Malaysian scientist Dr Moi Meng Leng has grow to be the primary foreign researcher to receive an award from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development for her work on regional control of infectious diseases.
According to a report published in The Star, Moi, who works with the Institute of Tropical Medicine at Nagasaki University, received the award from the office of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in Tokyo.
The award recognizes her contributions to the event of an antibody test to judge the effectiveness and safety of vaccines against mosquito-borne diseases corresponding to Zika and dengue.
This is anticipated to contribute to the event of dengue vaccines in Malaysia.
The event was hosted by Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia Oka Hiroshi and Japanese Alumni Association of Malaysia president Gary Tang, who held a web-based press conference to honor Moi’s achievement.
“Dr. Moi has contributed to the regional control of infectious diseases by determining the epidemic dynamics of Zika fever, dengue and mosquito-borne diseases in Southeast Asia through genetic phylogenetic evaluation and development of countermeasures,” the Japanese embassy said.
Moi said such an achievement could help strengthen relations between Malaysia and Japan.
“We also express this in the hope that we can transfer development from Japan to Malaysia, especially for infectious disease issues such as dengue, Zika and other mosquito-borne diseases.”
Moi added that the antibody test was delivered to Vietnam and that she is currently collaborating with Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia to conduct further research on dengue.
“The antibody test we’ve developed goals to examine whether the vaccine is protected and effective.
“We hope that this may allow us to check more vaccines. If they prove to be protected and effective, we hope to deliver them to countries in need, she said.
While she admitted that there have been complications with the dengue vaccine that was proposed for rollout in Malaysia, she believed that the antibody test she developed would help avoid such cases.
“Before you all introduce the vaccine, you need to check whether it is safe and whether it will cause serious illness if you take it.”
She admitted that despite these recent developments, she doesn’t foresee the introduction of a dengue vaccine within the near future.
Moi expressed hope that technology developed for Covid-19 vaccines may be useful within the seek for vaccines for dengue and Zika.
Source :
Reporters, FMT. “Malaysian first foreign researcher to receive Japanese medical award.” Free Malaysia todayDecember 25, 2020, www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/12/25/malaysian-first-foreign-researcher-to-receive-japanese-medical-award/.
Amelia, Sofea et al. “Malaysian first foreign researcher to receive Japanese medical award · MYKMU.NET.” MYKMU.NET25/12/2020, mykmu.net/2020/12/26/Malaysian-first-foreign-scientist-to-receive-Japanese-medical-award/.
