Associate Professor Dr Audrey Lim Wei Ling

Associate Professor Dr Audrey Lim Wei Ling

  • Associate Professor
  • Sir Jeffrey Cheah ºìÐÓÊÓƵ Medical School
Faculty of Medical and Life Sciences
SDGs Focus

Biography

Associate Professor Dr Audrey Lim obtained her PhD from Monash University Malaysia. Trained in neuroscience, her research focused on how early-life stress affects the brain development linked to reproductive function in animal models. She joined ºìÐÓÊÓƵ University as a faculty member in 2014. 

She continued her postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to study the role of astrocytes in promoting functional recovery in spinal cord injury. She extended her training in neuroimmunology at the San Diego Biomedical Research Institute, working on HIV infection and latency in microglia, linked to the neuroHIV pathogenesis. Her current research focuses on experimental modeling of neurodegenerative diseases, infection and injury to understand biological events contributing to neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. 

Building on these platforms, she investigates the neuroprotective potential of natural products and bioactive compounds against cellular degeneration. She is also interested in exploring biomarkers associated with neurodegeneration and inflammation in ageing. Her long-term goal aims to understand the crosstalk between neuro-immune cells in the brain, and how these could be mediated in the pathogenesis associated with brain injury, infection and neurodegenerative diseases.   

Academic & Professional Qualifications

  • BSc (Biotechnology), Monash University, Malaysia (2006)
  • Honours Degree for BSc (Biotechnology), Monash University, Malaysia (2007)
  • PhD (Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences), Monash University, Malaysia (2014)
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (International), Lancaster University (2018)

Research Interests

  • Ageing and neurodegenerative diseases
  • Brain injury and infection
  • Early-life stress and neurodevelopment
  • Neuroprotective mechanisms and strategies

Teaching Areas

  • Neurobiology
  • Human Physiology

Courses Taught

  • Human Physiology
  • Neurobiology
  • Applied Anatomy and Physiology
  • Microbiology and Parasitology

Notable Publications

  1. Yong SJ, Teoh SL, Parhar IS, Soga T, Lim WL*, Chew J*. (2025). Antimicrobial peptide and protein in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases: Implications for biomarker exploration. Reviews in Neurosciences.
  2. Shen Z, Feng B, Lim WL, Woo T, Liu Y, Vicenzi S, Wang J, Kwon BK, Zou Y. (2025). Astrocytic Ryk signaling coordinates scarring and wound healing after spinal cord injury. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 122 (15). e2417400122. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2417400122.
  3. Basova LV, Lim WL, Delorme-Walker V, Riley T, Au K, Lima DS, Lusic M, Ellis RJ, Fox HS, Marcondes MCG. (2025). A single-cell perspective on the effects of dopamine in the regulation of HIV latency phenotypes in a myeloid cell model. Viruses. 17 (7) 895.
  4. Nies YH, Lim WL, Abd Karim N, Yahaya MF, Teoh SL. (2025). Metallothionein II treatment mitigates rotenone-induced neurodegeneration in zebrafish models of Parkinson’s disease. Frontiers in Pharmacology. 16: 1478013. DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2025.147801.
  5. Yong SJ, Veerakumarasivam A, Teoh SL, Lim WL*, Chew J*. (2024). Lactoferrin protects against rotenone-induced toxicity in dopaminergic SH-SY5Y cells through the modulation of apoptotic-associated pathways. Journal of Molecular Neuroscience. 74: 88. DOI: 10.1007/s12031-024-02267-7.
  6. Nies YH, Yahaya MF, Lim WL, Teoh SL. (2024). Microarray-based analysis of differential gene expression profile in rotenone-induced Parkinson’s disease zebrafish model. CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets. 23 (6): 761-772. DOI: 10.2174/1871527322666230608122552.  
  7. Basova LV, Riley T, Franklin D, Delorme-Walker V, Lim WL, Grant I, Letendre SL, Ludicello JE, Cherner M, Ellis RJ, Marcondes MCG (2024). Identifying methamphetamine use predictors in HIV infection: Immune-dopaminergic signatures in peripheral leukocytes and the role of COMT genotype. Brain, Behavior and Immunity – Health. 42: 100873. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbih.2024.100873
  8. Yong SJ, Veerakumarasivam A, Lim WL*, Chew J*. (2023). Neuroprotective effects of lactoferrin in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease: A Narrative Review (2023). ACS Chemical Neuroscience. 14: 1342-1355. DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.2c00679.
  9. Yong SJ, Yong MH, Teoh SL, Soga T, Parhar IS, Chew J*, Lim WL*. (2021). The hippocampal vulnerability to Herpes Simplex Virus Type I infection: Relevance to Alzheimer’s disease and memory impairment. Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience. 15: 695738. DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2021.69573.
  10. Yong SJ, Tong T, Chew J, Lim WL. (2020). Antidepressive mechanisms of probiotics and their therapeutic potential. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 13: 1361. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.01361.
  11. Hiew LF, Khairuddin S, Aquili L, Koh J, Fung M-L, Lim WL*, Lim LW*. (2020). Behavioural responses of anxiety in aversive and non-aversive conditions between young and aged Sprague-Dawley rats. Behavioural Brain Research. 385: 112559. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112559
  12. Yeo Y, Tan JBL, Lim LW, Tan KO, Heng BC, Lim WL. (2019). Human embryonic stem cell-derived neural lineages as in vitro models for screening the neuroprotective properties of Lignosus rhinocerus (Cooke) Ryvarden. BioMed Research International. DOI:10.1155/2019/3126376.

*Co-corresponding authors
 

Achievements & Accolades

  1. Travel Award for the 29th Scientific Conference of the Society on Neuroimmune Pharmacology (SNIP) (2025)
  2. International Brain Research Organization – Asia/Pacific Regional Committee (IBRO-APRC) Exchange Fellowship Program (2018)
  3. MAKNA Cancer Research Award 2008

Professional Associations

  1. Member, Malaysian Society of Neurosciences (MSN)
  2. Member, Society for Neuroscience (SfN)