The general objective of the project is to establish a cross-border pole of fundamental research of excellence in the cardiovascular field that ultimately aims at increasing life quality of people in the Euroregion. The specific objectives are: 1) Complementary development and improvement of infrastructure for advanced cardiovascular research concerning the incidence, mechanisms and prevention of SCD; 2) Implementation of joint translational research projects by commonly using the harmonized infrastructure together with the development of highly qualified human resources; 3) Promotion and valorisation of the research of excellence by disseminating the results within the scientific community and general population of the region.The main target group is represented by the mixed teams of researchers in the field of cardiology from the partner universities that will be trained to use and will benefit from the commonly developed infrastructure facilities. The second important target group is represented by the population of the region which will be informed about the risk factors of sudden death in order to increase addressability to the special services and the cardiologic patients identified as belonging to the risk groups that will be further screened for the genetic modifications. Indirect beneficiary will be the scientific communities of both sides of the border that will have access to both expensive and frequently needed multipurpose equipment and the research results that might be used to develop new partnerships.The planned project activities performed in relation with the above mentioned specific objectives consist of: 1) Development of the infrastructure of both partners with the modernization of the Animal facilities in the Project Leader’s institution according to the requirements of the European Community Laws. Also the creation of 3 new Research Laboratories: Laboratory of Molecular Genetics in the Project Leader’s institution; Laboratory of Confocal Microscopy and Informatics Laboratory for Data Mining and Data Base Management in the Cross-border Partner’s institution.2) Implementation of joint transnational research projects by commonly using the infrastructure. Basic research studies performed in small and large animal models of arrhythmia and heart failure, screening of population in both countries according to a standardized protocol in order to identify the incidence of risk factors for sudden and genetic analyses of the patients at risk and re-expression of the mutated genes in cell lines. 3) Dissemination of project results. The partners will provide visibility and appropriate dissemination of the research results within both scientific community (info-days, workshops, bilingual database and brochures) and general population of the region (press conferences, info-point, bilingual flyers).