Dr. Ford's research experience includes working as a Research Assistant in a Digital Mammography research group at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto ON, and a postdoctoral fellowship in the Imaging Research Labs at the Robarts Research Institute in London ON. From 2006 to 2011, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at Ryerson University.
Dr. Ford was recruited to UBC in 2011 as the Director of the UBC Centre for High-Throughput Phenogenomics. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Oral Biological and Medical Sciences in the Faculty of Dentistry.
Contrast agent assessment for correlative imaging across different preclinical and specimen imaging modalities (micro-CT, optical projection tomography, etc.):
We are developing techniques to image contrast media with different imaging modalities (x-ray and optical). Using a single contrast media will ensure that the same structures are highlighted in each of the images. We are also working with novel contrast agents containing different metallic nanoparticles to determine the efficacy and time course of these agents.
Books & Book Chapters:
Handbook of Small Animal Imaging: Preclinical Imaging, Therapy, and Applications
Edited by: George C. Kagadis, Nancy L. Ford, Dimitrios N. Karnabatidis, George K. Loudos; 2016; CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group
Ford NL, Loudos GK, Karnabatidis D, Kagadis GC, “Chapter 1: Defining Small Animal Imaging, Therapy and Applications”.
Ford NL, "Chapter 5: Micro-CT imaging".
Ford NL, "Chapter 23: Performance Assessment of Small Animal Imaging Systems and Common Standards".
Preclinical imaging
El Ketara S, Ford NL, “Time Course Study of a Gold Nanoparticle Contrast Agent for use in Cardiac-gated Micro-CT Imaging in Mice”, BIOMEDICAL PHYSICS & ENGINEERING EXPRESS, (2020) https://doi.org/10.1088/2057-1976/ab8741
Kozomara S, Ford NL, “Detectability of Fluorescent Gold Nanoparticles under Micro-CT and Optical Projection Tomography Imaging”, JOURNAL OF MEDICAL IMAGING, (2020) 7(2), 026002, DOI: 10.1117/1.JMI.7.2.026002.
Ford NL, Tan S, Deman P, “An investigation of radiation damage in rat lungs following dual-energy micro-CT imaging”, BIOMEDICAL PHYSICS & ENGINEERING EXPRESS, 5(2):025005, 2019. DOI: 10.1088/2057-1976/aaf240
Deman P, Tan S, Belev G, Samadi N, Martinson M, Chapman D, Ford NL, “Respiratory-gated KES imaging of rat model of acute lung injury”, JOURNAL OF SYNCHROTRON RADIATION (2017) 24(3), DOI: 10.1107/S160057751700193X
Ford NL, McCaig L, Jeklin A, Lewis JF, Veldhuizen RAW, Holdsworth DW, Drangova M, “A respiratory-gated micro-CT comparison of respiratory patterns in free-breathing and mechanically ventilated rats”. PHYSIOLOGICAL REPORTS (2017) 5:2 DOI:10.14814/phy2.13074
Jaw JE, Tsuruta M, Suda K, Oh Y, Schipilow J, Hirano Y, Ngan DA, Suda K, Li Y, Oh JY, Tam S, Ford NL, van Eeden S, Wright J, Man SFP, Sin DD, "Inflammation with Lipopolysaccharide Causes Atheroma Destabilisation" EUROPEAN RESPIRATORY JOURNAL (2016) 48: 205-215. DOI: 10.1183/13993003.00972-2015
Karimi, D., P. Deman, R.K. Ward, N.L. Ford, “A Sinogram Denoising Algorithm for Low-Dose Computed Tomography” BMC MEDICAL IMAGING (2016) 16:11 DOI: 10.1186/s12880-016-0112-5
Wiebe S, Wysokinski TW, Belev G, Miller D, Webb A, Zhu N, Cooper D, Izadifar Z, Panahifar A, Samadi N, Martinson M, Ford NL, Deman P, Luan X, Ianowski JP, Chen D, Chapman D, “Bio-Medical Imaging Using Synchrotron Radiation - The Experience of the BioMedical Imaging and Therapy (BMIT) Facility at the Canadian Light Source”, SYNCHROTRON RADIATION NEWS. 28(5):16-23, 2015
Dental Imaging
Alawaji Y, MacDonald DS, Giannelis G, Ford NL, “Optimization of CBCT image quality in implant dentistry”, CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL DENTAL RESEARCH, 4(6):268-278; DOI:10.1002/cre2.141
Mostafa NZ, Ruse ND, Ford NL, Carvalho RM, Wyatt CC, “Marginal fit of lithium disilicate crowns fabricated using conventional and digital methodology: a three-dimensional analysis”, JOURNAL OF PROSTHODONTICS (2018) 27(2):145-152; DOI: 10.1111/jopr.1265
Li CL, Thakur Y, Ford NL, “Comparison between CTDI and the AAPM Report No. 111 methodology in adult, adolescent, and child head phantoms for MSCT and dental CBCT scanners”, JOURNAL OF MEDICAL IMAGING (2017) 4(3):031212; DOI: 10.1117/1.JMI.4.3.031212
Wahid, M.A., E. Choi, D. MacDonald and N.L. Ford. “Dosimetry Analysis of Panoramic- Imaging Devices in Different-Sized Phantoms”. JOURNAL OF APPLIED CLINICAL MEDICAL PHYSICS (2017) DOI:10.1002/acm2.12059
Abouei, E., Lee, S., N.L. Ford, “Image quality and dose measurement for partial cone-beam CT”, Journal of Medical Imaging. 2015, 2(4), 044002
Deman P, Atwal P, Duzenli C, Thakur Y, Ford NL. Dose measurements for dental cone-beam CT: a comparison with MSCT and panoramic imaging. Physics in Medicine & Biology 2014; 59(12): 3201-3222.