Collaboratory MR Spectroscopy Journal Club

As a means to noninvasively assess concentrations of certain small molecules in the living body, in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy enables the investigation of metabolic systems amidst a high degree of native biological context. Many open questions, however, remain to be explored regarding the methodological limits and appropriate clinical and research application of this tool. In the monthly Collaboratory MR Spectroscopy Journal Club, co-hosted by individuals from the Columbia University Medical Center Department of Psychiatry and Columbia SEAS Department of Biomedical Engineering with support from the Collaboratory at Columbia University, we present impactful, especially well-constructed, or otherwise compelling works within and around the field of in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy among a diverse group of researchers involved to different degrees and from various angles of attack in this specialized but growing domain of inquiry.

The Collaboratory MR Spectroscopy Journal Club typically meets the third Tuesday of every month from 17:00 to 18:00 ET. Meetings since the 2020/21 academic year have been fully virtual, and interested researchers can access our schedule by contacting us as outlined below:

Interested researchers can stay up-to-date on Collaboratory MR Spectroscopy Journal Club activities by submitting a single request to view our scheduling document and join our mailing list by:

emailing us directly

Those interested in registering as a speaker can do so by:

editing our scheduling document directly once access has been provided by joining the mailing list
emailing us directly

Past Talks and Upcoming Speakers (subject to change)

Date: 2023.08.22
Presenter: Maybe... you!
Paper or Topic: Sign up to speak by emailing us directly here.

Date: 2023.06.27
Presenter: Ronald Instrella, M.Sc.
Paper or Topic: Cavassila S, Deval S, Huegen C, van Ormondt D, Graveron-Demilly D. Cramér-Rao bounds: an evaluation tool for quantitation. NMR Biomed. 2001 Jun;14(4):278-83. doi: 10.1002/nbm.701. PMID: 11410946.

Date: 2023.05.23
Presenter: Jonathan Wai, M.D.
Paper or Topic: Baeshen A, Wyss PO, Henning A, O'Gorman RL, Piccirelli M, Kollias S, Michels L. Test-Retest Reliability of the Brain Metabolites GABA and Glx With JPRESS, PRESS, and MEGA-PRESS MRS Sequences in vivo at 3T. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2020 Apr; 51(4): 1181-1191. doi: 10.1002/jmri.26921.

Date: 2023.02.21
Presenter: Jonathan Wai, M.D.
Paper or Topic: Cheng H, Kellar D, Lake A, Finn P, Rebec GV, Dharmadhikari S, Dydak U, and Newman S. Effects of alcohol cues on MRS glutamate levels in the anterior cingulate. Alcohol and Alcoholism. 2018 May 1; 53(3): 209-215. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agx119.

Date: 2023.01.17
Presenter: Kay Igwe, M.Sc.
Paper or Topic: Hamilton G, Yokoo T, Bydder M, Cruite I, Schroeder ME, Sirlin CB, Middleton MS. In vivo characterization of the liver fat ¹H MR spectrum. NMR Biomed. 2011 Aug;24(7):784-90. doi: 10.1002/nbm.1622.

Date: 2022.12.20
Presenter: Yunglin Gazes, Ph.D.
Paper or Topic: White TL, Gonsalves MA, Cohen RA, Harris AD, Monnig MA, Walsh EG, Nitenson AZ, Porges EC, Lamb DG, Woods AJ, Borja CB. The neurobiology of wellness: ¹H-MRS correlates of agency, flexibility and neuroaffective reserves in healthy young adults. Neuroimage. 2021 Jan 15; 225:117509. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117509.

Date: 2022.11.15
Presenter: Isabelle Zinghini
Paper or Topic: Tkáč I, Benneyworth MA, Nichols-Meade T, Steuer EL, Larson SN, Metzger GJ, Uğurbil K. Long-term behavioral effects observed in mice chronically exposed to static ultra-high magnetic fields. Magn Reson Med. 2021 Sep; 86(3):1544-1559, doi: 10.1002/mrm.28799.

Date: 2022.10.18
Presenter: Gehua Tong, M.Sc.
Paper or Topic: Tong GH, Geethanath S, Manso Jimeno M, Qian EL, Ravi KS, Girish N, and Vaughan Jr JT. Virtual Scanner: MRI on a Browser. Journal of Open Source Software. 2019 Nov; 4(43), 1637, https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.01637

Date: 2022.09.27
Presenter: Jodi Weinstein, M.D.
Paper or Topic: Cuenod M, Steullet P, Cabungcal JH, Dwir D, Khadimallah I, Klauser P, Conus P, Do KQ. Caught in vicious circles: a perspective on dynamic feed-forward loops driving oxidative stress in schizophrenia. Mol Psychiatry. 2022 Apr;27(4):1886-1897.

Date: 2022.08.16
Presenter: Kelley Swanberg, Ph.D.
Paper or Topic: Rzechorzek NM, Thrippleton MJ, Chappell FM, Mair G, Ercole A, Cabeleira M; CENTER-TBI High Resolution ICU (HR ICU) Sub-Study Participants and Investigators, Rhodes J, Marshall I, O'Neill JS. A daily temperature rhythm in the human brain predicts survival after brain injury. Brain. 2022 Jun 13;145(6):2031–48.

Date: 2022.06.21
Presenter: Yun Shang, M.Sc.
Paper or Topic: Boer VO, Andersen M, Lind A, Lee NG, Marsman A, Petersen ET. MR spectroscopy using static higher order shimming with dynamic linear terms (HOS‐DLT) for improved water suppression, interleaved MRS‐fMRI, and navigator‐based motion correction at 7T. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. 2020 Sep; 84(3):1101-12.

Date: 2022.05.17
Presenter: Journal Club members
Paper or Topic: ISMRM 2022 highlights

Date: 2022.04.19
Presenter: David Ma
Paper or Topic: Ma DJ, Le HA, Ye Y, Laine AF, Lieberman JA, Rothman DL, Small SA, Guo J. MR spectroscopy frequency and phase correction using convolutional neural networks. Magn Reson Med. 2021 Dec 21. doi: 10.1002/mrm.29103. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34931715.

Date: 2022.03.15
Presenter: Jonathan Wai, M.D.
Paper or Topic: Prisciandaro JJ, Hoffman M, Brown TR, Voronin K, Book S, Bristol E, Anton RF. Effects of gabapentin on dorsal anterior cingulate cortex GABA and glutamate levels and their associations with abstinence in alcohol use disorder: A randomized clinical trial. Am J Psychiatry. 2021 Sep 1;178(9):829-837.

Date: 2022.01.18
Presenter: Ronald Instrella, M.Sc. Loading...
Paper or Topic: Klauser A, Klauser P, Grouiller F, Courvoisier S, Lazeyras F. Whole-brain high-resolution metabolite mapping with 3D compressed-sensing SENSE low-rank ¹H FID-MRSI. NMR Biomed. 2022 Jan; 35(1):e4615. doi: 10.1002/nbm.4615. Epub 2021 Oct 1. PMID: 34595791.

Date: 2021.12.21
Presenter: Sairam Geethanath, Ph.D.
Paper or Topic: Geethanath, S. Baek, H.M., Ganji, S.K., Ding, Y., Maher, E.A., Sims, R.D., Choi, C.H., Lewis, M.A., Kodibagkar, V.D. Compressive sensing could accelerate ¹H MR metabolic imaging in the clinic. Radiology 2012; 262(3).

Date: 2021.10.19
Presenter: Kay Igwe, M.Sc.
Paper or Topic: Pardon, M.C., et al. Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy discriminates the response to microglial stimulation of wild type and Alzheimer’s disease models. Scientific Reports 2016; 6: 19880. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep19880

Date: 2021.09.21
Presenter: Jodi Weinstein, M.D.
Paper or Topic: Merritt, K. et al. Association of age, antipsychotic medication, and symptom severity in schizophrenia with 1H-MRS brain glutamate level. JAMA Psychiatry 2021 Jun 1;78(6):667-681. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.0380.

Date: 2021.08.17
Presenter: Leonardo Campos
Paper or Topic: Song, Y.L., T. Gong, M.G. Saleh, M. Mikkelsen, G.B. Wang, and R.A.E. Edden. Upper brainstem GABA levels in Parkinson’s disease. MAGMA 2021 Mar 20. doi: 10.1007/s10334-021-00910-7. Online ahead of print.

Date: 2021.07.20
Presenter: Ray Lee, Ph.D.
Paper or Topic: Brain ³¹P MRS approach for counting vs subitizing Chen, C., M.C. Stephenson, A. Peters, P.G. Morris, S.T. Francis,
and P.A. Gowland. ³¹P magnetization transfer magnetic resonance spectroscopy: Assessing the activation induced
change in cerebral ATP metabolic rates at 3 T. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2018; 79:22–30. Lee, R.F., R. Giaquinto, C. Constantinides, S. Souza, R.G. Weiss, and P.A. Bottomley. A broadband phased-array system for direct phosphorus and sodium metabolic MRI on a clinical
scanner. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2000; 43:269–277.

Date: 2021.04.20
Presenter: Jodi Weinstein, M.D.
Paper or Topic: Lin, A., O. Andronesi, W. Bogner, I.Y. Choi, E. Coello, C. Cudalbu, C. Juchem, G.J. Kemp, R. Kreis, M. Krššák, P. Lee, A.A. Maudsley, M. Meyerspeer, V. Mlynarik, J. Near, G. Öz, A.L. Peek, N.A. Puts, E.M. Ratai, I. Tkáč, P.G. Mullins. Experts' Working Group on Reporting Standards for MR Spectroscopy. Minimum Reporting Standards for in vivo Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRSinMRS): Experts' consensus recommendations. NMR Biomed 2021 Feb 9;e4484. doi: 10.1002/nbm.4484. Online ahead of print. Download MRSinMRS checklist

Date: 2021.03.16
Presenter: Kenneth Wengler, Ph.D.
Paper or Topic: Pretzsch, C.M., B. Voinescu, D. Lythgoe, J. Horder, M.A. Mendez, R. Wichers, L. Ajram, G. Ivin, M. Heasman, R.A. E. Edden, S. Williams, D. G. M. Murphy, E. Daly, and G.M. McAlonan. Effects of cannabidivarin (CBDV) on brain excitation and inhibition systems in adults with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): a single dose trial during magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Transl Psychiatry 9, 313 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-019-0654-8.

Date: 2021.02.16
Presenter: Martin Gajdošík, Ph.D.
Paper or Topic: Barkhuijsen, H. R. de Beer, D. van Ormondt. Improved algorithm for noniterative time-domain model fitting to exponentially damped magnetic resonance signals. J Magn Reson 1987; 73(3):553-557.

Date: 2021.01.19
Presenter: Kelley Swanberg, M.Sc.
Paper or Topic: Ioannidis, J.P.A. Why most published research findings are false. PLoS Med 2005 Aug;2(8):e124. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124.

Date: 2020.12.15
Presenter: Leonardo Campos
Paper or Topic: Dixon, R.M., K.M. Bradley, M.M. Budge, P. Styles, A.D. Smith. Longitudinal quantitative proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the hippocampus in Alzheimer's disease. Brain 2002 Oct;125(Pt 10):2332-41. doi: 10.1093/brain/awf226.

Date: 2020.10.20
Presenter: Christoph Juchem, Ph.D.
Paper or Topic: Juchem, C., C. Cudalbu, R.A. de Graaf, R. Gruetter, A. Henning, H.P. Hetherington, and V.O. Boer, B0 shimming for in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy: Experts' consensus recommendations. NMR Biomed 2020: p. e4350.

Date: 2020.09.15
Presenter: Martin Gajdošík, Ph.D.
Paper or Topic: Murali-Manohar, S., A.M. Wright, T. Borbath, N.I. Avdievich, A. Henning. A novel method to measure T1 -relaxation times of macromolecules and quantification of the macromolecular resonances. Magn Reson Med 2021 Feb;85(2):601-614. doi: 10.1002/mrm.28484. Epub 2020 Aug 30.

Date: 2020.08.18
Presenter: Karl Landheer, Ph.D.
Paper or Topic: L.G Kaiser, K. Hirokazu, M. Fukunaga, G.B. Matson. Detection of glucose in the human brain with 1 H MRS at 7 Tesla. Magn Reson Med 2016 Dec;76(6):1653-1660. doi: 10.1002/mrm.26456. Epub 2016 Sep 8.

Date: 2020.06.16
Presenter: Kay Igwe, M.Sc.
Paper or Topic: Murray, M.E., S.A. Przybelski, T.G. Lesnick, A.M. Liesinger, A. Spychalla, B. Zhang, J.L. Gunter, J.E. Parisi, B.F. Boeve, D.S. Knopman, R.C. Petersen, C.R. Jack Jr, D.W. Dickson, K. Kantarci. Early Alzheimer's disease neuropathology detected by proton MR spectroscopy. J Neurosci 2014 Dec 3;34(49):16247-55. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2027-14.2014.

Date: 2020.02.18
Presenter: Lawrence Kegeles, M.D., Ph.D.
Paper or Topic: R.J. Maddock, M.D. Caton, J.D. Ragland. Estimating glutamate and Glx from GABA-optimized MEGA-PRESS: Off-resonance but not difference spectra values correspond to PRESS values. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 2018 Sep 30;279:22-30. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2018.07.003. Epub 2018 Jul 29.

Date: 2019.12.17
Presenter: Christoph Juchem, Ph.D.
Paper or Topic: Tkác, I., P. Andersen, G. Adriany, H. Merkle, K. Ugurbil, R. Gruetter. In vivo 1H NMR spectroscopy of the human brain at 7 T. Magn Reson Med 2001 Sep;46(3):451-6. doi: 10.1002/mrm.1213.

Date: 2019.11.15
Presenter: Michael Treacy, B.Sc.
Paper or Topic: Janik, R., L.A.M. Thomason, A.M. Stanisz, P.F. Forsythe, J. Bienenstock, G.J. Stanisz. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy reveals oral Lactobacillus promotion of increases in brain GABA, N-acetyl aspartate and glutamate. Neuroimage 2016 Jan 15;125:988-995. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.11.018. Epub 2015 Nov 11.

Date: 2019.10.15
Presenter: Kenneth Wengler, Ph.D.
Paper or Topic: M.G. Bossong, M. Antoniades, M. Azis, C. Samson, B. Quinn, I. Bonoldi, G. Modinos, J. Perez, O.D. Howes, J.M. Stone, P. Allen, P. McGuire. Association of Hippocampal Glutamate Levels With Adverse Outcomes in Individuals at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis. JAMA Psychiatry 2019 Feb 1;76(2):199-207. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.3252.

Date: 2019.09.17
Presenter: Jodi Weinstein, M.D.
Paper or Topic: Data Meeting: Glx and GABA signals from the hippocampus of patients with schizophrenia

Date: 2019.07.16
Presenter: Kelley Swanberg, M.Sc.
Paper or Topic: A. Ion-Mărgineanu, G. Kocevar, C. Stamile, D.M. Sima, F. Durand-Dubief, S.V. Huffel, D. Sappey-Marinier. Machine Learning Approach for Classifying Multiple Sclerosis Courses by Combining Clinical Data with Lesion Loads and Magnetic Resonance Metabolic Features. Front Neurosci 2017 Jul 11;11:398. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00398. eCollection 2017.

Date: 2019.06.18
Presenter: Martin Gajdošík, Ph.D.
Paper or Topic: Gajdošík, M., G.L. Chadzynski, G. Hangel, V. Mlynárik, M. Chmelík, L. Valkovič, W. Bogner, R. Pohmann, K. Scheffler, S. Trattnig, M. Krššák. Ultrashort-TE stimulated echo acquisition mode (STEAM) improves the quantification of lipids and fatty acid chain unsaturation in the human liver at 7 T. NMR Biomed 2015 Oct;28(10):1283-93. doi: 10.1002/nbm.3382. Epub 2015 Aug 27.

Date: 2019.05.21
Presenter: Jonathan Wai, M.D.
Paper or Topic: Prisciandaro, J.J., J.P. Schacht, A.P. Prescot, P.F. Renshaw, T.R. Brown, and R.F. Anton. Brain glutamate, GABA, and glutamine levels and associations with recent drinking in treatment-naïve individuals with alcohol use disorder versus light drinkers. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2019 Feb;43(2):221-226. doi: 10.1111/acer.13931. Epub 2019 Jan 4.

Date: 2019.04.16
Presenter: Karl Landheer, Ph.D.
Paper or Topic: Landheer, K. and C. Juchem. Dephasing optimization through coherence order pathway selection (DOTCOPS) for improved crusher schemes in MR spectroscopy. Magn Reson Med 2019 Apr;81(4):2209-2222.

Collaboratory MR Spectroscopy Journal Club Directing Committee

Lawrence Kegeles, M.D., Ph.D.

Jonathan Wai, M.D.

Christoph Juchem, Ph.D.

Karl Landheer, Ph.D. (2019-2021)

Kelley Swanberg, Ph.D. (2021-2023)

Collaboratory MR Spectroscopy Journal Club

Past Talks and Upcoming Speakers (subject to change)

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