Lijing Xin | EPFL Graph Search

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Lijing Xin is a research staff scientist and 7T MR Operational Manager at the Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM), Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. Her research interests focus on developing cutting-edge magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging methods for better understanding the brain function and the pathophysiology of neurological diseases. Her journey on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) started from her master project during 2002-2005, where she developed a gradient unit with eddy current compensation and a pulse sequence generator for MRI spectrometer, which enhanced her knowledge in MR instrumentation. Later, she obtained her PhD in physics from Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2010, where she focused on developing various novel 1H and 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) acquisition and quantification methods as well as RF coils on high field preclinical MR scanners. Afterwards, she started working on the clinical MR platforms including both 3 and 7T and continued to improve and develop novel acquisition and quantification methods for 1H, 13C and 31P nuclei. She carries on interdisciplinary collaborations with different partners, particularly with clinical partners where translational strategies are performed to explore the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders and disease biomarkers for early diagnose and intervention.

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Related units (3)

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Courses taught by this person (1)

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) will be addressed in detail, along with experimental design, data gathering and processing on MRS, structural and functional MRI in humans and rodents, and hands-on experience with MRI scanners.

Courses taught by this person

Related research domains (64)

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Related publications (105)

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People doing similar research (98)

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Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, most commonly known as NMR spectroscopy or magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), is a spectroscopic technique to observe local magnetic fields around atomic

Metabolite

In biochemistry, a metabolite is an intermediate or end product of metabolism. The term is usually used for small molecules. Metabolites have various functions, including fuel, structure, signaling,

Brain

A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as

Redox and Immune Signaling in Schizophrenia: New Therapeutic Potential

Daniella Dwir, Lijing Xin

Redox biology and immune signaling play major roles in the body, including in brain function. A rapidly growing literature also suggests that redox and immune abnormalities are implicated in neuropsychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia (SZ), bipolar disorder, autism, and epilepsy. In this article we review this literature, its implications for the pathophysiology of SZ, and the potential for development of novel treatment interventions targeting redox and immune signaling. Redox biology and immune signaling in the brain are complex and not fully understood; in addition, there are discrepancies in the literature, especially in patient-oriented studies. Nevertheless, it is clear that abnormalities arise in SZ from an interaction between genetic and environmental factors during sensitive periods of brain development, and these abnormalities disrupt local circuits and long-range connectivity. Interventions that correct these abnormalities may be effective in normalizing brain function in psychotic disorders, especially in early phases of illness.

OXFORD UNIV PRESS2023

Glutathione in the nucleus accumbens regulates motivation to exert reward-incentivized effort

Simone Astori, João Pedro de Matos Rodrigues, Fiona Hollis, Eva Ramos Fernandez, Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Pascal Steiner, Alina Veronika Irene Strasser, Lijing Xin, Ioannis Zalachoras, Olivia Zanoletti

Emerging evidence is implicating mitochondrial function and metabolism in the nucleus accumbens in motivated performance. However, the brain is vulnerable to excessive oxidative insults resulting from neurometabolic processes, and whether antioxidant levels in the nucleus accumbens contribute to motivated performance is not known. Here, we identify a critical role for glutathione (GSH), the most important endogenous antioxidant in the brain, in motivation. Using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy at ultra-high field in both male humans and rodent populations, we establish that higher accumbal GSH levels are highly predictive of better, and particularly, steady performance over time in effort-related tasks. Causality was established in in vivo experiments in rats that, first, showed that downregulating GSH levels through micro-injections of the GSH synthesis inhibitor buthionine sulfoximine in the nucleus accumbens impaired effort-based reward-incentivized performance. In addition, systemic treatment with the GSH precursor N-acetyl-cysteine increased accumbal GSH levels in rats and led to improved performance, potentially mediated by a cell-type-specific shift in glutamatergic inputs to accumbal medium spiny neurons. Our data indicate a close association between accumbal GSH levels and an individual’s capacity to exert reward-incentivized effort over time. They also suggest that improvement of accumbal antioxidant function may be a feasible approach to boost motivation.

2022

In vivo magnetic resonance P-31-Spectral Analysis With Neural Networks: 31P-SPAWNN

Sébastien Courvoisier, François Lazeyras, Julien Songeon, Lijing Xin

Purpose: We have introduced an artificial intelligence framework, 31P-SPAWNN, in order to fully analyze phosphorus-31 (P-31) magnetic resonance spectra. The flexibility and speed of the technique rival traditional least-square fitting methods, with the performance of the two approaches, are compared in this work. Theory and Methods: Convolutional neural network architectures have been proposed for the analysis and quantification of P-31-spectroscopy. The generation of training and test data using a fully parameterized model is presented herein. In vivo unlocalized free induction decay and three-dimensional P-31-magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging data were acquired from healthy volunteers before being quantified using either 31P-SPAWNN or traditional least-square fitting techniques. Results: The presented experiment has demonstrated both the reliability and accuracy of 31P-SPAWNN for estimating metabolite concentrations and spectral parameters. Simulated test data showed improved quantification using 31P-SPAWNN compared with LCModel. In vivo data analysis revealed higher accuracy at low signal-to-noise ratio using 31P-SPAWNN, yet with equivalent precision. Processing time using 31P-SPAWNN can be further shortened up to two orders of magnitude. Conclusion: The accuracy, reliability, and computational speed of the method open new perspectives for integrating these applications in a clinical setting.

WILEY2022