WEN Lab

Wen lab is located in the Neuroscience building in downtown Indianapolis, IN. We develop novel techniques for acquiring, reconstructing, and quantitatively analyzing neuroimaging data to improve its sensitivity and specificity for characterizing aging- and Alzheimer's diseases (AD)-related neurodegenerations, with a focus on diffusion magnetic resonance imaging.   

June 2024 

New role: Qiuting will serve as a standing reviewer for NIH study section starting July 2024.

April 2024 

New abstract award: Congratulate Adam on receiving SUMMA CUM LAUDE award on the ISMRM abstract.

March 2024 

New publication: Our review paper, titled "Diffusion MRI of cerebrospinal fluid dynamics: Current techniques and future advancements" has been accepted for publication in NMR in Biomedicine.

Jan 2024 

Qiuting becomes Adjunct Assistant Professor at Purdue University in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.

Dec 2023 

New publication: Our manuscript titled "Exploring radial asymmetry in MR diffusion tensor imaging and its impact on the interpretation of glymphatic mechanisms" has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

New lab member: We extend a warm welcome to Dr. Joseph Muskat, joining our team as a Research Assistant 🎉🎉🎉. 

New publication: Our manuscript titled "Paravascular fluid dynamics reveal arterial stiffness assessed using dynamic diffusion‐weighted imaging" has been accepted for publication in NMR in Biomedicine.

New grant:  Qiuting and collaborators received NIH/NIA R01 award titled "Map Paravascular Fluid Dynamic Signatures of Key Aging and AD Processes Using Dynamics Diffusion-Weighted Imaging"

Congratulations to Tianyin on completing a fruitful summer project and presenting her work at the Greater Indiana Chapter Society for Neuroscience!

🎉🎉🎉 Big congratulations to Adam on being awarded the F30 grant on his first submission!

Qiuting served as an ad hoc reviewer for the NIH study section: Clinical Neuroscience and Neurodegeneration Study Section (CNN)

Congratulations to Adam on being invited to an oral presentation at ISMRM 2023 for his abstract "Multimodal MR imaging approach to evaluate the coupling between cardiac pulsation and perivascular CSF motion".

Congratulations to Adam on submitting his first NIH F30 grant at only 6 months into his Ph.D. program! Good luck Adam.

Qiuting served as an ad hoc reviewer for the Indiana CTSI Core Pilot grants study section. 

Qiuting served as an ad hoc reviewer for the NIH Fellowships study section meeting: Brain Disorders and Related Neurosciences – (F01A). 

Qiuting attended the 31th ISMRM conference held in London and gave an oral presentation in the "Neurofluid: from micro to macro" scientific session, titled "Assessing Pulsatile Waveforms of Paravascular Cerebrospinal Fluid Dynamics using dynamic Diffusion-weighted Imaging (dDWI)" 

 Reserach projects

Neurofluid dynamics

ISMRM 2022 Oral Presentation (ISMRM login required)



To measure the fluid dynamics of the paravascular cerebrospinal fluid (pCSF), we developed an in-vivo non-invasive imaging and post-processing technique, named dynamic Diffusion-Weighted Imaging (dynDWI).  By measuring the temporal waveforms of pCSF movement in the paravasulcar space, dynDWI may provide relevant biomarkers for glymphatic function – failure of which can be a final common pathway to dementia.  This work is published in Neuroimage.


Neurodegeneration

ISMRM 2019 Oral Presentation (Magna Cum Laude Merit Award)

We have discovered a series of interesting findings on the co-localization of white-matter vulnerability and the deposition of tau pathology in the older brain (>65 y/o) with or without cognitive impairment. 

The first study using diffusion MRI alone identified focal white-matter alterations in the mild cognitive impaired brain. Interestingly, the white-matter alteration pattern features a temporal-posterior gradient.  This gradient coincides with the spatial distribution of early tau pathology, which inspired our subsequent investigation – to evaluate whether there is indeed a testable relationship between white-matter degeneration and tau deposition using in vivo data.  

Our follow-up study combining diffusion MRI and tau-PET imaging confimed the WM-tau association. Furthermore, it revealed a continuous association pattern (movie on the left) that resembles the well-known tau propagation pattern (i.e., Braak staging). These findings suggest that the two seemingly independent processes of the aging brain - white-matter degeneration and tauopathy - are related. 

We continue to evaluate the interactive relationship between white-matter degeneration and tauopathy in the aging brain and along the spectrum of Alzheimer's Disease. 

Fast & High-resolution diffusion MRI

            Acquired Reconstructed

ISMRM 2016 Oral Presentation (Summa Cum Laude Merit Award)

ISMRM 2017 Oral Presentation (Magna Cum Laude Merit Award)

We developed a series of novel diffusion acquisition and reconstruction techniques that enable fast high-resolution diffusion imaging.  The method, termed RoSA, utilized a 'similarity' feature of high-angular resolution diffusion imaging, which others have not explored.  RoSA can speed up high-resolution diffusion imaging by ~10 fold compared to state-of-the-art high-resolution diffusion imaging techniques, which can significantly facilitate the application of diffusion imaging to study grey matter disease such as Alzheimer's Disease in a clinical setting.  A provisional patent has been filed for this acquisition technique.  This project has led to a 3-year research contract with Siemens Healthineers.  Afterward, we developed a turbo-spin-echo version of RoSA (TSE-RoSA) to achieve zero-distortion diffusion images.  Rapid k-space acquisition and sparse reconstruction were incorporated to accelerate its acquisition speed.  TSE-RoSA allows distortion-free fast intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) MRI within three minutes.


 

 People

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR 

Assistant Professor

Qiuting Wen, PhD

pronounced [chiu-ting]

wenq@iu.edu



Dr. Wen earned her Ph.D. from the UCSF-UC Berkeley Joint Ph.D. Program in Bioengineering, specializing in the imaging of brain tumors. During her doctoral research, she cultivated a strong interest in MRI. Following graduation, she transitioned to Indiana University, where she pursued postdoctoral research with a specialized emphasis on advanced diffusion MRI. Her present research is centered on the application of dynamic diffusion-weighted imaging techniques to investigate neurofluid dynamics, a critical aspect of the glymphatic system and brain waste clearance.

Graduate student (MD/PhD program)

Adam Wright

wrighad@iu.edu




Adam has a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. After graduation, he completed research at the Oregon National Primate Research Center focusing on assessing placental function with various functional MRI techniques (advisor: Matthias Schabel, PhD; PI: Antonio Frias, MD). In the summer of 2020, Adam enrolled in the MD/PhD program at Indiana School of Medicine where he will complete his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University. Adam is interested in researching dynamic imaging techniques to greater understand organ function in-vivo. He wants to research the application of these imaging techniques so they can be used to detect organ dysfunction and disease progression allowing him to combine his passion for both engineering and medicine to answer pertinent clinical questions.


Research assistant

Joseph Muskat

jcmuskat@iu.edu


Joseph obtained his Ph.D. from the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University where he developed an original line of research pertaining to translational computational models and applied physiology. His academic work involves the development of open-source tools for simulating the hemodynamic response to acute cardiovascular stress (i.e., fear and aerobic exercise) with an overall goal to explore emergent properties of the human circulation that modulate regional blood flow.

 

As a Research Assistant within the Wen lab, he supports work with cardiovascular mechanics and delivery of pulse waveforms with natural aging. Further, he is actively seeking his M.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Butler University where he hopes to investigate the influence of psychedelics such as psilocybin and ketamine to treat resistant depression.



Research assisant

Tianyin Xu

xu1456@purdue.edu




Tianyin is a senior-year undergraduate student studying biomedical engineering at Purdue University. Her project involves developing data-driven algorithms for automatically identifying arterial regions in functional MRI. 





Publications