Opportunity profile: Charity pumps £30m into heart research

The British Heart Foundation is offering £30 million for transformative research in heart and circulatory disease. Bids that engage with disruptive technologies are encouraged, Nilesh Samani, the BHF’s medical director, tells Sophie Inge.

Nilesh’s top tips

• The BHF is looking for transformative research, not necessarily research with the widest impact, so don’t write off focusing on less common conditions.
• The review panel will include many people from outside cardiovascular bioscience, and bids should be easily understandable by them.
• The BHF welcomes bids that engage with technologies such as artificial intelligence and gene editing.
• Above all, be bold in your thinking.

The BHF’s Big Beat Challenge will open to researchers anywhere in the world in December. Teams will be able to bid for up to £30m to fund a major research effort with the potential to transform the way that cardiovascular disease is diagnosed or treated.