On April 24 2024, Lijing Xin, Research Staff Scientist CIBM MRI EPFL Section and Assistant Professor Institute of Physics, EPFL, shared his talk on “Probing Brain Metabolism by Multi-nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy – Technical Advances and Applications at 7T” at the Campus Biotech in Geneva.
Insights
Multinuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) using 1H, 13C, and 31P nuclei allows for the measurement of a broad range of static or dynamic states of neurochemical, metabolic, and physiological events during brain function. This includes cerebral metabolite concentrations, such as the major excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate, and the major inhibitory neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA); neuroenergetics; neurotransmission; and redox states, in vivo. Alterations in these neurochemical, metabolic, and physiological indices have been implicated in many neurological disorders accompanying psychiatric disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, oncology, epilepsy, and aging. In this talk, the current advancements of multinuclear MRS at ultrahigh magnetic fields will be presented, including 1H MRS methods for neurochemical profiling and GABA measurement, 3D mapping of creatine kinase activity by 31P MR fingerprinting, cerebral metabolic fluxes measurement by 13C MRS, and their research applications.
Lijing Xin
Research Staff Scientist CIBM MRI EPFL Section, Assistant Professor Institute of Physics, EPFL
Lijing Xin is an assistant professor and research staff scientist at the Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM), Institution of Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. Her research interests focus on developing cutting-edge multinuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and imaging methods for better understanding brain function and the pathophysiology of neurological diseases. She obtained her PhD in physics from EPFL in 2010, where she focused on developing various novel 1H and 13C MRS acquisition and quantification methods as well as RF coils on high-field preclinical MR scanners. Since 2010, transitioning to clinical MR platforms encompassing both 3T and 7T clinical MR systems, she continued refining and innovating acquisition and quantification methods for 1H, 13C, and 31P nuclei. Engaging in interdisciplinary collaborations, particularly with clinical partners, she spearheads translational strategies to explore the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders and identify disease biomarkers for early diagnosis and intervention. She leads several research projects funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), private foundations, and industrial partners. Recently, she was awarded the prestigious SNSF Consolidator grant to develop a novel MR neuroimaging modality that targets the molecular basis of brain networks.