A team of doctors at the University of Bradford is working to build up an international reputation in the field of heart research to save lives.

The team of five - under the leadership of Dr Khalid Naseem - have received £250,000 of funding from the National Heart Research Fund and the British Heart Foundation to find new ways to tackle Bradford's biggest killer - vascular and heart disease.

The team, which includes PhD students and people from as far afield as Spain, Germany and Iran, is interested in the final stages of heart disease where blockages in vessels cause heart attacks.

They are looking at why some people have blood platelets which clot inside the vessels, causing blockages, starving the heart of oxygen, leading to a heart attack.

"Normally they cause the blood to clot when you cut yourself. In people with heart disease they seem to stop working properly and become dysfunctional," said Dr Naseem.

"We are trying to find out what goes wrong and understand why some people are more prone to heart disease than others."

The grant from the National Heart Research Fund is helping the team to look at patients with heart and vascular disease. They work with volunteers who do not have heart disease, as well as patients who do, so they can make comparisons and collaborate with Bradford Royal Infirmary and Leeds General Infirmary to further their research.

The long-term aim is to produce drugs to tackle the problem. "Ultimately we are in this for the benefit of the patient," said Dr Naseem. "Many people think that researchers are in ivory towers and not in touch with the population. That is not the case here. We are acutely aware our money comes from people's hard work and we have an obligation to do the job the best we can."

The team also contributes to raising money for the charity which funds them. At the weekend four of them took part in a sponsored bike ride from Wetherby to Filey - a distance of 70 miles - to raise money for the National Heart Research Fund.