Top specialists in Sheffield are among those being handed a key role in ground-breaking research which aims to establish the UK as a world leader in research in the detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer using highly-advanced imaging techniques.

Experts in the city plan to use grants worth up to £500,000 each year for the next five years to enhance MRI technology to examine the impact of a new treatment which aims to kill tumours by cutting off their blood supply.

The novel approach to treating cancer is being looked at by a number of teams around the world but experts in Sheffield aim to harness imaging techniques to examine minutely how the drugs work.

Physicist professor Martyn Paley, who is joint lead scientist for the programme at Sheffield University, said the approach could be used in future on tumours throughout the body if laboratory trials and tests on patients proved successful.

One element involved examining the impact of the drugs – which are derived from the African willow tree – on normal blood vessels.

"We are hoping that the research will lead to new understanding of the detailed factors which control how cancers invade and survive in the body and in teaching us how to shut off the blood supplies which feed tumours and allow them to grow," he said.

Imaging was playing an increasingly important part in cancer research to enable scientists to evaluate the impact of treatments and it was also becoming crucial as treatments were tailored to individual patients.

"This grant puts Sheffield at the forefront of cancer imaging within the UK," he said.

"Only a handful of groups worldwide have access to the technology which we will install through this grant. It will encourage collaborations within the university and within the NHS trusts in Sheffield who already have an extensive network or services to provide care for cancer patients in the Sheffield region.

"Investing in this important area is vital for improving many aspects of a cancer patient's journey – from detection to treatment."

The £50m nationwide programme is being funded chiefly by the charity Cancer Research UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

The award to specialists in Sheffield is part of investment in five centres for research into imaging using MRI, X-rays, CT scans and ultrasound.

Four large cancer imaging centres are also being established to develop cancer imaging including equipment which allows scientists to watch cells in action by tracing radioactive markers injected into a patient's body.

The techniques will enable doctors to see therapies at work, identifying earlier which treatments work best.

Some scanning techniques can provide whole-body images so clinicians can see where cancers have spread and decide how useful surgery would be or if radiotherapy and drugs would be more effective.

Prof David Delpy, chief executive of the research council, said: "These centres will bring together scientists, engineers and clinicians interested in all aspects of imaging research, speeding up advances in new technologies and benefiting patients too."

Prof Herbie Newell, director of translational research at Cancer Research UK, said: "Imaging is an invaluable tool in the fight against cancer. Being able to see what's happening inside patients is vitally important in understanding how treatments are currently working and the best ways to improve them."

The awards will be formally announced tomorrow at the National Cancer Research Institute cancer conference in Birmingham.