Ventricular Arrhythmia prediction – UK multicentre trialists collaboration (MINERVA); This is an ongoing study involving 12 high volume UK EP centres aimed at consolidating the evidence base for LifeMap in preparation for commercialisation;
• St Jude Medical Research Project Grant (2016-18). Improving risk stratification in Sudden Cardiac Death – LifeMap CERTIFIED. This project aims to collect data and measure electrical restitution from both high density intracardiac recordings (>3300 per patient) and body surface potential mapping (128 channels). It provides excellent data supporting the proposed project by 1) further refinement of the LifeMap algorithms; 2) optimise the surface recording locations for maximising predicting power of LifeMap;
• MRC Confidence in Concept funds 2017 (Leicester Drug Discovery and Diagnostics (LD3). (2017-18). Towards commercialising LifeMap as a novel clinical tool for assessing risk of sudden cardiac death. This MRC funding is currently supporting the initial step of developing user interface of current LifeMap software for speeding up data analysis. The first milestone of the proposed BMC project will be the direct continuation of this MRC CiC funded project;
• British Heart Foundation Programme Grant (RG/17/3/32774): “Neurocardiac interaction in malignant ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death” (2017-22). This recently awarded grant continues to explore mechanisms underlying lethal arrhythmias which will improve understanding for further refinement and translation for development of LifeMap markers.

See our awards