Seyedeh Zeinab Taheri Mirani( Award Conferred 23 June 2022)
Title of Thesis:‘ Role of miR-21-5p in the downregulation of Sema5A protein in glioblastomas.’
Glioblastoma is the most aggressive type of brain tumor and is extremely resistant to most chemotherapies. Sema5A is a transmembrane protein recently found to be essential for controlling glioblastoma cell growth and migration. miR-21 was found to downregulate the expression of Sema5A, which results in glioblastoma cell proliferation. This research illustrated that Sema5A masking oligonucleotides approach successfully reduced glioblastoma cell proliferation, migration, and colony formation by preventing miR-21 from binding on to the 3UTR of Sema5A. These findings suggest that miRNA-masking oligonucleotides are potential therapeutics for glioblastomas.
Supervisor: Associate Professor Mohmad Farooq Shaikh Associate Supervisor: Dr Alan Yiu Wah Lee
Jie Wei Tan( Award Conferred 30 May 2025)
Title of Thesis:‘ Spexin as a potential biomarker for female infertility: insights into circulatory levels and genetic variants in Malaysian women.’
Female infertility is now a growing concern worldwide and is defined as the inability to get pregnant after a year of unprotected sexual intercourse. The complex interplay between advanced age, hormonal and structural abnormalities, lifestyle and genetic factors have contributed to the risk of infertility. Lately, a novel neuropeptide, Spexin has been implicated in reproductive dysfunction. Therefore, this study aims to unravel the relationship between Spexin and female infertility in humans by using genetic and immunoassay approach. The current findings underscore the potential of Spexin as a promising diagnostic marker as well as a therapeutic target for female infertility.
Supervisor: Associate Professor Satoshi Ogawa Associate Supervisor: Dr Syafiq Asnawi Associate Supervisor: Professor Qasim Ayub External Supervisor: Professor Mukhri Hamdan Associate Supervisor: Dr Faizul Jaafar
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