Jun Shen, Ph.D., Section Chief

OVERVIEW

The Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Section focuses on development and application of state-of-the-art magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and imaging (MRI) technologies. It has access to a 7 Tesla and a 3 Tesla whole-body spectrometer for research on human subjects as well as an 11.7 Tesla vertical widebore spectrometer for both in vivo and in vitro studies of small rodents. The high field strength magnets allow significant improvement in resolution and sensitivity for MRS and MRI measurements. This Section develops novel RF pulses, RF/gradient pulse sequences and sophisticated data analysis methods for studying magnetic resonance biomarkers in brain.

Using high-field MRS and MRI methods this Section conducts basic research on neurotransmission and neurotransmitter metabolism. In particular, in vivo assessment of glutamate and GABA neurotransmission and metabolism is used to explore the function and modulation of these neurotransmitters in the brain under a variety of conditions. The aim is to further our understanding of the role of these neurotransmitters and other important metabolites in psychiatric disorders.

Contact Information
Jun Shen, Ph.D.
MIB/MADP/NIMH
Building 10, 2D51A, MSC-1527
10 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD. 20892-1527
Phone: (301) 435-8444
Fax: (301) 402-3480
Email: shenj@intra.nimh.nih.gov

PEOPLE

Representative Publications

G. Hasler, J.W. van der Veen, C. Grillon, W.C. Drevets, and J. Shen, Effect of acute psychological stress on prefrontal gamma-aminobutyric acid concentration determined by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Am. J. Psychiatry, 167:1226-1231, 2010. (PDF File)

J. Shen and Y. Xiang. High fidelity magnetic resonance imaging by frequency sweep encoding and Fourier decoding. J. Magn. Reson., 204:200-207, 2010. (PDF File)

Y. Zhang, S. Li, S. Marenco, and J. Shen. Quantitative measurement of N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) at 3 Tesla using TE-averaged PRESS spectroscopy and regularized lineshape deconvolution. Magn. Reson. Med., 66:307-313, 2011. (PDF File)

J. Shen, Derivative encoding for parallel magnetic resonance imaging. Med. Phys., 38:5582-5589, 2011. (PDF File)

Y. Xiang, and J. Shen, Simultaneous detection of cerebral metabolism of different substrates by in vivo 13C isotopomer MRS. J. Neurosci. Methods, 198:8–15, 2011. (PDF File)

S. Marenco, M. Geramita, J.W. van der Veen, A.S. Barnett, B. Kolachana, J. Shen, D.R. Weinberger, and A.J. Law. Genetic association of ErbB4 and human cortical GABA levels in-vivo. J. Neurosci., 31:11628–11632, 2011. (PDF File)