Anya Hillery Details the Rise of mRNA Treatments in New Book
11/19/2024
Anya Hillery, Ph.D., SLU-Madrid health sciences professor currently on excedencia, publishes "mRNA Therapeutics: Foundations, Innovations and Clinical Applications" with the help of SLU's prestigious Beaumont Scholarship.
Hillery's textbook serves as a comprehensive guide to mRNA technologies and medicine for college students.
"When you add the speed of the recent advancements to the increasing importance of mRNA in therapeutics, it became obvious there was a pressing need for a dedicated undergraduate textbook on mRNA," said Hillery.
The main focus of the textbook is on the clinical applications of mRNA, including mRNA for COVID-19 vaccines, HIV/AIDS and cancer immunotherapy — a type of vaccine that trains the immune system to attack cancer cells.
"Because mRNA is much more than just COVID-19 vaccines — it has the potential to revolutionize medicine and healthcare," said Hillery. "One of the areas that I am particularly interested in is the use of mRNA in cancer treatment."
Saint Louis University's Beaumont Scholarship for faculty allowed Hillery to take a semester off from teaching to focus on her research.
"As it turns out, it took much longer than a semester to write, but having that first semester free to focus on the book was crucial to getting started, organizing my thoughts and writing the first draft," she said.
"I am very grateful to SLU for granting me the award and making the book possible."
The Beaumont Scholarship Research Award is intended to encourage faculty researchers working in the arts, humanities and social sciences to further and complete scholarly research projects.