A SCIENTIST raised in Newport has played a key role in a landmark discovery set to benefit patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases.

And for Professor Tony Lai, who works at the Sir Geraint Evans Heart Research Institute (WHRI) at Cardiff University’s School of Medicine, it is the culmination of more than 25 years of research.

The discovery, of a tiny defect in a vital heart protein, has for the first time enabled heart specialists to accurately pinpoint a therapeutic target for future efforts in developing a drug-based cure for cardiovascular diseases, such as stroke and heart failure, that kill almost 160,000 people a year in the UK.

Professor Lai and colleagues from Cardiff University, working with counterparts from the Slovak Academy of Science identified defects in a heart protein often leading to stroke and heart failure.

Known as a Ryanodine Receptor (RyR), the protein provides the pulse of calcium release needed for each heart muscle cell to contract.

The scientists found that inherited mutations in this protein produce a subtle change in the pattern of calcium release, causing an unstable heartbeat that can lead to dramatic loss of rhythm and sudden death.

“For the first time we have been able to obtain a precise molecular picture of this tiny defect,” said Professor Lai.

“This will assist in the development of novel therapeutic drugs that correct this molecular defect.

“We now need to begin screening people for this genetic flaw, so steps can be taken to offset their chances of developing heart disease.”

In 1988, as a junior researcher with a US-based team, Professor Lai beat researchers from across the world in the race to discover the RyR protein, earning him job offers from a number of elite institutions.

At Cardiff he specialises in heart-based calcium signalling.