Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

The UBC Centre for High-Throughput Phenogenomics (CHTP)-funded by the CFI, BCKDF, and Faculty of Dentistry-provides 2D and 3D imaging and analysis using micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) imaging, optical imaging, and scanning electron microscopy, making it a unique resource for researchers to pursue their innovative research and training mandates. The micro-CT platform (2 instruments) has supported 19 UBC research teams and 1 from SFU over the past 2 years, including high-resolution specimen scanning and in vivo imaging for projects spanning the natural sciences, engineering, and health. The natural science-based projects come from Dentistry, Science, and Applied Science studying animal welfare, materials, concrete samples, rock composition, and developing improved imaging techniques and/or correlating with other imaging modalities. The health-related projects are from Dentistry, Medicine, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Science studying obesity, oncology, nanomedicine, bone, teeth, and biomaterials. The primary user of the in vivo micro-CT is Dr. Nancy Ford, a medical physicist and Director of the CHTP facility. Dr. Ford is a world-leading expert in respiratory- and cardiac-gated micro-CT imaging, contrast-enhanced micro-CT, and in quantitative image-based measurements of lung structure and function in preclinical studies. Her current research includes characterization of novel contrast agents for preclinical studies, and using respiratory-gated micro-CT as a non-invasive method to assess lung structure and function in mice following different radiation therapy treatments, including a novel ultra-fast FLASH treatment. Future micro-CT work will include acquiring many sets of phantom images in order to train a convolutional neural network to remove noise and artifacts from the micro-CT images with the aim of improving the image quality and uniformity. Upcoming repairs will be necessary for the x-ray detector, which is comprised of a scintillator fibre-bonded to a charge-coupled device (CCD). The scintillator is physically separating from the CCD, leading to regions of reduced sensitivity on the detector that are progressing over time, and are now affecting a significant portion of the imaging region of interest. Repairs to this machine are important for Dr. Ford's research, as extended downtime will immediately halt all progress by her current MSc students and destroy a collaboration with a colleague at the University of Victoria. In addition, an investigator from Zoology has initiated a longitudinal study this fall, where the same animals will be imaged at various timepoints over 1 year, and so continued functionality is also paramount to that research team. The requested repairs will ensure this micro-CT machine, with physiological gating capabilities that are unique in Western Canada, remains functional, enabling unique training experiences for HQP, development of transferable skills for industry, and the creation of new scientific knowledge.