# Image Response Assessment Team

> **NIH NIH P30** · H. LEE MOFFITT CANCER CTR & RES INST · 2020 · $4,498

## Abstract

Image Response Assessment Team (IRAT) Shared Resource
PROJECT SUMMARY
Radiology began as a discipline that specialized in the visualization of anatomy. In the context of cancer,
modern technologies and innovations transformed imaging into a non-invasive tool that not only assesses solid
tumor size and shape but also interrogates the spatial heterogeneity within tumors on the basis of their
radiologic appearance, metabolism, and physiology. The overall goal of the Image Response Assessment
Team (IRAT) Shared Resource is to enhance the scientific quality of clinical studies, by offering a single point
of entry for Moffitt Cancer Center (MCC) members to access traditional and advanced quantitative image
analysis services. To this end, efforts are organized around three Specific Aims, which are to: 1) maintain and
improve the high reliability and fast turnaround times for RECIST (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid
Tumors) and other standard tumor assessment metrics; 2) improve therapeutic trials at MCC by translating
research advances in radiomics and multi-parameter MRI (mpMRI) analyses into turnkey imaging biomarker
services; and 3) provide members with access to non-traditional imaging endpoints for therapeutic trials. IRAT
consists of five full-time staff and provides quantitative image-based tumor metrics to support investigator-
initiated, cooperative group, and industry-sponsored clinical trials at MCC, and is part of the national
consortium of Cancer Center IRATs. IRAT has essential roles in the MCC mission “to contribute to the
prevention and cure of cancer,” by providing the support and services necessary to integrate both traditional
and innovative imaging endpoints into clinical trials and by providing quality assurance and control throughout
the process to yield scientifically valid results. With rapid advances in treatment paradigms such as
immunotherapies, IRAT provides improved imaging endpoints to meet the needs of these cutting-edge studies
of MCC members. IRAT has witnessed sustained increases in the volume of quantitative image response
assessment services provided. A total of 298 new trials requiring imaging response assessment were activated
in FY11-15, rising from 39 in FY11 to 65 in FY15. Developing an infrastructure for IRAT has permitted the
pursuit of other funded trial opportunities that use advanced and/or investigational imaging techniques,
analyses, and novel biomarkers. For example, IRAT is supporting multiple grant applications and funded
projects by members investigating radiomic and mpMRI imaging biomarkers in retrospective and prospective
clinical and pre-clinical studies. During the past project period, IRAT served 34 members from 4 MCC
Programs. Overall usage by members was 94%, with 63% of total usage supporting members with peer-
reviewed funding. IRAT-supported studies resulted in a total of 62 peer-reviewed scientific publications during
this period.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10230152
- **Project number:** 3P30CA076292-22S3
- **Recipient organization:** H. LEE MOFFITT CANCER CTR & RES INST
- **Principal Investigator:** Natarajan Raghunand
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $4,498
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 1998-02-18 → 2022-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10230152

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10230152, Image Response Assessment Team (3P30CA076292-22S3). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10230152. Licensed CC0.

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