Postgraduate studies in molecular medicine in Malaysia: challenges and future perspective

Abstract

Molecular Medicine consists of a broad range of fields involving physical, chemical, biological and bioinformatics to identify the fundamental issues in medicine. This includes understanding diseases at the molecular level and developing strategic interventions and treatment via personalized and precision medicine. In Malaysia, private and public universities offer a postgraduate Molecular Medicine program. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia offers this program through the Faculty of Medicine and UKM Medical Molecular Biology Institute (UMBI) via various research projects involving non-communicable diseases (cancer and non-cancer) and infectious diseases. Several challenges will be discussed, including limited research funding and competitive grant applications, particularly international grants. Research funding is necessary, impacting the quality of postgraduate research. Second, the infrastructure and access to the needed reagents could be improved since most companies providing these services are from the USA, European countries and the United Kingdom. In addition, the instruments are expensive, and the technology evolved too fast. Third, an innovative partnership between academia and industries must be enhanced to support the research ecosystem better. The biotechnology companies may also provide a place for attachment for the students to experience the working culture in industries, apart from their formal education in the university. Pursuing postgraduate studies in Molecular Medicine still offers a valuable experience for students, even with these significant obstacles. These challenges can be overcome via several strategies, which will be discussed in the article.