BG Medicine Inc. is taking part in a study that could someday lead to a simple blood test for heart disease.
The Waltham-based diagnostic equipment maker said it is working with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and Boston University to analyze about 1,000 bio-samples taken as part of the more than 60-year Framingham Heart Study.
The organizations will conduct a series of biomarker discovery studies for heart disease and early detection of metabolic syndrome — a combination of certain risk factors, including abdominal obesity, hypertension and insulin resistance — which are believed to increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
BG Medicine’s technology, which can detect biological changes at the molecular level, will be used to analyze samples taken during the heart study, which began in 1948 and includes more than 9,000 patients.
NHLBI director Elizabeth Nabel said the study could be the first step toward a blood test to detect heart disease.