Implementing the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Strategic Vision in the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences.

As we commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and celebrate important milestones that have been achieved by the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences (DCVS), it is imperative that DCVS and the Extramural Research community at-large continue to address critical public health challenges that persist within the area of Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD). The NHLBI's Strategic Vision, developed with extensive input from the extramural research community and published in 2016, included overarching goals and strategic objectives that serve to provide a general blueprint for sustaining the legacy of the Institute by leveraging opportunities in emerging scientific areas (e.g., regenerative medicine, omics technology, data science, precision medicine, and mobile health), finding new ways to address enduring challenges (e.g., social determinants of health, health inequities, prevention, and health promotion), and training the next generation of heart, lung, blood, and sleep researchers. DCVS has developed a strategic vision implementation plan to provide a cardiovascular framing for the pursuit of the Institute's overarching goals and strategic objectives garnered from the input of the broader NHLBI community. This plan highlights six scientific focus areas that demonstrate a cross-cutting and multifaceted approach to addressing cardiovascular sciences, including 1) addressing social determinants of cardiovascular health (CVH) and health inequities, 2) enhancing resilience, 3) promoting CVH and preventing CVD Across the lifespan, 4) eliminating hypertension-related CVD, 5) reducing the burden of heart failure, and 6) preventing vascular dementia. These priorities will guide our efforts in Institute-driven activities in the coming years but will not exclude development of other novel ideas or the support of investigator-initiated grant awards. The DCVS Strategic Vision implementation plan is a living document that will evolve with iterative dialogue with the NHLBI community and adapt as the dynamic scientific landscape changes to seize emerging opportunities.

Nanotechnology in the diagnosis and management of heart, lung and blood diseases.

Heart, lung and blood diseases exert an enormous toll, accounting for almost half of the deaths in the USA each year. In addition to the morbidity and mortality resulting from these diseases, there is also a high economic burden, estimated at 560 billion US dollars for 2006. Nanotechnology offers a broad range of opportunities to improve diagnosis and therapy for cardiovascular, pulmonary and hematopoietic diseases, thereby decreasing these burdens. This review will focus on four areas of particular promise for the application of nanotechnology: imaging, diagnostics and biosensors, drug delivery and therapy, and tissue engineering and repair. The goal is to summarize the current state of science and technology in these areas and to look at future directions that the field is likely to move in to enhance the diagnosis and treatment of heart, lung and blood diseases.

Recommendations of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Nanotechnology Working Group.

Recent rapid advances in nanotechnology and nanoscience offer a wealth of new opportunities for diagnosis and therapy of cardiovascular, pulmonary, and hematologic diseases and sleep disorders. To review the challenges and opportunities offered by these nascent fields, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute convened a Working Group on Nanotechnology. Working Group participants discussed the various aspects of nanotechnology and its applications to heart, lung, blood, and sleep (HLBS) diseases. This report summarizes their discussions according to scientific opportunities, perceived needs and barriers, specific disease examples, and recommendations on facilitating research in the field. An overarching recommendation of the Working Group was to focus on translational applications of nanotechnology to solve clinical problems. The Working Group recommended the creation of multidisciplinary research centers capable of developing applications of nanotechnology and nanoscience to HLBS research and medicine. Centers would also disseminate technology, materials, and resources and train new investigators. Individual investigators outside these centers should be encouraged to conduct research on the application of nanotechnology to biological and clinical problems. Pilot programs and developmental research are needed to attract new investigators and to stimulate creative, high-impact research. Finally, encouragement of small businesses to develop nanotechnology-based approaches to clinical problems was considered important.