Clémence Ligneul

I am a permanent researcher at MIRCen (Molecular Imaging Research Centre, CEA, France), and an academic visitor at NDCN and OxCIN.  

For 5 years (2020-2025), I worked as a research associate in the Preclinical Imaging Group and an invited member of the WIN Physics Group. 

I am interested in the microstructural properties of the brain. I use diffusion-weighted MR spectroscopy (dMRS), a method that relies on the diffusion of different intracellular brain metabolites.

I have recently been granted an ERC Starting Grant (CellPrism) to resolve non-invasively brain cell-types with dMRS. The project combines the development of a new modelling framework and acquisition strategies, validation in the mouse (precise cell-type manipulations), and translation to humans.

Among other projects, I work on the cerebellar microstructure in pathology (e.g. ataxia) or during development. Recently, I have shown that dMRS can track distinct trajectories of neuronal development in the cerebellum and thalamus of rat neonates. This project was awarded a WIN seed grant.

I achieved my PhD at MIRCen (CEA, France, 2014-2017) and explored the rodent brain intracellular space by developing diverse dMRS methods. We notably showed that the diffusion properties of myo-inositol reflected the astrocytic morphology.

From 2017 to 2019, I worked at the Champalimaud Foundation (Lisbon, Portugal), where I developed functional MR spectroscopy in the mouse upon visual stimulation.