diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/science/biology/gifticlib/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/biology/gifticlib/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..dddf29fb0193
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/biology/gifticlib/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, cmake, expat, nifticlib, zlib }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  pname = "gifticlib";
+  version = "unstable-2020-07-07";
+
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    owner = "NIFTI-Imaging";
+    repo = "gifti_clib";
+    rev = "5eae81ba1e87ef3553df3b6ba585f12dc81a0030";
+    sha256 = "0gcab06gm0irjnlrkpszzd4wr8z0fi7gx8f7966gywdp2jlxzw19";
+  };
+
+  cmakeFlags = [ "-DUSE_SYSTEM_NIFTI=ON" "-DDOWNLOAD_TEST_DATA=OFF" ];
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake ];
+  buildInputs = [ expat nifticlib zlib ];
+
+  # without the test data, this is only a few basic tests
+  doCheck = !stdenv.isDarwin;
+  checkPhase = ''
+    runHook preCheck
+    ctest -LE 'NEEDS_DATA'
+    runHook postCheck
+  '';
+
+  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+    homepage = "https://www.nitrc.org/projects/gifti";
+    description = "Medical imaging geometry format C API";
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ bcdarwin ];
+    platforms = platforms.unix;
+    license = licenses.publicDomain;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 8f50fe1a546b..24536b6f509d 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -12525,6 +12525,8 @@ in
 
   giblib = callPackage ../development/libraries/giblib { };
 
+  gifticlib = callPackage ../development/libraries/science/biology/gifticlib { };
+
   gio-sharp = callPackage ../development/libraries/gio-sharp { };
 
   givaro = callPackage ../development/libraries/givaro {};