Four lecturers from the Health Departments—Medical Laboratory Science (MLS), Nursing, Pharmacy, and Anaesthesia techniques—at the University of Human Development (UHD) have published a landmark review article in the prestigious international journal Epigenomics (Impact Factor: 3.1; CiteScore: 3.9). The authors are Dr Sattar Ibrahim Kareem, Lecturer Chro Gafoor Raouf, Assistant Lecturer Ayman M. Mustafa, and Assistant Lecturer Shkar Mariwan Ahmed.

Building on the success of COVID-19 vaccines, the review evaluates current efforts to engineer synthetic mRNA as a precision medicine for non-infectious diseases. The authors conclude that unlike gene therapies, which permanently alter DNA, mRNA acts as a set of temporary instructions that tell cells how to produce helpful proteins or turn genes on and off. The article explores the use of mRNA to treat cancer, heart damage, genetic disorders, and autoimmune diseases. It also notes that researchers still need to overcome major challenges in safety, delivery, and lasting effectiveness.

The full review is available at the following permanent link:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17501911.2026.2759523