Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, has announced that UK Research and Innovation will invest £10.1 million, as part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

The national funding will allow the creation of two projects in the North East to enhance patient treatment, involving Newcastle University and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Northern Pathology Imaging Co-operative

Newcastle University is part of a consortium of seven universities and 10 industry-leading medical technology companies, called the Northern Pathology Imaging Co-operative (NPIC), which is set to become a globally-leading centre for applying artificial intelligence (AI) research to tissue diagnosis.

NPIC will put new digital pathology scanners into a network of northern NHS hospitals to gather digital pathology images for training AI systems. This will generate around 760,000 images per year, about 1.2 Petabytes of data.

The project aims to develop more integrated ways of working across regional clinical pathology services. Part of the project - which will apply Roche Diagnostics Ltd AI algorithms – will recruit patients to focus on the development of new AI-based diagnostic tests for bowel, breast and lung cancer.

Dr Chris Bacon, from the Northern Institute for Cancer Research, Newcastle University, said: “It is tremendously exciting to be part of this cutting-edge research project.

“By combining digital imaging of the microscope slides currently used in diagnostic pathology, with artificial intelligence algorithms able to interpret the images quickly, accurately and in new ways, we aim to transform the way that pathology is delivered for patients, now and in the future.

“As a cancer pathologist, it is especially motivating to be working together with Roche Diagnostics Ltd and colleagues in universities and hospitals across the North of England to combine digital imaging and AI to develop new pathology tests to help oncologists know which drugs to give patients to best treat their individual cancers.”

A key part of the project is to consider the ethics of data sharing to ensure NPIC partners abide by the highest professional standards when images are utilised for research purposes.

NPIC will also engage patients and the public in a programme of work about the use of anonymised images for AI research.

The project will also inform the development of a ‘national pathology exchange’ - software that allows images to be shared between NHS sites nationally so that patients can benefit from second opinions from anywhere in the UK.

National Consortium for Intelligent Medical Imaging

Newcastle University is also part of the National Consortium for Intelligent Medical Imaging (NCIMI) to support the development of an ecosystem for AI in medical imaging.

The programme will provide tangible results for patients through the innovative use of AI in medical imaging across MRI, CT, PET-CT, x-ray and ultrasound. These technologies will be used to aid early detection, diagnosis and monitoring of diseases.

Professor Quentin Anstee, from the Institute of Cellular Medicine, Newcastle University, said: “This ground-breaking project has the potential to develop new AI tools that will support the NHS and improve patient care.

“Our participation in NCIMI reflects the strong partnership between Newcastle University and the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust, and builds upon shared clinical and research expertise in a range of disciplines such as medical imaging and liver disease.”

Some key areas that NCIMI will focus on include early detection of cardiovascular disease, liver disease, improved cancer staging and response to guide treatment, and preventative medical advice for genetic disease.

Professor Sir Mark Walport, Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation, said: “Early diagnosis of illness can greatly increase the chances of successful treatment and save lives.

“The centres announced bring together the teams that will develop artificial intelligence tools that can analyse medical images varying from x-rays to microscopic sections from tissue biopsies.

“Artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionise the speed and accuracy of medical diagnosis.”