Your browser is too old! Please upgrade! Our content will be visible, but poorly formatted until you upgrade to IE 5 or Netscape 6.

UF Psychiatry Home
Skip to main content.
More related sites: Directories: Faculty | Post-Docs | Residents | Staff

UF Department of Psychiatry

Navigation: Patient Services | Education | Research | Newsletters | Grand Rounds | About Us


Psychiatry Home Faculty Directory Staff Directory
Robert N. Averbuch, MD Alan J. Barnes, MD Lewis R. Baxter, MD Adriaan W. Bruijnzeel, PhD Regina Bussing, MD Josepha A. Cheong, MD Wayne L. Creelman, MD Douglas Davies, MD Gary R. Geffken, PhD Mark S. Gold, MD William M. Greene, MD Susan Hill, MSN, ARNP Jon Hodgin, MD Richard Holbert, MD Jacqueline A. Hobbs, MD, PhD Michelle Jacobs, MD Mark H. Lewis, PhD Yijun Liu, PhD Daniel Logan, MD Ross A. McElroy, Jr., MD Lisa J. Merlo, PhD Sylvia P. Montesinos, MD Drake Morgan, PhD Matthew L. Nguyen, MD Andrew K. Ottens, PhD John M. Petitto, MD Teresa A. Pigott, MD Krestin A. Radonovich, PhD Jerzy Szlabowicz, MD, PhD Scott A. Teitelbaum, MD Herbert E. Ward, MD Tonia Werner, MD Kimberly White, MD

Yijun Liu

Yijun Liu, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Website for Dr. Liu's lab

Dr. Yijun Liu

Dr. Liu graduated from Shanghai Jiaotong University with a bachelor degree in Biomedical Engineering, and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) with a doctoral degree in Physiology. He was a Research Fellow in the prestigious Research Imaging Center at UTHSCSA before he joined in the Department of Psychiatry and McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida (UF) as an assistant professor. Dr. Liu pioneered research on the sensory function of human red nucleus using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques. He developed the TCA (temporal clustering analysis) method for dynamic mapping of the brain and first applied this technique to reveal in vivo the hypothalamic response following eating. Dr. Liu and his colleagues at UF conducted a series of fMRI research projects to investigate the neural timing mechanisms involved in various cognitive-affective processes, and to model the functional (or dysfunctional) brain circuitry underlying certain neuropsychiatric illnesses, such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Dr. Liu is a member of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, the Society for Neuroscience, and the Organization for Human Brain Mapping.

Research and Scholarly Interests

The research interest in Dr. Liu's lab is to develop neuroimaging methods for both basic neuroscience study and clinical investigation. In particular, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to model neural-system circuits mediating various brain functions and disorders. Current work includes:

  • Using fMRI to probe the neuropathological and neuropharmacological bases of certain psychiatric disorders, such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder/Tourette's Syndrome, Autism/Abnormal Repetitive Behavior, Schizophrenia, etc., and evaluate the treatment for these diseases
  • Development of in vivo neural-system modeling methods to explore the role of subcortical structures (e.g., the thalamus, basal ganglia, midbrain, and cerebellum) in the perceptual and adaptive processes underlying human cognition and affection, and especially, in the maintenance of our (self-)consciousness
  • Approaches to the real timing of brain-hormone interaction, e.g., an fMRI model of hypothalamic function in the control of feeding behavior (for the further study of obesity, diabetes, drinking and gambling problems, and eating disorders in humans)
  • A Dynamic Brain Mapping program using the real-time fMRI techniques, with integration of recent development in MR phase imaging, perfusion imaging, and diffusion imaging

Educational Interests and Accomplishments

Dr. Liu's lab provides training for both undergraduate and graduate students, and for postdoctoral fellows (including residents) with background in physical and biological sciences. The training is focused on the basic skills of functional brain mapping, MRI physics and applications, paradigm designs for both neurophysiological and behavioral experiments, computer programming and biomedical image processing. Currently, this lab is not directly involved in class teaching. The educational accomplishments are primarily through other formats such as presenting seminars and supervising theses. The following people have been actively involved in the training provided in this lab:

  • Guojun He, Ph.D., Research Associate, Lab manager
  • Nelson Klahr, B.S., Ph.D. graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Program in Biomedical Sciences in the UF College of Medicine
Former labmembers:
  • Jessica A Couch, Ph. D., Postdoctoral Fellow (now in a biological corporation in Boston)
  • Paul Wright, B.S., Ph.D., Graduate Student (now in England)
  • Chaoyong Bai, VMD, Postdoctoral Fellow (now in China)
  • G. Andrew James, Ph. D.Graduate Student (now working in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory University)
  • Jaclyn Wetherington, Graduate research assistant
  • Martin Repetto, M.D./Ph.D., Resident in Psychiatry
  • Yasmine Taeb, Undergraduate student in the UF Interdisciplinary Scholar (IDS) Program
  • Amy W. Miller, Undergraduate student in the UF IDS Program
  • Adarsh Palve, B.S., M.S. graduate student in the Biomedical Engineering Program in the UF College of Engineering
  • Andrea Perry, Undergraduate student form National Science Foundation REU program
  • Renshu Zhang, M.D., Postdoctoral Fellow (now at Georgetown University)

Leadership and Service

Dr. Liu helped Dr. William Luttge in the development of a National Center for Human Brain Functional Imaging Technology and Image-Guided Surgery (CHBFIT) within the McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida.

Publications (since 1997)

Liu Y, Pu Y, Gao J-H, Fox P T. Assessment of Human Red Nucleus using fMRI. NeuroImage 5: 263 (1997).

Liu Y, Fox PT, Gao J-H, Liotti M. Temporal Dissociation of the Human Subcortical Outputs during a Tactile Discrimination Task. NeuroImage 7: 412 (1998).

Gao J-H, Fox PT, Lancaster J, Roemer P, Roby J, Harvey P, Schiff J, Liu H, Liu Y. Assessment of the Performance of a Functional Neuroimaging System (FNIS) in fMRI. NeuroImage 7: 550 (1998).

Liu Y, Gao J-H, Liotti M, Pu Y, Fox PT. Temporal Dissociation of Parallel Processing in the Human Subcortical Outputs. Nature 400: 364 -367 (1999).

Liu Y, Pu Y, Fox PT, Gao J-H Quantification of Dynamic Changes in Cerebral Venous Oxygenation using MR Phase Imaging at 1.9T. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 41: 407-411 (1999).

Maszuda M, Liu Y, Mahankali S, Pu Y, DeFronzo RA, Fox PT, Gao J-H. FMRI Study of the Altered Hypothalamic Response to Oral Glucose Intake in Obese Humans. Diabetes 48: 1801-1806 (1999).

Liu Y, Gao J-H, Mason PA, Ziriax JM, Hurt WD, Belt ME, Roby J, Pu Y, D'Andrea JA, Fox PT. Temporal Differentiation between the Global and Regional Effects of Microwave Heating on the Monkey Brain. NeuroImage 9: 120 (1999).

Liu H-L, Pu Y, Liu Y, Fox PT, Gao J-H. Cerebral Blood Flow Measurement Using Adaptive Threshold for Singular Value Decomposition Technique on Dynamic Contrast Agent MR Perfusion Imaging. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 42: 167-172 (1999).

Liu Y, Fox P T, Gao J-H, Liotti M. Tactile Object-Discrimination Sustaining Prefrontal Activation. NeuroImage 9: 396 (1999).

Liu Y, Gao J-H, Liu H-L, Fox PT. The Temporal Response of the Brain after Eating Revealed by Functional MRI. Nature 405: 1058-1062 (2000).

Liu Y, Pu Y, Gao J-H, Parsons L M, Xiong J, Liotti M, Bower JM, Fox PT. The Human Red Nucleus and Lateral Cerebellum in Cooperative Roles Supporting Sensory Discrimination. Human Brain Mapping 10: 147-159 (2000).

Liu Y, Gao J-H, Liu H-L, Matsuda M, Mao J, Fox PT. Temporal maxima in fMRI response. NeuroImage 11: 530 (2000).

Pu Y, Liu Y, Hou J, Fox PT, Gao J-H. Demonstration of the Medullary Lamellae of the Human Red Nucleus with High Resolution Gradient-echo MR Imaging. American Journal of Neuroradiology (AJNR) 21: 1243-1247 (2000).

Mahankali S, Liu Y, Pu Y, Wang J, Chen C-W, Fox PT, Gao J-H. In Vivo fMRI Demonstration of Hypothalamic Function Following Intraperitoneal Glucose Administration in a Rat Model. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 43: 155-159 (2000).

Tan L, Spinks J A, Gao J-H, Liu H-L, Perfetti CA, Xiong J, Stofer KA, Pu Y, Liu Y, Fox PT. Brain Activation in the Processing of Chinese Characters and Words: a Functional Study. Human Brain Mapping 10: 16-27 (2000).

Tan L, Spinks JA, Gao J-H, Liu H-L, Perfetti CA, Xiong J, Stofer KA, Pu Y, Liu Y, Fox P T. Hemispheric Asymmetry in Reading Chinese Characters and Words: Functional MRI Findings. NeuroImage 11: 256 (2000).

Liu H-L, Pu Y, Nickerson LD, Liu Y, Fox PT, Gao J-H. Comparison of Temporal Response in Perfusion and BOLD Based Event-Related Functional MRI. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 43: 768-772 (2000).

James GA, Guo W, Liu Y. Imaging In Vivo Brain-Hormone Interaction in the Control of Eating and Obesity. Diabetes Technol Ther Winter;3(4):617-22 (2001).

Stein DJ, Liu Y, Shapira NA, Goodman WK. The Psychobiology of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: How Important is the Role of Disgust? Current Psychiatric Reports 3: 281-287 (2001).

He AG, Tan LH, Tang Y, James GA, Wright P, Eckert MA, Fox PT, Liu Y. Modulation of neural connectivity during tongue movement and reading. Hum Brain Mapp 18(3):222-32 (2003).

Shapira NA, Liu Y, He AG, Bradley MM, Lessig MC, James GA, Stein DJ, Lang PJ, Goodman WK. Brain activation by disgust-inducing pictures in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Biol Psychiatry. 1;54(7):751-6 (2003).

James GA, Gold MS, Liu Y. Interaction of satiety and reward response to food stimulation. J Addict Dis. 23(3):23-37 (2004).

Wright P, He G, Shapira NA, Goodman WK, Liu Y. Disgust and the insula: fMRI responses to pictures of mutilation and contamination. Neuroreport. 15(15):2347-51 (2004).

Shapira NA, Lessig MC, He AG, James GA, Driscoll DJ, Liu Y. Satiety dysfunction in Prader-Willi syndrome demonstrated by fMRI. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 76(2):260-2 (2005).

James GA, He G, Liu Y. A full-size MRI-compatible keyboard response system. Neuroimage. 25(1):328-31. Epub 2005 Jan 20 (2005).

Last updated on