Cardiometabolic disease

Cardiometabolic syndrome—a cluster of risk factors that increases one’s susceptibility to heart disease, diabetes, and obesity—has reached epidemic levels worldwide. While lifestyle factors like diet and exercise contribute to these disorders, they don’t fully explain why some populations are at a higher risk than others. Researchers at the Broad seek to understand how genetic variants contribute to disease risk in order to uncover new biologically informed, therapeutic targets. (While GLP-1 medications have had a profound impact for many people living with diabetes or obesity, others do not respond to them or cannot tolerate their side effects, underscoring the need for alternative treatments.)

Our researchers in cardiometabolic disease are pioneering new tools and methods to identify risk genes and convert them into biological mechanisms at scale. Through the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Genomic Mechanisms of Disease, Broad scientists are building powerful experimental and computational platforms to systematically uncover how genetic variation influences disease biology, accelerating the discovery of new therapeutic opportunities. This work can lead to the identification of new disease subtypes, which not only reveals new potential drug targets but can eventually help clinicians stratify patients, ensuring they get the right drugs. Ultimately, researchers at the Broad seek to translate genetic and biological discoveries into clinical practice and address urgent unmet clinical needs.