In spite of the enormous advances in diagnosis and treatment witnessed over the last 20 years, cardiovascular diseases continue to be the main cause of death in the developed world. The costs generated in economic, social and human terms are immense. In response to this reality, the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs, through the Carlos III Institute of Health, created the CNIC to bring together the best of Spanish cardiovascular research and provide it with a modern infrastructure and ample funding to carry out world-leading biomedical research.

Research at the CNIC is grouped into these departments:

• Vascular Biology and Inflammation. The groups in the VBI department use a variety of molecular, cellular, tissue and animal models to investigate the functioning of the vascular system in physiological settings and in the pathological inflammatory situations that lie at the root of atherothrombotic disease.
• Regenerative Cardiology. The RC department’s activities centre on the characterization of stem cell populations associated with cardiovascular system homeostasis, the interdependence of the cardiovascular and immune-inflammatory systems, and the roles of stem cells, oxidative stress, and cell cycle alterations in tissue aging.
• Cardiovascular Developmental Biology. The CDB department investigates the origin, differentiation and integration of cardiovascular cell lineages in chick, mouse, and zebrafish models, using complementary experimental embryology, genetic and mass screening approaches.
• Epidemilogy, Atherothrombosis and Imaging. The EAI department is dedicated to developing non-invasive technologies for molecular-resolution imaging. Through these technologies, vulnerable plaques can be identified and characterized, providing invaluable information on the underlying molecular mechanisms of disease and leading to tools for accurate diagnosis and targeted drug delivery. In the department, there is also an epidemiology and genetics area which integrates population studies with the latest advances in basic and clinical research to identify environmental and genetic risk factors underlying the incidence, development and prognosis of cardiovascular disease. The aim is to devise effective strategies for disease prevention and improved healthcare delivery.
• Translational Cardiovascular Research. The TCR department is the nexus between the CNIC and the hospital system, facilitating collaboration between clinical research groups and the CNIC’s scientists, encouraging the application and clinical testing of new technologies, and training clinical researchers.

Training is one of the CNIC’s principal areas of activity, and the center’s training activities are grouped under the overall CNIC-JOVEN Training Plan, which includes programs at all levels from secondary education to the training of postdoctoral researchers and other young professionals.

This training plan is designed to attract young people to biomedical research and to create a wellspring of talented cardiovascular researchers for the future.