Amal Aziz

Developing a Trojan Horse to Treat Alzheimer’s Disease

Sir Wilfrid Laurier S.S.

A novel class of triple functioning neurovascular medicine could be re-engineered by fusing it with monoclonal antibodies (mAb) to the transferrin receptor (TR) on the BBB. The TRmAb can act as a molecular Trojan horse to ship the fused drugs through the BBB via a receptor-mediated transport system, owing principally to the significantly improved CNS drug transport, to improve the AD phenotype.

Awards
Youth Can Innovate Awards – Intermediate Sponsor: The Gwyn Morgan and Patricia Trottier Foundation
Challenge Award – Innovation Intermediate
Excellence Award – Intermediate Gold Medal
Western University – $4000 Entrance Scholarship

 

Biography

Amal is enrolled in the enrichment program at Sir Wilfrid Laurier S.S. Amal enjoys reading, graphic designing, playing floor hockey and piano. Amal has won a few honors/awards in the Gauss Contest (twice), the Canada`s Royal Legion Speech Contest, the Thames Valley Science and Engineering Fair (multiple), and the Sanofi Merit award. Her observation about the fact that almost 99.6% of clinical trials from 2002 to 2012 aimed at reversing or preventing Alzheimer’s Disease failed, mostly owing to blood-brain barrier (BBB) penetration issues, and the fact that some antibodies and shuttle peptides exist that can be manipulated as a BBB molecular “Trojan Horse” to ferry a neurovascular medicine across the BBB using receptor mediated transport system paved the way to coin the original idea of her project.