Aghakhanyan Gayane, Barucci Andrea, Pascali Maria Antonietta, Assante Massimiliano, Bagnacci Giulio, Bertelli Elena, Caputo Francesca Pia, Cuibari Maria Emanuela, Carlini Emanuele, Carpi Roberto, Caudai Claudia, Cioni Dania, Colantonio Sara, Colcelli Valentina, Dell'Amico Andrea, Vecchio Vittoria Del, Gangi Domenico Di, Faggioni Lorenzo, Formica Valentina, Francischello Roberto, Frosini Luca, Kotsa Christina, Lipari Giuseppe, Manghi Paolo, Martino Vito Di, Marzi Chiara, Mazzei Maria Antonietta, Mangiacrapa Francesco, Meglio Nunzia Di, Miele Vittorio, Molinaro Elisa, Paiar Fabiola, Pagano Pasquale, Panichi Giancarlo, Pasquinelli Filippo, Peccerillo Biagio, Perrella Armando, Piccioli Tommaso, Oliviero Alfredo, Olivoni Matteo, Rucci Davide, Tampucci Marco, Tumminello Lorenzo, Volpini Federico, Zanuzzi Alberto, Fanni Salvatore Claudio, Neri Emanuele
Academic Radiology, Department of Translational Research and of New Surgical and Medical Technology, University of Pisa 56126 Pisa, Italy.
"Nello Carrara" Institute of Applied Physics, IFAC of the National Research Council, CNR, Florence, Italy.
Eur J Radiol. 2025 Oct;191:112327. doi: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2025.112327. Epub 2025 Jul 22.
The NAVIGATOR project established an Italian regional imaging biobank and interactive research platform designed to support precision oncology through the integration of multimodal imaging, clinical, and omics data. The platform goes beyond a static repository, offering a secure Virtual Research Environment (VRE) where users can upload data, test AI algorithms, and execute complete analytical pipelines. The platform incorporates artificial intelligence (AI)-driven radiomics and deep learning methodologies to enable biomarker extraction, disease stratification, and predictive modeling. This manuscript presents the development and implementation of the NAVIGATOR infrastructure, including its data governance framework, ethical and legal considerations, and application to three oncological use cases: prostate, rectal, and gastric cancers. To date, the biobank has collected imaging and clinical data from over 700 patients across these cohorts. AI models were deployed within a dedicated VRE to facilitate image analysis, feature extraction, and classification tasks. The project addresses critical challenges related to data harmonization, regulatory compliance, privacy safeguards and fairness in AI systems. NAVIGATOR demonstrates the feasibility of integrating AI methodologies within imaging biobanks and provides a scalable framework to advance oncological research and support clinical decision-making.
导航者项目建立了一个意大利区域影像生物样本库和交互式研究平台，旨在通过整合多模态影像、临床和组学数据来支持精准肿瘤学。该平台超越了静态存储库，提供了一个安全的虚拟研究环境（VRE），用户可以在其中上传数据、测试人工智能算法并执行完整的分析流程。该平台采用人工智能（AI）驱动的放射组学和深度学习方法，以实现生物标志物提取、疾病分层和预测建模。本文介绍了导航者基础设施的开发和实施，包括其数据治理框架、伦理和法律考量，以及在三个肿瘤学用例（前列腺癌、直肠癌和胃癌）中的应用。迄今为止，生物样本库已从这些队列中的700多名患者那里收集了影像和临床数据。人工智能模型部署在一个专用的虚拟研究环境中，以促进图像分析、特征提取和分类任务。该项目解决了与数据协调、法规遵从性、隐私保护以及人工智能系统中的公平性相关的关键挑战。导航者项目证明了在影像生物样本库中整合人工智能方法的可行性，并提供了一个可扩展的框架，以推进肿瘤学研究并支持临床决策。
