NHMRC funding success for project using AI to improve high-resolution anoscopy
Credit: PhonlamaiPhotos
A project using artificial intelligence to improve tolerability, accuracy and availability of high-resolution anoscopy has been awarded a $1.6million National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Targeted Call for Research: Anal Cancer 2025 grant.
The grant opportunity aims to facilitate research that will enhance the understanding of the patient journey, specifically identifying the critical issues that prevent people from accessing timely and appropriate care in diverse locations and across different healthcare service sectors.
Professor Lei Zhang from Melbourne Sexual Health Centre in the School of Translational Medicine will lead the project, working with research and health service partners from Monash University’s Faculty of Information Technology, the University of Melbourne, St Vincent's Hospital, Mater Health and Western Health.
Anal cancer remains a growing public health concern in Australia, particularly among gay and bisexual men, people living with HIV, and immunocompromised individuals. While high-resolution anoscopy (HRA) remains the gold standard for diagnosing high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL)—the immediate precursor to anal squamous cell carcinoma —its application is constrained by a scarcity of trained specialists and the technical complexity of the procedure.
The project aims to transform the early detection and clinical management of anal cancer using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) tools integrated with HRA imaging and clinical data.
Specifically, the team have three main aims for the project. First, to develop AI-assisted diagnostic and prognostic tools based on HRA imaging. The diagnostic model will classify the full spectrum of anal lesions (LSIL, HSIL, cancer) and segment anatomical regions to guide biopsy decisions. The prognostic model will integrate HRA images, immunological biomarkers, and clinical metadata to predict lesion persistence, regression, or progression to cancer.
Second, the project aims to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of these tools in real-world clinical settings. A time-based alternating implementation study will assess whether the diagnostic tool reduces HRA procedure duration and clinician workload. In parallel, a randomised controlled trial will test whether the prognostic tool improves patient outcomes by reducing lesion progression and unnecessary interventions.
Third, the project aims to assess the cost-effectiveness of implementing the AI-assisted tools. The team will estimate healthcare resource savings and model improvements in life quality to inform policy recommendations for national screening and management strategies.
To support these AI innovations, the research team will leverage Monash University’s new high-performance computing platform, MAVERIC (Monash AdVanced Environment for Research and Intelligent Computing). MAVERIC’s powerful architecture enables rapid processing of large-scale cancer image datasets, efficient training of deep learning and time-series models, and accurate prediction of disease progression. This infrastructure will allow the team to conduct complex AI computations with exceptional speed and precision, accelerating the translation of research findings into clinical practice.
Professor Zhang said that he was very pleased to receive the NHMRC funding. “The project will generate robust evidence to support scalable, precision-guided screening and management strategies, with the potential to reduce anal cancer burden in high-risk Australian populations significantly,” he said.
Professor Zhang has also been recently honoured with the Clunies Ross Innovation Award 2025 by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
About Monash University
Monash University is Australia’s largest university with more than 80,000 students. In the 60 years since its foundation, it has developed a reputation for world-leading high-impact research, quality teaching, and inspiring innovation.
With four campuses in Australia and a presence in Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia and Italy, it is one of the most internationalised Australian universities.
As a leading international medical research university with the largest medical faculty in Australia and integration with leading Australian teaching hospitals, we consistently rank in the top 50 universities worldwide for clinical, pre-clinical and health sciences.
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