02 October 2026
One of the most ambitious plans to harness cardiovascular disease data globally and accelerate research and clinical translation is being launched in Australia this week.
The Australian Cardiovascular Disease Data Commons (ACDC) is a cloud-based research platform built to accelerate the discovery of new risk markers for heart attack and stroke.
Now rolling out to researchers, it links major Australian cohorts and analytical platforms, with more national and international datasets to follow.
Led by Professor Peter Meikle (Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute), Professor Gemma Figtree (University of Sydney) and Professor Bernie Pope (Australian BioCommons, The University of Melbourne), the ACDC is further supported by the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance, CAD Frontiers, the Heart Foundation, and Bioplatforms Australia. The ACDC is a national collaboration built to tackle the world's biggest killer.
Professor Meikle says: "This project brings together large cohorts with molecular profiling including genomic, metabolomic and proteomic data, plus stored blood samples, creating an extremely powerful platform to validate existing risk markers and discover new ones”.
“It will help researchers test how well Polygenic Risk Scores work for Australians and help build the first combined lipidomic and genetic risk tool for Coronary Artery Disease,” he says.
As Australia's first global standards-based human data commons, it can integrate with international platforms including those run by the US National Institutes of Health and will shape data-driven precision medicine in other disease areas too.
Built with a $2.9 million MRFF grant and an additional $2.5 million of NCRIS support from Bioplatforms Australia, ACDC tackles a stubborn problem: up to 27% of heart attack patients have none of the well-known risk factors when they present to a GP, including high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes or smoking. What’s more, many people with coronary artery disease go on to have a second, life-threatening event despite optimal treatment.
"We need to understand what's really driving disease in these patients who are flying under the radar," Professor Meikle says. "This data commons will speed up how quickly new health technologies reach patients, and we expect it will generate a new precision medicine ecosystem in Australia.”
