Consortium

Founded in 1964, Inserm is a public scientific and technological institute which operates under the joint authority of the French Ministries of Health and Research. The institute is dedicated to biomedical research and human health, and is involved in the entire range of activities from the laboratory to the patient’s bedside. It also partners with the most prestigious research institutions in the world that are committed to scientific challenges and progress in these fields. Inserm is the 7th largest biomedical research organization in the world in terms of number of original articles published in 2022, and is the 2nd European patent applicant in the pharmaceutical sector and in the biotechnology category.

Within Inserm, the PARCC (Paris Cardiovascular Research Center, Inserm U970) succeeded in bringing together an important critical mass of basic and clinician scientists, who share a vision and common objectives in the field of cardiovascular diseases. PARCC teams are conducting projects, spanning basic molecular and cellular biology to integrated physiology and pathophysiology, biomarkers, genetics and epidemiology. Among them, Team GENETIC MECHANISMS OF ALDOSTERONE RELATED DISORDERS - TOWARDS INTEGRATIVE PRECISION MEDICINE is entirely devoted to improve diagnosis and treatment of hypertension, by developing an integrative research program spanning from basic science in cell and animal models to genetic and clinical investigations and the development of omics-based biomarkers in patients.

Radboud University Medical Center, commonly referred to as Radboudumc, stands as a distinguished academic hospital situated in the vibrant city of Nijmegen. As a pivotal institution in the field of medical education and research, Radboudumc is closely aligned with Radboud University. Notably, it holds a prestigious position among the eight university medical centers (UMCs) in the Netherlands and is an esteemed member of the Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers (NFU).

With a commendable capacity of approximately 1,100 beds and a dedicated workforce of around 13,000 professionals, Radboudumc plays a pivotal role in providing cutting-edge healthcare services. Moreover, the institution contributes significantly to the academic landscape by fostering the education of over 3,000 students. These students engage in a diverse range of disciplines, including Nursing, Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, Dentistry, Molecular Mechanisms of Disease, and Quality and Safety in Patient Care.

Radboudumc's commitment to excellence is evident not only in its state-of-the-art facilities and medical services but also in its role as a hub for cultivating the next generation of healthcare professionals and advancing the frontiers of medical knowledge.

Founded in 2000, Inserm Transfert SA is the private subsidiary of the French National Institute of the Health and Medical Research (INSERM), dedicated to technology transfer (from invention disclosure to industrial partnership).

Inserm Transfert runs a comprehensive set of technology transfer activities from classical value chain activities to unique solutions :

• Scouting & Intellectual property management, with a philosophy of giving a chance to all innovations
• Early development & Proof-of concept support for therapeutics and diagnostics (biomarkers), with a philosophy of maximum consolidation of the earliest phases, approximately €2m invested in 44 projects in 2016, and more than €13m since 2009 with the objective to create value. About 30 transfers (17 collaborations, 18 licensees, 11 start-up creations)
• Setting up public multi-private partnerships on cohorts, databases, biobanks & public health management
• Collaborative Research Funding: setting up proposals and managing collaborative research projects (FP7, H2020, Horizon Europe, IMI/IHI, national programmes, etc.).

The University of Torino, standing as a beacon of excellence in education and research, is nestled in the dynamic city of Torino, Italy. With its roots tracing back to 1404, it has flourished over centuries into a comprehensive institution that embodies a rich tapestry of history, innovation, and academic diversity.  With a strong emphasis on research, the University is home to state-of-the-art facilities and research centers that contribute to advancing global knowledge across various fields, including health, environment, society, and technology. Among its esteemed faculties, the School of Medicine shines as a cornerstone of medical education and research. The School offers a wide range of programs including undergraduate degrees in medicine and surgery, dentistry, and health professions, as well as numerous postgraduate specializations and Ph.D. programs. It boasts a diverse student body of over 8,000 students, providing them with a rigorous and comprehensive medical education that combines theoretical learning with practical clinical training.

The Division of Internal Medicine and Hypertension Unit at the University of Torino is is part of the broader Department of Medical Sciences. Accredited by the European Society of Hypertension, this Center is recognized for its outstanding contributions to hypertension care and research, underscoring its pivotal role in advancing medical understanding and treatment protocols for one of the most common and impactful cardiovascular disorders globally.       

The TUD University of Technology (TUD) is one of the leading and most dynamic universities in Germany and since 2012 it is one of eleven German ‘Universities of Excellence’.
With 17 Faculties across five Schools, it offers a widespread range of 119 degree programs and covers a broad spectrum of research.
The TUD emphasizes international cooperation, and encourages its students to participate early in both teaching and research. More specifically: interdisciplinary cooperation among various fields is a strength of the TUD, whose researchers also benefit from collaborations with the region's numerous science institutions - including Fraunhofer institutes, Leibniz institutes and Max Planck institutes – through the unique DRESDEN-concept alliance.
The School of Medicine of the TU Dresden comprises the high-performing Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus. The innovative, close-to-the-patient teaching and the faculty’s internationally renowned, cutting-edge research is implemented through co-operation with the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus. The experimental mass spectrometry unit located at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine at the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus offers state-of-the-art metabolomics analyses based on liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

With a capacity of almost 1,000 beds, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, the academic hospital of UCLouvain in Brussels, is one of Belgium's largest hospitals, and one of the country's seven university hospitals.

The Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc offers reference care and treats most serious, rare or delicate pathologies for patients from all over the country and beyond.
The Cardiovascular Institute at Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc brings together all specialists involved in the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of cardiac and vascular pathologies.
It includes three departments:

• Cardiology,
• Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery,
• and Intensive Cardiovascular Pathology.

To these must be added the Adult Congenital Heart Centre and the Cardiac Rehabilitation Centre.
The Saint-Luc Cardiovascular Department represents :

• 22,000 consultations per year ;
• 5,000 hospitalizations per year ;
• 6 hospitalization units (including two intensive care units) .

The Hypertension Clinic, an ESH excellence centre, is nested within the Cardiology department while maintaining strong interactions with the Nephrology and Endocrinology Departments.
Its enjoys a national and European reputation in management of difficult to treat, resistant and secondary forms of hypertension.

Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU) is the German Research Center for Environmental Health.

It investigates important common diseases, which develop from the interaction of lifestyle, environmental factors and personal genetic background, focusing particularly on diabetes mellitus, allergies and chronic lung diseases. HMGU is a research institution of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Free State of Bavaria. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers.

The mission of HMGU is to discover personalized medical solutions for the prevention and therapy of environmentally triggered diseases and promote a healthier society in a rapidly changing world. The Metabolomics and Proteomics Core offers state-of-the-art metabolomics and proteomics services based on mass spectrometry and in case of proteomics also proximity-extension assays (PEA).

The BIOETHICS team is part of the Centre for Epidemiology and Research on POPulation healt (CERPOP Unit 1295, Inserm – Toulouse University 3 Paul Sabatier. The team is analysing Innovations’ trajectories in health with a focus on bioethics issues and impact on individuals and society. The team operates, with specific competencies in biomedical ethics and health law through its interdisciplinarity between biomedical and social sciences. The team has a longstanding expertise in the field of ELSI attached to biomedical research notably regarding respect of fundamental rights in the medical innovation area. The team has contributed to numerous European projects where it has provided ELSI support to researchers and participants and has developed original guidelines in various research contexts. The team is supported by the Ethics and Biosciences platform (https://societal.genotoul.fr/).

The Assistance Publique des Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) manages 37 public hospitals, mostly located in Paris. Three different teams from 2 hospitals (European Hospital Georges Pompidou (HEGP) and Hôtel-Dieu ) are implied in the program.

1. The APHP.Centre Clinical Research Unit (URC) in HEGP is a clinical research structure offering support to clinical investigators and researchers. Its aims are to develop translational research, based on original hypotheses, and to produce new scientific and medical knowledge in compliance with ethical and legal rules. As the HEGP includes a strong center of computer science and practice evaluation, the URC module develops research axes related to new clinical study designs, cohorts or complex statistics such as meta-statistics and large-scale analyses.
2. The Health Economics and Health Services Research Unit (URC Eco), found in the Hôtel-Dieu hospital, is dedicated to the assessments of health technologies for economic evaluation. Through various and advanced calculations methods, the unit mission is to evaluate the benefits that can be directly attributed to the implementation of these technologies and the spending, both incurred and avoided. in the end, the findings are used to explain what extra costs need to be absorbed to obtain the health benefit.
3. The ESH excellence center of Hypertension, in HEGP, receives patients suffering from endocrine and metabolic disorders and provide expertise and comprehensive diagnoses. The whole department is a spearhead team in numerous clinical and translation studies.

Founded in 1222, with its 800 years of history, the University of Padua is one of the oldest Universities in the world and well known recognized top University in Europe.

The University of Padua (UNIPD) has a long tradition and consolidated reputation for scientific excellence (www.natureindex.com). Because of its quality of research and education, in 2021 it was accredited by the European Commission with the recognition of the HR Excellence in Research Award. The University, deeply connected with the town, offers a unique learning and working environment for students and scholars.

The investigators participating to the HT-ADVANCE Consortium are members of the Department of Medicine – DIMED and of the Faculty of the PhD Program Arterial Hypertension and Vascular Biology (ARHYVAB). In line with the leitmotiv ‘Internalization’ of the University of Padua, the PhD Program Arterial Hypertension and Vascular Biology has collaborations with top Universities (Université de Paris, University of Maastricht, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, University of Zurich), companies interested at developing technologies in the diagnostics of hypertension (Attoquant, Vienna), and also a top research center in Europe (Istituto Negri, Bergamo).

The PhD Program Arterial Hypertension and Vascular Biology (ARHYVAB), which was established more than 20 years ago at the University of Padua, has received funds from the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie initiative within the MINDSHIFT program in conjunction with other 5 leading institutions in Europe and also from the EU Program UNIPhD to successfully enroll some PhD students who will represent the next generation of researchers in the field of hypertension.

Within the department of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Clinical Nurtition at the University hopsital Zurich, we deal with all kind of endocrine and metabolic disorders. Among the special interests, our department has a particular focus on adrenal disorders and secondary forms of hypertension.
As a tertiary and academic center, we are involved in many clinical, translation and basic scientific studies in the field of cardiovascular endocrinology. Through a network with local general practitioners, we have also access to patients with yet undiagnosed arterial hypertension.

The Health Informatics Centre (HIC) and Tayside Clinical Trials Unit (TCTU) are based within the School of Medicine, University of Dundee. The School is in the top three for medicine in the UK.
Established nearly 20 years ago, we have built up a wealth of experience with expert teams in secure data management, governance, data engineering, research Infrastructure, software, and business support to deliver and enhance our services. At HIC, we believe in the power of Health Data Research to shape positive and meaningful changes in health care outcomes for us all. We have supported over 1000 projects and have collaborated on research grants totalling £180m over the last five years.
For 12 years we have operated as a Trusted Research Environment (TRE or ‘Safe Haven’ in Scottish terms) for the Scottish Government and NHS Tayside and NHS Fife Health Board Regions delivering secure, research managed ‘access to’ data under robust governance control.
TCTU is a fully registered UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) trials unit working with investigators and clinicians to design and deliver high quality clinical research to address important health issues.
Our role is to provide support and services to investigators, delivering high quality trials from idea conception through protocol development, data management, analysis and onto publication.
For more information see:

• https://www.dundee.ac.uk/hic
• & https://www.dundee.ac.uk/tctu

The school of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Health (SCMH) at the University of Glasgow aims to enhance human health by advancing and implementing discoveries leading to improved prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. The SCMH is one of only six British Heart Foundation centres of research excellence in the UK. Our research strengths have been integrated into thematic programmes (cardiac, vascular and metabolic disease) that build on the strengths of clinical and non-clinical principal investigators to create a multidisciplinary translational research environment of excellence with specific expertise in discovering mechanisms of cardiovascular disease and identifying and designing novel therapeutic strategies that will lead to clinical trials.
In addition to research, the SCMH also delivers a wide-range of high quality undergraduate (UG) and post-graduate (PG) teaching with UG programmes in Pharmacology, Human Biology and Physiology and MSc programmes in Cardiovascular Sciences and Precision Medicine. Currently, the School has over 250 students enrolled in our MSc, PhD and MD training programmes including the flagship BHF PhD programme. These training programmes provide our students with cutting edge scientific expertise and integrated transferrable skills to maximise the benefit to their future careers .

More details can be found at https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/cardiovascularmetabolic/

Since 2016, the Steroid Metabolome Analysis Core (SMAC) facility has operated within the Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research at the University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. SMAC brings together a highly collaborative group of clinical biochemists, clinical academics, laboratory technicians, and computer scientists determined to dissect disorders of steroid metabolism.

Through academic and industry collaborations and an extensive record of high-impact publications, SMAC has established itself as a world-leading facility in multi-steroid profiling of urine, blood, and saliva. SMAC's areas of research span adrenal tumours, endocrine forms of hypertension, disorders of steroidogenesis including adrenal insufficiency and congenital adrenal hyperplasia and - more broadly - all aspects of steroid endocrinology. The breadth of SMAC's activities spans from assay development to basic mechanistic research, as well as translational and clinical research.