Like her fellow L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award 2022 winners. Dr Nadiah Abu has been equally busy on her own journey of discovery. Attached to one of Malaysia’s leading institutes specialising in molecular medicine in Malaysia. The molecular biologist is a dedicated cancer researcher. She hopes to use bodily fluids to detect cancer biomarkers, particularly for colorectal cancer.
Molecular Biologist, Dr Nadiah Abu.
She goes on to reveal that cancer is still a major disease affecting the world’s population today. “However, there have been improvements in the past 20 years, especially when it comes to early cancer diagnosis. We have more information and techniques that allow us to effectively detect cancer now as compared to a decade ago.”
Leading in Science
She feels that early detection normally gives a patient the best fighting chance. “I also believe that increasing public awareness about the different types of cancer. – which can affect anyone, at any age – through different types of educational and media exposure, has allowed patients to detect cancer earlier, and fight it more effectively.
Early Detection
“In a nutshell, the cancer detection method I’ve helped to pioneer just involves using a person’s bodily fluids. This is then tested and we are able to detect if there are any cancerous cells in the body early on. The other important factor is this method is hardly invasive. Compared to normal cancer testing, which sometimes requires entering a tube into the human body to obtain samples.”
Dr Nadiah concludes that this would allow detection of cancer as early as at Stage 1, instead of at stage 4. “And early detection gives patients more time to fight and recover from cancer using the many treatments already available worldwide. Preferably, in the long run, we want to apply a non-invasive way to detect cancer. It could potentially be a simple method of testing. That would easily be incorporated in one’s annual medical test, for instance.”
And rest assured. Dr Nadiah is one who is blessed with plenty of resilience in her approach to finding the right answers. “I am a firm believer that first impressions are not always right. The topic of interest for my research stemmed from the fact that the entities I am studying used to be disregarded. But they are actually important in maintaining the cellular ecosystem. Kind of like a ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ comeback,” she reveals with a smile.
