Dr. Lubnaa Abdullah’s career goal is to develop the first ever study of brain aging including individuals with non-Down Syndrome intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD).

In her latest review article, she recollects findings from a yearlong study in collaboration with researchers at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and UNT Health. Together, they identified critical gaps within the current literature and call for the advancement of Alzheimer's disease research to a broader range of clinical populations with I/DD worldwide. The researchers also highlight actionable steps to advance the existing literature, calling for future studies to consider sex differences, social determinants of health, and to increase community-based recruitment efforts to enroll a more representative group of study participants.

“We know that the chromosome that causes Down syndrome is the same one that produces amyloid, and amyloid is a protein found in characterizing Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases. By building a cohort of participants without Down syndrome who also have an I/DD, we can move the existing literature forward. By using the roadmap identified in our review article, researchers can use what is called a multi-omics approach, to consider genomics, metabolomics, and hormone factors, for example, to gather this missing data. Also, insights gathered from increasing enrollment of individuals with Autism or Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in brain aging studies may have implications not only for I/DD groups, but for the general population as well."