The Australasian Cardiac Bio-specimen Network (ACBN), is a unique trans-Tasman initiative to bank heart tissue and DNA samples for research use - a first of its kind to unite major heart research groups in Australia and New Zealand to attack the problem of both adult and child-onset heart disease.
Professor Robert Graham, Director of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (VCCRI), which spearheaded the initiative, says that diseases of the heart and blood vessels kill more people each year than cancer and motor accidents combined, so there is a real need for heart research groups to unite in fighting this deadly disease.
"The ACBN would have brought together major medical research groups including the VCCRI and St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, the Baker Heart Research Institute and St. Vincent's Institute in Melbourne, the University of Queensland, the Trans-Tasman Sudden Death Task Force and the Children's Hospital, Westmead. Each institute would have collected and stored heart tissue and DNA samples obtained at the time of heart transplants and other procedures, which would then be catalogued and stored in a database for national distribution," Professor Graham said.
"Given not only the critical importance of heart disease in our community, but also the unique benefits provided by this National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) Enabling Grant application, including its potential for reducing the need for animal experimentation, it certainly is richly deserving of funding," Professor Garry Jennings, Director, Baker Heart Research Institute added. "So the news that NH&MRC is unable to support the ACBN initiative because of lack of funds is a major setback for the people of Australia."
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Contact: Samantha Lucia
61-283-823-415
Research Australia
9-Dec-2005