Biography
Dr. Ford earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with a minor in Mathematics from the University of Florida. For her doctoral dissertation at Caltech, Dr. Ford investigated structure formation in polymer membranes used for water purification, resource recovery, and catalysis, under the co-advisement of Profs. Julia Kornfield and Mamadou Diallo. She then spent four years as a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Center for Neutron Research, where she used small angle scattering to understand stability in multi-injection drug products such as insulin, with an eye toward informing formulation design for the pharmaceutical industry. Her research at Liberty will expand upon this project, investigating solution structure and instability for a variety of surfactants and preservatives commonly used in biologic drug formulations.
Courses Taught
- CHEM121L – General Chemistry I Lab
- CHEM301L – Organic Chemistry I Lab
- CHEM302L – Organic Chemistry II Lab
Research Interests
Medical applications of polymeric materials; small-angle scattering; polymer design, synthesis, and characterization.
Professional Memberships
- American Chemical Society
- Polymer Chemistry and Polymeric Materials: Science & Engineering divisions
Publications and Presentations
Publications:
Ford, R.R.; et al. Micelle Formation and Phase Separation of Poloxamer 188 and Preservative Molecules in Aqueous Solutions Studied by Small Angle X-Ray Scattering. J. Pharm. Sci. 2023, 112 (3), 731–739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xphs.2022.09.019
Gilbert, P. H.; Zhang, Z.; Qian, K. K.; Allen, D. P.; Ford, R.; Wagner, N. J.; Liu, Y. Aggregation Kinetics of Polysorbate 80/m -Cresol Solutions: A Small-Angle Neutron Scattering Study. Mol. Pharmaceutics 2022, 19 (3), 862–875. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.1c00803.
Schulz, M.D.; Ford, R.R.; Wagener K.B.; Insertion Metathesis Depolymerization. Polym. Chem. 2013 4, 3656–3658.
Presentations:
Ford, R.R.; et al. Factors affecting phenol-induced micelle formation of poloxamer 188 in pharmaceutical formulations. American Conference on Neutron Scattering, Symposium for Biology, Biophysics, & Biotechnology: Tackling complexity in biology and the environment. Knoxville, TN. 26June2024. Oral presentation.
Ford, R.R.; et al. Preservative-induced micelle formation of poloxamer 188. American Crystallographic Association Annual Meeting, Session on Small Angle Scattering in Vaccines and Drug Delivery Systems. Baltimore, MD. 11Jul2023. Invited oral presentation.
Ford, R.R.; et al. Isotope effect of preservative-induced micelle formation of poloxamer 188 in pharmaceutical formulations. American Chemical Society National Meeting, Polymer Division Symposium for New Synthesis and Characterization of Polymers. Indianapolis, IN. 30Mar2023. Oral presentation.
Ford, R.R.; et al. Probing the emergence of microscale structure in multicomponent functional membranes, US-Africa Forum on Nanotechnology Convergence. Johannesburg, South Africa. 14Aug2019. Invited oral presentation.
Ford, R.R.; et al. Investigating the effect of polymer architecture and chemistry on structure formation in mixed matrix polymer-polymer membranes. US-Africa Forum on Nanotechnology Convergence. Johannesburg, South Africa. 14Aug2019. Invited oral & poster presentations. Winner of Best Student Poster.
Ford, R.R.; et al. Probing in-situ particle growth in polymer membranes using ultra-small angle neutron scattering. 254th American Chemical Society National Meeting, PMSE, Symposium on Dynamic Chemistry in Polymer Materials. Washington, D.C. 23Aug2017. Oral presentation.