Our department is a diverse and inclusive one with a large clinical and academic faculty with varied backgrounds and research interests, and trainees in varied fundamental science pursuits along with radiology residents and subspeciality fellows.
The department is broadly engaged in research ranging from imaging technology validation to the latest in theranostics. Our department has built a reputation over the last 50 years as one of the strongest academic radiology departments in the country and continues to build on this reputation with interdisciplinary innovative clinical and fundamental science.
Research Areas
While supporting and initiating science across all aspects of radiology and nuclear medicine, our department has areas of research leadership and emphasis. Our integrative oncology team is a world leader in the development of new imaging radiopharmaceuticals, novel theranostic agents and the implementation of artificial intelligence in the oncological imaging space. From a clinical imaging science perspective our department has provided leadership and a wealth of data in emergency radiology, cardiac CT, and the phenotyping and characterization of interstitial lung diseases.
MRI
Our state-of-the-art imaging facilities include a 3 Tesla Philips MR7700 human MRI scanner, located in the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, and a 9.4 Tesla Bruker pre-clinical scanner, located in the Centre for Comparative Medicine on the south campus. A wide range of cutting-edge MRI techniques are available on the scanners to support a broad range of in-vivo applications, including multi nuclear MR imaging & spectroscopy recently added on the 3 Tesla scanner.
Our staff and team of MRI experts are trained to support any research projects that the scanners can accommodate and to innovate novel approaches to stay at the forefront of medical science. Our MR researchers advance technology in the fields of myelin water imaging, quantitative susceptibility mapping, sodium imaging, and proton and phosphorus spectroscopy in the brain, as well as luminal water imaging in the prostate.
Molecular Imaging Program
We pursue interdisciplinary research towards enhanced quantitative nuclear medicine and molecular imaging (PET/CT, SPECT/CT) and personalization of radiopharmaceutical therapies (RPTs). Coupled with our provincial molecular imaging and therapy program, we partner with clinical sites and industry aiming to translate our image generation and analysis methods (including AI) to state-of-the-art patient care.
In operation since 2003, UBC Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Research has served the province of BC through our mission to pursue and facilitate exemplary MR research advancing knowledge in science and health to ultimately improve health care in our province and beyond. The mandate of UBC MRI Research is to make state of the art in-vivo MR imaging and spectroscopy available to researchers at the University of British Columbia, the four Vancouver teaching hospitals (UBC Hospital, Vancouver General Hospital, BC Children’s and Women’s Hospital and St Paul’s Hospital) and the broader research community across BC.
Cardiac Imaging (CT)
The cardiac CT laboratory at UBC has played a meaningful international leadership role advancing our understanding of atherosclerosis, physiology and risk.
We have played a pivotal role in many of the formative registries (CONFIRM, ICONIC, PARADIGM, ADVANCE) in the field of coronary CT angiography. We have served to define the role of cardiac CT in transcatheter valve interventions developing sizing and screening algorithms for these procedures now used globally.
Emergency / Trauma Radiology
We strive to provide world-class radiology service to emergency care patients, while actively contributing to innovative solutions and revolutionary technological advancements.
As a level 1 trauma centre and home to one of the largest ER traumatology fellowship programs worldwide, our team has dedicated itself to investigating ways to develop faster, safer, and more sensitive methods for diagnosing patients in the acute care setting. Our major focus areas of research in the acute care setting are on ultra-low dose techniques, Multi-Energy CT, Polytrauma Imaging, and the role of MRI and Artificial Intelligence, aiming to enhance trauma care and improve the lives of all patients, particularly marginalized and vulnerable populations who are most affected. We led the development of an open-source lung segmentation tool in collaboration with Amazon and the UBC Cloud Innovation Centre.