The UCL Cancer Institute Cancer Immunotherapy Accelerator (CITA) Network has been developed to maximise the potential of immunotherapeutics to cure more cancer sooner.
The CITA Network is funded by a Cancer Research UK Centres Network Accelerator Award and will serve as a hub, integrating key expertise across:
- University College London (UCL) and UCL Hospitals (UCLH)
- King’s College London (KCL)
- The Francis Crick Institute (FCI)
- Barts Cancer Institute
- The Royal Marsden Hospital (RMH)
- The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR).
This Network will provide a primary UK focus for understanding, implementing, and aiding cancer immunotherapy incorporating a state-of-the-art immune-monitoring and discovery core (IMDC) and Immuno-Oncology clinical trial training.
The aims of the network
- Deliver a capability package for all Centres to undertake immune monitoring of their patients
- Drive immune discovery by investigating the mechanisms underpinning response, resistance and toxicity to immunotherapeutic approaches
- Develop an iGEMM Core for the provision of mouse models of cancer that recapitulate the ITH and mutational diversity of cancer
- Accelerate production of non-GMP recombinant biotherapeutic proteins and antibodies
- Develop Immuno-Oncology Clinical Trial Training to train a new cadre of scientists and clinicians able to develop, improve, interpret and deliver relevant immunotherapy trials.

Image courtesy of Dr Andrew Furness (UCL)