Preetha Aravind

The National Cancer Imaging Translational Accelerator is a national UK-wide medical imaging infrastructure which aims to accelerate the standardisation and qualification of imaging biomarkers for clinical use. NCITA was established in 2019 with funding from a Cancer Research UK Accelerator Award of up to £10 million over 5 years. The consortium includes nine world leading medical imaging centres across the UK including University College London, University of Oxford, 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 open access to world-class clinical imaging facilities and expertise, as well a repository data management service, artificial intelligence (AI) tools and ongoing training opportunities. The NCITA consortium, through engagement with NHS Trusts, pharmaceutical companies, medical imaging and nuclear medicine companies as well as funding bodies and patient groups, aims to develop a robust and sustainable imaging biomarker certification process, to revolutionise the speed and accuracy of cancer diagnosis, tumour classification and patient response to treatment. For a detailed introduction to the NCITA infrastructure and support services for multicentre clinical translation and adoption of imaging biomarkers, see our Comment article published in the British Journal of Cancer https://www.nature.com/articles/s41416-021-01497-5. See also our NCITA brochure https://ncita.org.uk/ncita-brochure/