Artificial intelligence pioneers fund next generation of researchers – University of Sydney

Professor Gemma Figtree

"We have long known that smoking, high cholesterol, diabetes and hypertension are risk factors for heart disease, but many people develop a silent build-up of plaque in their arteries and suffer subsequent heart attack without any of these risk factors," Professor Figtree said.

As part of the project, Professor Figtree and her team will apply complex algorithms to clinical and state-of-the-art 'omic' data to unravel novel biomarkers of heart disease in its early phases.

"As part of our study, we will analyse blood samples of individuals who have advanced imaging of their coronary arteries and characterisation of their coronary plaque burden. We will use advanced technology platforms to measure hundreds of thousands of small molecules in the blood, including, RNA, protein and metabolites, as well as genomic variations. With the help of machine learning, we will then be able to train our systems to discover novel signatures of coronary plaque."

"This will allow us to develop new methods for early diagnosis. Our vision is for a simple blood test that your GP could order on a regular basis to detect the earliest phases of coronary heart disease, many years before a heart attack. If positive, your GP could prescribe life-saving drugs that stabilise the plaque, and prevent plaque progression and heart attack."

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Artificial intelligence pioneers fund next generation of researchers - University of Sydney