I am Ahadullah, currently studying a Master of Philosophy with my research project titled “Maternal exposure to PM2.5 as a risk factor for developing autism-like behavior in offspring and running as an intervention”. My bachelor’s degree in applied biology and biotechnology was completed at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). The reason for studying both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees at PolyU is that I envision PolyU to be an upcoming critical pillar in neuroscience. Besides, PolyU has a wide variety of facilities coordinated throughout the university through the University Research Facility in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience (UBSN) system that may not be available at other universities, making it easier to conduct research here.
My research focuses on the potential risk of PM2.5 in inducing autism, hoping to set a causal link between the two. In the current research, environment and/or genetics have been considered to be the causes of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One of the environmental risks which has shown to have clinical relationship with the development of ASD in a child is the increased concentration of particulate matter of 2.5 μm (PM2.5) in the atmosphere during pregnancy. Only when research does establish the causal relationship between PM2.5 and autism can further actions or counter measures be ideated to reduce the risk of ASD development. Although my research may not be impactful enough, research has to be taken one step at a time, and so I hope my study will somehow contribute to the field.
