The first COVID-19 vaccines, the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, have brought RNA out of obscurity and into the spotlight.

But while mRNA may sound new, it's actually been studied intensively for decades. Only recently, however, have scientists overcome the barriers to generating a vaccine or drug using it.

And now?

"RNA therapeutics is going to be the medicine of the future," says Dr. John Cooke, medical director of the RNA Therapeutics Program at Houston Methodist.

Learn more about the challenges faced while successfully incorporating mRNA into a vaccine, as well as how our RNA Therapeutics Program team is using mRNA to develop future therapeutics.