Vaccines are the talk of the town now and a new addition to public vocabulary is mRNA. We all know DNA took all the limelight and left its cousin, RNA, completely in the dark and little known to the public.
It is far less popular than DNA. The public might not know there are several types of RNA and mRNA is just one of it.
The structure and function of DNA were known to scientists since the 1950s but almost nothing was known about how proteins are made from DNA. The missing link which is mRNA and the history of its discovery itself is interesting.
It cannot be attributed to anyone and thus, there is no Nobel prize for the discovery of mRNA, the most popular type of RNA.
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Today, the public is aware that the two most popular vaccines for Covid-19 are mRNA vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. These vaccines have created history by being the first of its kind to be approved by FDA.
The exciting thing about this breakthrough is that the same technology can be used to vanquish a long time human enemy – cancer and many other diseases that have no cure now. The mRNA therapeutics is going to be a game-changing medical technology.
Every year, 10 million people die of various cancers globally. mRNA vaccines can stop cancer cells from making proteins and mRNA technology can also produce missing proteins that causes certain diseases such as cystic fibrosis.
Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular diseases are the next targets to be tackled by mRNA technology. Not that it is all that easy as mRNA degrades very quickly inside the body making it difficult to work with it. Whatever it is, mRNA is making its way into the public dictionary and might become the darling of the medical world.
While there is so much excitement in biotechnology and medicine, I hope Malaysia could also be part of this game and share some space too.
We have tens of thousands of eager biotechnology graduates, not to mention those from other relevant bio-related backgrounds.
Covid-19 has been devastating but maybe life might be better than before. But are we ready to embrace all the opportunities?[/ihc-hide-content]
