The James Hogg iCAPTURE Centre for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research

2003 Research Unit Award

This unit brings together a multidisciplinary group of researchers, in the UBC departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Medicine and Pharmacology & Therapeutics, whose efforts are directed at developing effective strategies and interventions to prevent, detect and treat heart, lung and blood vessel diseases. The researchers are particularly interested in discovering how interactions between genetic and environmental factors lead to the development of particular disease manifestations, including variations in susceptibility to these diseases, severity of symptoms and the rate at which symptoms progress.

With the completion of the worldwide Human Genome Project, the next challenge for biomedical research is to discover how variations in the genetic code of each individual, together with the influence of environmental factors, determine an individual’s susceptibility to and pattern of disease development (phenotype).The iCAPTURE Centre has over 225 personnel working towards understanding the links between our genes, the environment and diseases of the heart, lung and blood vessels, which together constitute the major causes of death and decreased quality of life in western societies. Much of this research relies on unique tissue registries provided by patients who are treated in hospital for these diseases and consent to the use of tissue samples for research purposes.

The key to the discovery of mechanisms and the design of therapies for complex genetic diseases is identifying genes involved in the molecular pathways that give rise to disease. Building on the internationally unique tissue banks and patient registries, the iCAPTURE Centre is at the forefront in molecular phenotyping, ultrastructural imaging, dynamic cellular imaging and organ imaging to identify candidate genes that may offer therapeutic targets. The unit also has expertise in identifying polymorphisms (differences in DNA) in these candidate genes that determine an individual’s unique susceptibility to heart, lung or blood vessel disease. Further, they are studying the mechanisms by which certain strains of viruses and bacteria contribute to the development of cardiovascular and lung disease.

With the advent of new technologies in imaging and phenotyping, the amount and complexity of data is expanding exponentially. In response, the unit is also developing its bioinformatics capacity to integrate and provide researchers with tools to relate information about genetic susceptibility of patients with heart and lung disease to environmental influences, including socioeconomic status, educational backgrounds, inhaled cigarette smoke, pollutants, viruses, allergens, diet and obesity.

Completed award term September 2009.

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