Ireland’s only dedicated cardiovascular research institute opens new Dublin hub to drive heart innovation

The Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI) Dublin, the only Institute of its kind in Ireland, has officially opened its new office at The Grain Store, Dublin 2, a hub for the next phase of its growth. Established in 2019 by Mater Private Network in collaboration with Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) University of Medicine and Health Sciences, CVRI Dublin was set up to meet an unmet need for cardiovascular research in Ireland. By bringing clinical trials, AI-enabled imaging and patient outcome data together under one roof, the Institute gives patients earlier access to new treatments and helps clinicians, researchers and med-tech innovators improve how heart disease is prevented, diagnosed and treated, for patients today and for the wider population in years to come.

With a team of 30 researchers and working with more than 45 consultant cardiologists across Dublin and Cork, CVRI Dublin’s mission is to deliver timely and clinically-relevant patient-centred cardiovascular research

Mr. Michael Horgan, Chairman of Research Ireland, performed the official opening, which was followed by a panel discussion chaired by broadcaster Jonathan McCrea.

Speaking at the event, Mr. John Hurley, CEO of Mater Private Network, said, “Great hospitals practice great medicine, but they also advance it. At Mater Private Network we deliver exceptional, progressive and personal care, and the challenge for any great institution is to scale that care and apply it beyond the individual. That is what CVRI Dublin does. It brings clinicians and innovators together to look closely at outcomes with a view to improving care. What we are celebrating is research and innovation, but the ultimate beneficiaries are our patients.”

Prof. Robert Byrne, Director of Cardiology at Mater Private Network, Director of CVRI Dublin and Professor of Cardiovascular Research at RCSI, said, “When Mater Private established CVRI Dublin in 2019 with RCSI, our aim was to integrate advanced clinical research into the everyday treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease. Patients put their trust in us, and we repay it through safer care, access to new therapies in our clinical trials, and research that improves treatment in Ireland and worldwide. This new building is a launch pad for our next phase, and for a coordinated network for cardiovascular research across Ireland and further afield.”

CVRI Dublin also works with Irish medtech innovators. Among them is CroíValve, which has developed a device to repair the heart’s tricuspid valve without the need for open-heart surgery. Around 40 patients have been treated so far, with ongoing studies in the US. CroíValve is working with the institute’s PRECISE Core Lab, led by Prof. Osama Soliman, to assess patients through imaging, moving towards AI-driven assessment, so that each patient is matched with the device best suited to them.

The PRECISE Core Lab combines imaging analysts and AI engineers to provide regulator-ready analysis for international clinical trials. Its research was published in the New England Journal of Medicine this year, and the team is developing an AI-powered cardiovascular “digital twin”, a virtual model of an individual’s heart.

Speaking about the importance of collaboration in research, Mr. Michael Horgan, Chairman of Research Ireland, said, “Research excellence comes back to people: how we attract them, and how we give them the opportunity to work in an excellent research environment, with colleagues and institutions they can collaborate and share ideas with. No single part of the system, whether the hospital, the university or industry, could develop world-class research by itself. You need all three collaborating and raising the bar for each other all the time, with that industry link to translate what researchers develop into practical treatments for patients. Because in the end, the recipient of all that we do is the patient.”

The institute’s trials range from first-in-human studies to research that shapes clinical guidelines, including CYCLOPES, an RCSI-sponsored study at 25 sites across Europe on how best to treat heavily calcified coronary arteries. During the pandemic, its SETANTA study asked GPs to invite everyone who had tested positive for COVID-19 for a cardiac MRI, and quickly dispelled concerns that the virus would cause widespread long-term scarring of the heart. “While other people were still formulating the question, we were already moving on to the answer,” said Prof. Byrne. Because CVRI Dublin is embedded within the Heart and Vascular Centre at Mater Private Network, findings feed directly into patient care, and patients can gain access to new treatments through clinical trials.

Looking ahead, CVRI Dublin aims to build a coordinated national network for cardiovascular research, leveraging its global network of research centres and industry contacts to raise the bar for research in heart and vascular medicine in Ireland. The building blocks for the next phase of clinical research in Ireland are strong, single, central approval of research through the National Research Ethics Committee system, favourable regulatory environment and impending redrafting of the medical device regulation, and strong links with medical device and computer technology industries, and advancing network of electronic health records.

 Further information is available at www.cvridublin.ie.