Mr. Amirul Hafiz Ahmad Abdullah | Neuroscience
| Best Scholar Award

Mr. Amirul Hafiz Ahmad Abdullah research focuses on the early mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration, with a particular emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease and the interplay between neurotrophic imbalance and programmed cell death pathways. Central to this work is the investigation of how dysregulation of BDNF and its precursor proBDNF contributes to synaptic vulnerability, cognitive decline, and the initiation of gasdermin-D–mediated pyroptosis during disease progression. Using aluminium-induced preclinical models that capture acute-to-chronic transitions, the research integrates behavioural assessments, molecular profiling, and transcriptomic analyses to map temporal changes in memory function, neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and neurotrophic signalling. Multi-omics approaches, including RNA sequencing, Western blotting, ELISA, and immunohistochemistry, are employed to link biochemical and cellular alterations with neurobehavioural outcomes, identifying potential early biomarkers that precede hallmark Alzheimer’s pathology. Additional work includes systematic reviews on pyroptosis, ferroptosis, and BDNF-related mechanisms across neurodegenerative disorders, as well as protocol development for synthesising evidence from animal studies. Complementary investigations explore oxidative stress responses, neuroprotective effects of exercise paradigms, and inflammatory pathways in toxin-induced neurological models. Collectively, these studies aim to clarify early molecular drivers of cognitive impairment and advance the discovery of diagnostic and therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative diseases.