Dr. Attaur Rahman
Lecturer, College of Veterinary Sciences & Animal Husbandry (CVS & AH), AWKUM
About the Research & PhD Thesis
Dr. Attaur Rahman has successfully completed his PhD with Distinction from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), a top-ranked global university (QS rank: 32, THE rank: 41 for 2025–26). His doctoral thesis was titled:
“Investigating the Novel Role of Mitochondrial Nanotunnels (MNTs) in Mediating Cardioprotection against Ischemia Reperfusion Injury (IRI) in Animal Models”
During his PhD research, Dr. Rahman investigated mitochondrial biology and dynamics — including mitochondrial shape, size, position, motility, fission–fusion cycles, and inter-mitochondrial communication (IMC) mechanisms such as mitochondrial kissing (hemi and transient fusion) and nanotunneling — in IRI-induced ST-segment elevated myocardial infarction (IRI-STEMI) murine models.
Notably, he identified three distinct cardiac mitochondrial subpopulations — Interfibrillar Mitochondria (IFM), Perinuclear Mitochondria (PNM), and Subsarcolemmal Mitochondria (SSM) — and characterized two types of mitochondrial nanotunnels (MNTs):
- Floating MNTs (FMNTs) — freely floating nanotunnels in the cytosol
- Conjugating MNTs (CMNTs) — nanotunnels connecting two non-contiguous, distantly located mitochondria
His innovative findings have been published in reputed international journals and, in recognition of his outstanding research and academic performance, Dr. Rahman was awarded the Dragon Culture PhD Merit Award (HK$50,000) and a formal Distinction Certificate from CUHK.
