Hi 😁 👋;

Welcome to our road bike trip challenge 🚴🏻🚴🏼‍♀️🚴🏻‍♂️ in support of the British Heart Foundation ❤️!!!

We are Susann 👩🏻‍🔬, Svanhild 👩🏼‍🔬, & Helena 👩🏻‍🔬, postdoctoral scientists from the Institute of Developmental & Regenerative Medicine (University of Oxford) We are reaching out to you today as advocates for a better cardiovascular health!!! ✨✨✨

Tell me, do these words ring a bell?

                                 “Heart Attack, Stroke, Vascular Dementia, Hypertension, Diabetes, Obesity”

Yes! Quite well-known words, aren’t they?

Not surprising, since they all are types of cardiovascular/circulatory (CV/C) diseases which are very common and most of us will likely know/have heard of someone suffering from them. They are, in fact, the leading cause of death ☠️ globally 🌎.

This group of diseases refers to all conditions affecting the heart.& the vascular system and constitute a broad range of disorders that can appear from birth 👶🏾 or at different life stages such as during pregnancy🤰🏻or in the elderly 🧓🏼👨🏽‍🦳. They are complex diseases and their cause and progression are co-affected by multiple factors, such as gender ♀♂, and life-style choices (e.g.: diet 🥘 & exercise 🤺) to mention a few. 

Much ++++ research 🔬 needs to be done to understand the intricacies of these complicated disorders and to be able to develop successful new treatments and approaches to tackle them!!! In our day-to-day job, we work on this research and try to understand how cells specifically decide to become heart/vascular cells and keep that fate so this knowledge can later be used to treat CV/C diseases.

This June 2022, we will branch out and challenge ourselves to cycle 54 miles from London to Brighton by bike 🚲 to show our support for the cause and to raise money for the British Heart Foundation ❤️.

Why donate to this charity? Well, the British Heart Foundation ❤️ is a major player in the fight against these diseases. It funds 💰 cardiovascular research with around £100 million each year, isn't that amazing!!! By making a contribution you will help to achieve their mission to beat heart & circulatory diseases.

So, don’t be shy & join us 😜 on this adventure and help us reach our fundraising goal for the British Heart Foundation ❤️ 🚴🏻🚴🏼‍♀️🚴🏻‍♂️ !!!

We'll keep you updated about this endeavour 🙃.

Thank you very much!!!

                                                              Susann 👩🏻‍🔬, Svanhild 👩🏼‍🔬, & Helena 👩🏻‍🔬