Artificial Intelligence cancer research receives £5.1m data funding boost
A KEY partner of the Yorkshire and Humber Secure Data Environment (SDE) has secured £5.1m from the Government to improve data infrastructure that will aid cancer and disease research.
The money, awarded to the National Pathology Imaging Co-operative (NPIC) at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, will potentially lead to faster and more accurate diagnosis of cancer and other diseases.
Early diagnosis is key to improving survival rates and recovery, particularly for cancer patients. This investment will help NPIC gather and share digital pathology data from across the NHS, making it easier for researchers to access this vital information.
NPIC aims to build a national digital pathology platform for cancer diagnosis in the NHS, where researchers will use this data to train advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) models.
The investment represents new hope in helping to treat and cure a range of diseases. Safe access to data will allow researchers to gain new insights into cancer, its prevention and treatment.
The project is part of the NHS Data for Research and Development Programme, which is creating a system that will provide rapid access to the world’s largest linked health datasets for research.
NPIC is a collaboration between NHS, Academic and Industry partners that will set up a digital pathology platform for the NHS and use it to develop AI tools to improve cancer diagnosis.
Professor Phil Wood, Chief Executive at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, said:
“The investment in Artificial Intelligence represents further hope in helping us to diagnosis cancer and other diseases.
“By leveraging NPIC’s digital pathology platform, we can support researchers with their investigations into various conditions, including cancer, so that they can both spot how to prevent disease and also find the next generation of treatments and cures faster.”
Vin Diwakar, National Director of Transformation at NHS England, said:
“By supporting secure access to this unique dataset, we can help researchers to learn more about various conditions, including cancer, so that they can both spot how to prevent disease and also find the next generation of treatments and cures faster.
“The NHS is globally unique in holding data for the entire population. This makes the test result information we hold particularly valuable for AI training as we know that it represents the population properly.
“Like all data in NHS secure data environments, there are strict access rules, meaning the information will remain under the control of the NHS at all times and will only allow secure access to approved researchers who are conducting analysis which improves health and care.”
Find out more information about the government’s funding here: New government tech deals boost the business of cancer detection – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
