A Public Lecture at Bristol University to rise awareness on a socially relevant still belittled disease
In the sumptuous main hall of the Wills Memorial Building, Bristol University, almost 500 people – mostly laypersons with a percentage of international scientists and researchers – attended yesterday, Sept. 18, the public lecture “Who nearly killed Sir Ranulph Fiennes?”. The lecture was organized by the Bristol Heart Institute in collaboration with the Bristol University, and took place during the joint meetings of the European Vascular Genomics Network (EVGN, www.evgn.org), and the 4th European Meeting on Vascular Biology and Medicine (EMVBM). An event that gathered more than 400 experts, among cardiologists and diabetes researchers, hematologists, thrombosis scientists, gene therapists and oncologists.
Placing himself in the role of the witty investigator Hercule Poirot, Professor Andrew Newby, President of the European Vascular Biology Organization (EVBO) and British Heart Foundation Professor of Vascular Cell Biology at Bristol University’s Bristol Heart Institute, led the audience through arteries and veins, along a fantastic journey inside a human organism in the process of developing coronary artery disease. He interrogated likely culprits and, eventually, got to the solution of the case.
“People underestimate the role that the environment or life-style factors play in the development of coronary artery disease” commented Professor Newby who is also EVGN co-Director. “The purpose of this lecture was to show them the real damage caused by this disease. Unfortunately, once altered, some of the biochemical pathways that keep our organism alive and healthy are hardly ever restorable. Hence the importance of prevention and of public awareness”.
Beginning his journey with the description of the early signs of coronary disease, Professor Newby opened a number of more technical windows on the actors on the stage. He dissected the structure of atherosclerotic plaques and highlighted the role of monocytes and macrophages in the dramatic changes that occur inside the blood vessels microenvironment. All the take-home messages were clear-cut and the whole presentation hit the target.