Major new Irish-led EU research funding will develop the use of a patient's stem cells to help healing after a heart attack and reduce death rates.

The EU funding for research into heart disease is being provided by a European group led by RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland) and AMBER, an Irish research body.

The EU consortium, known as AMCARE (Advanced Materials for CArdiac REgeneration) consortium involves ten partners from five European countries and has received €8.7 million funding, including a €6.8 million EU contribution.

The AMCARE programme will carry out research to develop natural materials and new surgical devices to enhance the delivery of the body's own stem cells to the heart to promote healing after a heart attack and prevent premature death following a heart attack.

The therapies being developed will replace heart cells that die as a result of reduced blood flow that occurs during a heart attack, with new healthy cells derived from stem cells that come from the patient's own bone marrow.

The European Society of Cardiology estimates that one in every six men and one in every seven women in Europe will die from a heart attack. According to the Irish Heart Foundation, approximately 10,000 people die in Ireland every year from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) including heart disease, stroke and other circulatory diseases.

The most common cause of death in Ireland (33%), CVD is the number one cause of death worldwide, killing an estimated 17 million people each year according to World Health Organization.

AMCARE coordinator Dr Garry Duffy, from the RCSI, said the initiative aimed to translate new collaborative research for the benefit of patients with heart disease.

"Regenerative medicine and stem cell therapies have the potential to revolutionise the treatment of patients who have suffered a heart attack, and through AMCARE we will develop new technologies to enhance stem cell therapies for these patients by increasing targeting and ease of delivery using advanced biomaterials."

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