On August 21, 2019, at its campus, representatives from Tan Tao University School of Biotechnology has just had a working session with Prof. Anthony Rhodes from the UK who is currently working at the school of Medicine, Taylors University (Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia).
Dr. Nguyen Dinh Truong, Acting Dean of School of Biotechnology TTU was the person who directly worked with Prof. Anthony Rhodes. The two main subjects of the meeting revolved around opportunities for collaboration on research projects in cancer and the Metagenomics research, and future joint between 2 schools of TTU Biotechnology and the Taylors School of Medicine in Malaysia.
At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Truong gave a brief introduction on the operation history and initial achievements of TTU SoB. Accordingly, since its founding in 2013, the School of Biotechnology officially came into operation since 2014. Although, five years were not the long period for SB to achieve many breakthroughs with 100% of lecturers holding a Ph.D. granted by institutions abroad, the SB so far has always strived to constantly develop and improve the quality of training and affirm its position.
The two main objectives of TTU SB are to become the leading research center for cancer in Vietnam, and applying biotechnology research achievements to improve quality and productivity in the fields of agriculture, especially for the Mekong Delta region.
Besides, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Truong also shared about the research that he is pursuing about Vietnamese ginseng.
Later, Prof. Anthony Rhodes also shared his research activities over the past 20 years, as well as on the projects that he and his colleagues at Taylors University are currently pursuing in Selangor, Malaysia.
From the late 1980s to the end of the first decade in the 2000s, Prof. Rhodes had spent 20 years researching and publishing many articles in scientific journals in the field of Biomedicine. During this time, he focused on studying the association between hormones and breast cancer proliferation. He has obtained many academic degrees such as FIBMS (fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, the UK), FRCPath (Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, the UK), Professor of Biomedical Research and Cellular Pathology (Bristol, England).
Following the meeting is the sharing of research topics of faculty and students of TTU SB.
The first is the presentation of Dr. Ta Van Quang’s research on the isolation of beneficial fungi strains in seawater to apply to Biopharmaceuticals in Vietnam. This was followed by a presentation of Dr. Nguyen Minh Nam’s research on the application of big data analysis to seeking gene signatures in order to predict the risk of metastasis on the bones of breast cancer.
“I have learned about Tan Tao beforehand through the university website. But when I came here and watched the presentation of the research that the faculty and students are doing, I was really impressed and greatly appreciated these very solid initial steps that the School of Biotechnology taking.” Prof. Rhodes said.
Continuing, Dang Thi Kim Phuong, Nguyen Tan Thanh Giang and Le Tam Vy also had their own research presentations. After each presentation, the students received feedback from Prof. Rhodes for further guidelines.
Especially Nguyen Tan Thanh Giang though is currently only the first year student into the degree, he has been very passionate about research. Giang shows his innate ability in the study of big data and machine learning (a potential trend in future biomedical research), and is promised to have more future successes when continuing to study in a great environment like TTU.
The visit this time is a promised sign for future joint cooperation
“I can say that the initial success of today’s meeting proves that a future of bilateral cooperation between Taylors University and Tan Tao is very promising. With more effort, I believe the two sides will be able to sign memorandum of understanding for joint research for the mutual benefit of both universities.” Prof, Rhodes added.