Arsenii Zabirnyk, Leader of the Calinhib project

Thousands of patients require heart valve surgery each year as a result of calcification. Currently, only surgical heart valve replacements are available as treatments - the two major options each having their own drawbacks - and surgical intervention in an often elderly patient group carries further risk. Additionally, the cost of these surgeries on healthcare systems is extremely high and is expected to increase as the global population ages.

But what if there was a non-surgical option, such as a drug that prevented calcification in the first place? Arsenii Zabirnyk leads the Calinhib project which is searching for just that, molecules that block heart valve calcification, using cell biology and artificial intelligence (AI).

In this episode, we discuss Arsenii's journey as a researcher from Ukraine to Norway and now from an academic to an entrepreneur. We also talk about the Calinhib project, supported by SPARK Norway, and its aims to support this growing patient population.