Category Archives: 2026

The Hatter Cardiovascular Institute has had the pleasure of hosting Rosa Ciullo from the University of Torino, Italy for the past 6 months in our laboratory. Rosa is a very talented second year PhD student within the Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences at the University of Torino, Italy, supervised by Prof Pasquale Pagliaro, Prof Claudia Penna and Dr Licia Brizzi. Her visit was funded by a fellowship from an Italian educational program that supports international research training.

During her internship with us, Rosa conducted experiments using our novel compound UCL-TRO-1938, which is a selective activator of protective kinase signalling pathways, using tissue from rodent hearts, brains and other tissues. In the short time that she was here she successfully established a new method in the lab to investigate the damaging effect of inflammation on the inner layer of blood vessels, and she obtained novel exciting data suggesting that our new investigational drug, UCL-TRO-1938 is able to protect against this damage.

The project lays the foundations for a fruitful collaboration between their lab and ours, with the hope that this might lead to future joint publications and further scientific exchange.

Rosa has been a wonderful addition to our laboratory team. She has shown a strong understanding of the research, has been a quick learner of techniques and always shown a positive attitude and exemplary work ethic. The Hatter Cardiovascular Institute wishes Rosa all the best as she completes her PhD and would welcome her back to work with us in the future.

The Hatter Cardiovascular Institute is pleased to announce Dr Thomas Wright has been awarded as Runner Up in the Early Career Investigator category at this year’s International Society for Heart Research (ISHR) congress. Dr Wright presented a talk titled ‘NLRP3 inhibition reduces myocardial infarction in the context of cardiorenal disease’ as part of the Early Career Investigator Awards Session.

The International Society for Heart Research (ISHR) annual conference was held at the University of Birmingham 22-25 June. An active European and global network, the ISHR is dedicated to advancing cardiovascular science by bringing together researchers. This is accomplished through an annual congress as well as regular webinars and collaborative activities to foster interaction between early-career and established scientists, with the underpinning aim of promoting innovation, knowledge exchange and establishment of a strong research community.

Dr Wright joined The Hatter Cardiovascular Institute in October 2025 as a Post Doctoral Fellow to undertake research on our British Heart Foundation (BHF) funded cardio-renal programme focussed on the identification of novel therapeutic targets which tackle inflammation to promote cardioprotection in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Dr Wright is a valuable member of our research team, and we are pleased to see his research in chronic kidney disease already being acknowledged. We look forward to seeing further results from the ongoing studies.

The 4^th Annual RIC Africa Principal Investigators was held on 17^th March at the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa bringing together our consortium to discuss study progress, challenges and ideas.

The RIC-AFRICA trial was established to investigate whether Remote Ischaemic Conditioning (RIC) can improve clinical outcomes in these higher-risk STEMI patients in sub-Saharan Africa treated by thrombolysis. What began as a pilot study in early 2022 across 4 African countries, RIC Africa is now active in 8 pan-African countries, involving nearly 20 different hospital sites. Each year we welcome new teams and sites as the study grows and the awareness of the research stretches across Africa. This year we were fortunate to welcome Mauritius and Ethiopia as new members of the RIC Africa family.

Under the leadership of Prof Derek Yellon (UCL) and Prof Mpiko Ntsekhe (UCT), the study as secured significant funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Denmark. This support has enabled dedicated Research Medical Officers and Research Nurses to focus on the study and thus, has allowed for much progress. Prof Yellon has an honorary position at UCT in the Department of Medicine due to his on-going advisory capacity and this further strengthens links to UCT and beyond. At a recent meeting between senior representatives of UCT and UCL, the success of the RIC Africa study was included on the agenda as the two organisations explore opportunities to build closer ties. We have been fortunate to have the support of the UCL Research, Innovation & Global Engagement team (under Prof Geraint Rees), since the inception of the RIC Africa study.

The meeting was productive, informative and as always, an excellent opportunity to share challenges and solutions. With each year, we feel the team coming together more and solidifying the network. Presentations on potential sub-studies allowed us to think of new studies to utilise the data looking ahead. Certainly, there is great opportunity.

Importantly, we began collective discussions around the education programme that will underpin RIC Africa. Through various courses specific to clinical research and by utilising a variety of resources, we will create a comprehensive and applicable training package to support continued research across Africa.

As with past meetings, the opportunity to come together as a team strengthened our determination to reach the study goals and reminds us what is possible through teamwork. We continue to be proud of the important work the team is undertaking. We look forward to see what we will achieve in the coming year!