Devoted female scientists at Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology

They won the 2016 International Kovalevskaia Award dedicated to female scientists and were honored at a recent program called “Proud of Vietnamese women”. 

The five scientists are Tran Kim Anh, Pham Thu Nga, Nguyen Phuong Tung,  Vu Thi Bich, and Tran Hong Nhung, all associate professors. They have headed dozens of projects and written or co-written 630 articles which have been published in Vietnamese and foreign periodicals. The five have made remarkable achievement in manufacturing nano-materials in agriculture, biomedicine, and pharmacy.

“We work in different fields but are all dedicated to the use of nano-sized and nano-structured materials. We are currently working to use nanotechnology to detect pesticide residue. My colleague Tran Hong Nhung has a project that uses nanotechnology for early diagnosis of cancer”, said Ms Pham Thu Nga.

The five scientists have developed a fluorescent microscope for CT scanning and framing, an effective tool for bio-research and medical treatment. 

“We are searching for supplementary food and particles taken from vegetables which can function as medicine. For example, silica particles, widely used as a desiccant, are often imported to Vietnam but we can produce them here,” Nga elaborated on their current project. 

All five scientists are officially retired but they still attend international symposiums, work with foreign scientists, and teach young researchers.  Dozens of undergraduates and post-graduates are carrying out projects under their guidance. 

“We try to stroke the students’ interest in science by introducing them to academic but still useful projects such as nano-materials used in bio-medicine and vaccine tests,” said Ms Tran Kim Anh.