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.
We are training CNNs to remove artifacts and noise from respiratory-gated micro-computed tomography images. By removing structural noise and artifacts, we expect to improve the accuracy of measurements obtained from these images.
In Vivo monitoring of FLASH radiation therapy:
We have completed the first 10 MV photon FLASH radiation therapy treatments in mice at the TRIUMF particle accelerator. We are using micro-CT imaging and image-based analysis to monitor any changes in lung structure and function following FLASH radiation therapy treatments. This proof-of-concept study will determine if FLASH treatments have a reduction in healthy tissue damage.
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
Ford NL, Lee I, Hwangbo J, Tam A, Sin DD, “In vivo measurements of lung function using respiratory-gated micro-CT in a smoke-exposure model of COPD”, JOURNAL OF MEDICAL IMAGING, 10(1): 016002 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMI.10.1.016002
Tan MJ, Fernandes N, Williams KC, Ford NL, "In vivo micro-computed tomography imaging in liver tumor study of mice using Fenestra VC and Fenestra HDVC", NATURE SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 12:22399 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-26886-5
Bolaños LA, Xiao D, Ford NL, LeDue JM, Rhodin H, and Murphy TH, “3D virtual mouse-body generates synthetic training data for behavioral analysis”, NATURE METHODS, 18, 378–381(2021) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-021-01103-9
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, https://doi.org/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. https://doi.org/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), https://doi.org/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 https://doi.org/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. https://doi.org/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: https://doi.org/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
Ismail A, Lakschevitz F, MacDonald D, Ford NL, “Measurement Accuracy In Cone Beam Computed Tomography In The Presence Of Metal Artifact”, THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ORAL & MAXILLOFACIAL IMPLANTS, 31(1):143-152 (2022). https://doi.org/10.11607/jomi.9079
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; https://doi.org/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; https://doi.org/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; https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMI.4.3.031212
Wahid MA, Choi E, MacDonald D, and Ford NL. “Dosimetry Analysis of Panoramic- Imaging Devices in Different-Sized Phantoms”. JOURNAL OF APPLIED CLINICAL MEDICAL PHYSICS (2017) https://doi.org/10.1002/acm2.12059
Abouei E, Lee S, Ford NL, “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.