National Cancer Imaging Translational Accelerator (NCITA)
A network of medical imaging experts working towards discovery, validation and adoption of cancer imaging biomarkers
National Cancer Imaging Translational Accelerator (NCITA) is a national UK-wide medical imaging infrastructure which aims to accelerate the standardisation and translation of cancer imaging biomarkers for clinical use.
Established in 2019 with funding from a CRUK Accelerator Award of up to £10 million over 5 years, the consortium includes ten leading UK medical imaging institutions including University of Oxford, University College London, Imperial College London, King’s College London, University of Manchester, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, University of Cambridge, Newcastle University and University of Glasgow.
This unique partnership provides clinical researchers across the UK with infrastructure support for multicentre clinical imaging studies including access to world-class clinical imaging facilities and expertise, quality assurance/quality support and repository data management service, including artificial intelligence (AI) tools and ongoing training opportunities.
NCITA is led in Oxford by Professor Geoff Higgins who is part of the NCITA Governance Group, NCITA Engagement Group Chair and project lead for the [18F] FDOPA PET Imaging in Glioma (FIG Trial) and the ARCADIAN study, adopted by NCITA for image repository support.
Through engagement with NHS Trusts, pharmaceutical companies, medical imaging and nuclear medicine companies as well as funding bodies and patient groups, NCITA aims to develop a robust imaging biomarker certification process, to revolutionise the speed and accuracy of cancer diagnosis, tumour classification and patient response to treatment.
NCITA leaders work closely with the CRUK Commercial Partnerships team to ensure that new discoveries arising from NCITA’s exemplar projects and other studies supported by CRUK become available to people with cancer.
For more information, see the NCITA Comment article published in the British Journal of Cancer.