Wellcome Leap VISIBLE: Women's Heart Disease Revealed

Wellcome Leap VISIBLE: Women's Heart Disease Revealed

Below is a summary assembled by the Research & Innovation Office (RIO). Please see the full solicitation for complete information about the funding opportunity.

While the Wellcome Leap doesn't limit the number of applications per institution, this process aims to identify the project team(s) that will receive full endorsement and support from campus-level resources.

Program Summary

One out of every three women dies of cardiovascular disease. It is the number one cause of death for women. Approximately 100 million* women, globally, live with stable chest pain. Each year, a subset of these women — an estimated 700,000 women in the United States and Europe alone — undergo invasive coronary angiography and leave without a diagnosis. They are told their arteries look "normal." That their hearts are healthy. That it might be anxiety.

These women, in addition to having debilitating symptoms, carry an up to 4-fold higher risk of major cardiovascular events including cardiovascular death, heart attack, stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure, than women without these symptoms. The condition they have is increasingly recognized as angina, the clinical term for chest pain, with no obstructive coronary arteries (ANOCA).

The goal of VISIBLE is to increase the proportion of women presenting with stable angina who receive effective diagnosis and treatment for coronary microvascular disease from less than 1% to more than 80%. In so doing, the program aims to demonstrate advances capable of reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease for millions of women worldwide.

The VISIBLE program is soliciting abstracts and proposals for work over three (3) years in one or more of the thrust areas, each contributing to the program goals, and as referenced below. Individual teams are not expected to address all facets of the program. Progress will be driven by multiple focused, collaborative efforts that integrate at the program level toward shared, measurable outcomes. Across selected projects, definitions and performance metrics (including measures of coronary microvascular function, reference standards, and endpoints) will be harmonized to enable comparison, integration, and validation. Wellcome Leap will enable cross-collaboration between thrusts, which will be integral to the success of the program — proposals will be expected to articulate clear strategies for data sharing, integration, and coordination across projects.

• Thrust 1: Develop scalable approaches for diagnosis and monitoring of coronary microvascular disease.
• Thrust 2: Identify risk factors and evaluate prognosis of coronary microvascular disease endotypes.
• 2A: Identify risk factors for coronary microvascular disease (effect sizes ≥1.5) to define treatment targets.
• 2B: Define prognosis of coronary microvascular disease endotypes.
• Thrust 3: Build and validate multiscale human-relevant models of the coronary microvasculature to interrogate causal mechanisms of coronary microvascular disease.
• Thrust 4: Develop treatment strategies that improve both coronary microvascular function and patient-centered outcomes.

Deadlines

• CU Internal Deadline: 11:59pm MT February 25, 2026
• Sponsor Abstract Deadline: 9:59pm MT March 9, 2026
• Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline (by recommendation): 9:59pm MT April 23, 2026

Internal Application Requirements (all in PDF format)

• PI Curriculum Vitae
• Project Abstract (2 pages maximum) including: 1) Target objectives and demonstration; 2) Constituent research thrusts and activities; 3) Thrust/activities dependencies, balance and integration; 4) Key intermediate program assessments and milestones; and 5) Risk mitigation and alternatives development strategies.
• Funding & Activities Summary: Use this template. Proposal timelines should not exceed three (3) years, but it is acceptable to describe an optional, fourth year of activities.
• MARFA Certification: I certify that I have emailed Lisa Nanstad (lisa.nanstad@colorado.edu) to review the Master Academic Research & Funding Agreement (MARFA) provisions and commercialization requirements before submitting this application. I understand that Wellcome Leap awards are governed by a pre-executed MARFA and that compliance with its terms is required.

To access the online application, visit: https://cuboulderovcr.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/7152/home

Eligibility

There are no special eligibility requirements.

Award Information

The VISIBLE program has a total funding portfolio of $55 million, which will be distributed among selected research projects.