About Us

London In Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative is a partnership between Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. We are one of four NIHR centres in England that generate evidence to support diagnostic test development. We achieve this by developing research methods for evidence generation and collaborate with various stakeholders to support this process. We work with clinicians to identify unmet needs for diagnostics and with diagnostic test developers to explore the utility of specific tests within UK NHS settings. By facilitating the adoption of new, improved tests into clinical practice we hope to improve the quality of patient care within the NHS.

Some of our key missions

Diagnostic Growth Hub

The Diagnostic Growth Hub (DGH) stimulates growth of diagnostic companies by working closely together with innovators. It is a pan-London and South East initiative, led by MedCity. London IVD are a key partner, alongside UCL and Queen Mary’s and we bring our expertise in diagnostics related evidence generations to the partnership. The idea is a ‘one-stop-shop’ platform to stimulate growth of diagnostic companies by enabling easy and comprehensive access to the relevant capabilities offered by the partner organisations. DGH is currently in its pilot phase, with bi-weekly meetings to review progress of industry engagements, and to discuss and develop strategies of engagements. Manufacturing and other capabilities will also be included in the future.

Find out more

Diagnostic Incubator

The diagnostic incubator combines interactive teaching, personalised evidence generation sessions and the opportunity to pitch to funders. In addition to teaching the fundamentals of evidence to innovators, London IVD hosts individual sessions with innovators, reviewing where they are in terms of evidence supported value propositions and what the next step might be to optimise their route to (the NHS) market. We bring our track record of working with diagnostic companies, and the methodologies we have developed and honed since 2013, to enable more efficient evidence generation to support commercialisations. The first incubator was in collaboration with Medtech Superconnector, a consortium of universities led by the Imperial Enterprise team, and applications were invited from within the consortium. In the longer term, we will be working with our partners to offer this more widely to any aspiring innovators nationally as well as internationally.

Our Team

Leadership & Management

Methodology Team

Clinical Team

Technology Team

Patient and Public Management

Patient and Public Lay Board

Our Approach

In order to work effectively, diagnostic tests must interact with a wide range of different aspects of the healthcare system, including people, technologies, and processes.

By systematically analysing diagnostics’ interactions with the healthcare system, our Lean Systems Approach for Innovation (LSAI) generates data on a wide range of factors likely to be important for the adoption of the test into clinical practice. These include the clinical utility of the test (e.g. sensitivity, specificity), user needs and preferences, aspects of test design, technology compatibility, and economic factors.

Our multidisciplinary expertise, which includes clinical, technology, human factors, and health economics, provides a unique basis for examining the range of factors that might affect the adoption and integration of new diagnostics.

Find out how we work with companies to support test development on our Industry and Innovators page.