Photo (from left to right): Dr Panagiotis Alexiou, Prof. Stephanie Bezzina Wettinger, UM Rector, Prof. Alfred J. Vella, UM Pro-Rector for Research & Knowledge Transfer, Prof. Ing. Simon Fabri, Prof. Rosienne Farrugia, and Prof. Jean Paul Ebejer

Having consistently been the top killer not just in Malta (accounting for 1,230 deaths in 2021), but also universally (taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year), cardiovascular disease has been under the microscope by researchers worldwide. However, due to its many possible root causes, gathering, sequencing and analysing relevant data can be a mammoth task. 

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) encompass various conditions affecting the heart and blood vessels and constitute a major health concern. Myocardial infarction (MI) is a specific manifestation of CVD and is characterised by a sudden disruption in blood flow to the heart, leading to tissue damage or death - what is commonly referred to as a heart attack. 

Even with current treatment strategies, by 2030, it is predicted that 23.6 million people per year will die due to the same cause. Despite research on the genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors associated with MI, practical applications to prevent it remain limited. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the necessity to rapidly identify new treatments, vaccines, and risk factors for disease, as we have witnessed the first-hand effect this can have on human life, health and the economy.

After being awarded €4 million in research funds by the EU through the European Innovation Council Pathfinder program, a group of Malta-based researchers from the Faculty of Health Sciences and Centre for Molecular Medicine & Biobanking within the University of Malta, in close collaboration with colleagues from Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), are setting out to develop new treatments and prevention for coronary heart disease and its consequences. 

In TargetMI: A Multi-Omics Approach for Novel Drug Targets, Biomarkers and Risk Algorithms for Myocardial Infarction, multiple sources of data will be analysed, such as from DNA, RNA, metabolites and blood proteins, as well as data retrieved from the previously-conducted Maltese Acute Myocardial Infarction (MAMI) study, to discover new drug targets and biomarkers for MI and develop risk assessment strategies. 

The genetic analysis from 1000 samples from the MAMI study and other bioinformatics tools already developed through the nationally funded Covid-19 R&D project TargetID: Novel Drug Targets for Infectious Diseases will be crucial to reach these goals. The large amount of data in the MAMI study makes it one of the best collections for the study of Myocardial Infarction worldwide.

Project Coordinator and Principal Investigator, Prof. Stephanie Bezzina Wettinger from the University of Malta’s Faculty of Health Sciences and the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Biobanking, says the new TargetMI study continues to build on previous work, expanding the data and further developing these tools making identification of novel drug targets, this time for cardiovascular disease, quicker and more cost-effective.

With Malta having a number of experienced and skilled researchers with expertise in various related medical areas, and with the invaluable financial help from numerous local and international entities such as the European Regional Development Fund, the field is closer to reaching the goals of providing better healthcare and job and industry creation.

The MSc in Bioinformatics at the University of Malta and the recently awarded EU ERA-Chair in Bioinformatics project BioGeMT are also attracting students and experts with great potential to support such long-term efforts in the medical field.

Other researchers working on this new project include Prof. Rosienne Farrugia,  and Prof. Melissa Formosa from the Department of Applied Biomedical Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, Prof. Jean Paul Ebejer, and Dr Panagiotis Alexiou, the ERA Chair in Bioinformatics at the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Biobanking where the team will be located. Researchers at Leiden University Medical Center will be led by Prof. Frits Rosendaal, Chairman of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at LUMC, and include Dr Bart JM van Vlijmen from the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Thrombosis and Hemostasis.