Matthew M. Ford is a Research Assistant Professor in the Division of Neuroscience at the ONPRC. He earned his BS in Biology from Bucknell University in 1996 and his PhD in Pharmacology from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in 2002. This was followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Oregon Health & Science University.  Between 2007 -2012 he was the recipient of a K01 award and served as a Research Assistant Professor within the Department of Behavioral Neuroscience at OHSU.  In 2012 he was appointed to the ONPRC.

The Ford laboratory strives to develop translational models of addiction, with emphasis on enhancing ‘vertical integration’ between rodent and non-human primate species.  Over the past 10 years we have developed multiple models that address the behavioral processes underlying alcohol self-administration, reinforcement, reinstatement, and drug discrimination in rodents.  Our general approach is to investigate both subjective drug effects and drug self-administration in parallel, as discriminative stimulus effects of drugs are believed to be critically involved in promoting drug seeking by directing behavior towards drug access and consumption.  It is critical to understand the relationship between these behavioral processes.  By investigating rodent and non-human primate models of abuse-related behaviors in tandem it is hoped that brain mechanisms underlying the propensity to self-administer drugs uncontrollably can be identified, manipulated, and translated between species to provide more effective treatment options for abusers. 
Current projects in the laboratory are addressing:
1) gene therapy to block relapse following chronic alcohol self-administration in rhesus macaques    
2) alcohol-nicotine interactions and the neurobiological underpinnings of co-abuse
3) influence of a non-synonymous polymorphism in the α5 nicotinic receptor subunit (rs16969968) on abuse-related behaviors in cynomolgus macaques
4) development and implementation of an e-cigarette self-administration model in rhesus macaques
5) alcohol-stress interactions and the role of environmental contingencies that result in ‘conflict or cognitive’ stress and associated ‘binge’ drinking
6) feasibility of muscarinic and nicotinic receptor-based pharmacotherapy for methamphetamine abuse