Submitted by Yan Pan on Wed, 17/06/2026 - 15:00
A major international coalition co-led by the University of Cambridge and Stanford Medicine has secured a grant of $9 million (approximately £6.7 million) to develop new approaches for predicting and preventing heart attacks and strokes.
The funding, awarded by the Leducq Foundation through its prestigious International Networks of Excellence Awards, will support the ATHENA (Atherosclerosis Targets from Human Genetics and Functional Genomic Approaches) project over five years. ATHENA will establish a transatlantic research programme to identify the genetic and molecular mechanisms that drive atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of most heart attacks and strokes.
Atherosclerosis, the gradual build-up of fatty plaques within the arteries, remains a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Despite major advances in reducing cardiovascular risk to halt disease, progress in clinical prevention has been limited due to lack of understanding of the root causes of the disease.
To address this gap, ATHENA unites top clinical investigators from the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland, and Sweden uncover previously hidden biological pathways involved in disease development and identify new targets for future therapies.
Dr Helle F Jørgensen, Associate Professor within the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge, will serve as the European Coordinator for the multi-centre network. Her lab at the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart and Lung Research Institute focuses on vascular smooth muscle cells, key arterial cells that play a central role in the development and progression of atherosclerosis.
The ATHENA team will combine large-scale genetic studies, functional genomics and experimental testing to pinpoint specific genes and networks that drive disease. By revealing how and why genes cause disease, this integrated approach will inform the development of new treatments and more accurate risk prediction of cardiovascular disease.
We are really excited about this programme and grateful to the Leducq Foundation for their support.
Dr Helle F Jørgensen, Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, and co-coordinator of the study
