ICR-CTSU Gynaecological Cancers Trials and Imaging Studies
Dr Nuria Porta’s group within the ICR’s Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit carries out clinical trials research in gynaecological and urology cancers, and imaging studies.
Research, projects and publications in this group
We are a multidisciplinary group of statisticians, methodologists, clinical trial programme managers, trial managers and data scientists within the ICR’s Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit (ICR-CTSU).
We develop and deliver efficient, high-quality and innovative trials in gynaecological and urology cancers, as well as prospective studies evaluating imaging. Our methodology-related work includes biomarker-driven designs, risk-adaptive strategies and qualification of novel response biomarkers.
We maximise the use of data collected within a clinical trial through advanced statistical modelling of clustered and correlated data over time (dynamic prediction modelling) to better understand biological and clinical events related to the disease and/or treatment.
Dr Nuria Porta
Group Leader:
ICR-CTSU Gynaecological Cancers Trials and Imaging Studies
Nuria Porta is Reader in Medical Statistics and Group Leader at the Cancer Research UK-funded Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR-CTSU).
Researchers in this group
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Dr Nuria Porta's group have written 62 publications
Most recent new publication 2/2026
See all their publicationsWe provide methodological leadership across several portfolios of clinical trials:
Gynaecological cancers: These include multi-centre, early-phase proof-of-concept studies such as ATARI, a biomarker-directed platform investigating ATR inhibition in ARID1A-deficient tumours, and SOPRANO, evaluating ablative therapy in oligometastatic disease after PARP inhibitor progression. This portfolio is expanding to large, complex phase III studies with the IMPRESS2 trial, which aims to improve treatment decision-making with personalised support tools in newly diagnosed ovarian cancer using a batched stepped-wedge clustered-randomised design.
Imaging studies: Her work includes studies evaluating novel quantitative imaging biomarkers, like diffusion-weighted MRI biomarkers for response assessment in bone-predominant advanced prostate cancer and multiple myeloma (WISER-P and WISER-M studies), and oxygen-enhanced MRI biomarkers of hypoxia in head and neck cancers (OXYMAP, in set-up). Her methodological contributions span technical validation study design and the use of statistical models for clustered and correlated data to better characterise sources of variability. She is also a member of the NIHR Statistics Imaging Studies Core Group and has co-led guidance on the design and conduct of prospective imaging studies.
Urological cancers: She is developing studies assessing ctDNA/utDNA to inform risk-adaptive treatment strategies in muscle-invasive bladder cancer, focusing on robust statistical methods to capture temporal heterogeneity. Her previous work includes applying dynamic prediction modelling to longitudinal trial data to accurately predict prostate cancer recurrence based on PSA trajectories (CHHiP trial) and bladder cancer progression based on intermediate events (BC2001 trial). Her aim is to integrate these methods into more efficient trial designs evaluating dynamic biomarkers, including interception-type trials.
More info on the CTSU's research projects can be found on the ICR-CTSU research page.
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