Dr. Vu Gia Phong used to major in Neuro Science (belonging to neuroscience) combined with Artificial Intelligence programming. But after some incidents, Dr. Phong decided to major in microbiology to study biomedicine mainly in the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases.

The path to the dream of a doctor, Ph.D

From a personal passion for programming

The first time, knowing nothing, going to the US, and not preparing for the exam, Vu Gia Phong achieved a score of 1410/1600 on the SAT (in which 800 – the maximum score in math). Then, with a book he borrowed from the library about the SAT, he scored 1600/1600 on the second SAT.

The SAT is a required score for American and international students who want to study for a bachelor's degree at a university. This is an important exam to assess the ability, natural and social knowledge. SAT is a certificate used by many universities and colleges in the US to assess candidates' natural, social and logical knowledge.

In 2002, Dr. Vu Gia Phong entered the University of California, San Diego (University of California – UCS) and graduated as valedictorian, 4.0/4.0 with two degrees. Here, Dr. Vu Gia Phong learned a combination of neuroscience and artificial intelligence as well as computers.

To dream of saving lives when the life of a loved one is on the line

After that, many incidents happened. A close friend of Phong died of cancer. A year later, Phong's mother was also diagnosed with cervical cancer.

“My mother had surgery. The doctor said she only had 5 years left, but so far she has lived well for 10 years. I just decided to study medicine. My teachers advised me that microorganisms are used for therapeutic purposes in medicine. So I also studied microbiology to continue my research,” Dr. Vu Gia Phong shared

After being introduced by Professor Roger Tsien, Vu Gia Phong majored in Nutritional Sciences and Biochemistry at UC Berkeley, which is also part of the UC system. These are two majors in metabolic nutrition and biochemistry

UC Berkeley is considered one of the first-class public universities. This university is also ranked high on the international map, as assessed by many prestigious rankings such as webometrics, Usnews…

Vu Gia Phong also received a full scholarship to graduate from UC Berkeley. Out of a total of more than 45,000 graduate students belonging to 10 schools in the system, he is one of only four excellent students to receive the excellent Ph.D. thesis award from the Office of the President of the University of California in 2014.

“Metabolic nutrition with the hope of helping cancer patients. Biochemistry is also part metabolism, part genetics. We study biochemistry with Professor Sydney Altman to research new drugs or vaccines by synthesizing biochemical substances in the body, synthesizing genes, creating artificial bacteria or viruses,” said Dr. Vu Gia Phong.

Vì có thể cứu được nhiều người hơn., hướng nghiên cứu chủ yếu của TS Vũ Gia Phong là trị liệu gien, trị liệu phân tử và chẩn đoán phân tử.

“Metabolic nutrition with the hope of helping cancer patients. Biochemistry is also part metabolism, part genetics. We study biochemistry with Professor Sydney Altman to research new drugs or vaccines by synthesizing biochemical substances in the body, synthesizing genes, creating artificial bacteria or viruses,” said Dr. Vu Gia Phong.

The life-saving biomedical research of Dr. Vu Gia Phong

Ngiên cứu y sinh về trị bệnh truyền nhiễBiomedical research on the treatment of infectious diseases

With a solid microbiological background, this is the research path that Dr. Vu Gia Phong pursues because it can save more lives. In which, the main research direction of Dr. Vu Gia Phong is gene therapy, molecular therapy and molecular diagnostics.

“Molecular diagnostics is the design of experiments to see what diseases people have, what virus strains they mutate. I participated in the research group of the EV71 mutation detection and diagnosis team that causes hand, foot and mouth disease in Guangdong, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Hubei… in 2012. Then this kit was manufactured, “Dr. Vu Gia Phong said

Molecular scissors

In addition, Dr. Vu Gia Phong also developed molecular scissors to cut most RNA viruses. Many of his research papers published in the American Academy of Sciences show that he has used molecular scissors to cut the RNA sequences of HIV1, HBV, etc. as a therapeutic drug, helping not to produce the virus again.

Then, in 2013, he studied molecular therapy for hepatitis B virus – HBV. The results of the study were published in the journal Molecular Therapy in the journal Nature.

Dr Vu Gia Phong emphasized, we can dream of flying high to go far

In 2017, he performed another study with molecular scissors on the treatment of Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection, especially in pregnant women. In some children, this infection can cause poor neurological development, leading to blindness or hearing loss.

“I hope these studies will be deployed in clinical therapy soon. And I'm also working on molecular scissors in splicing the mRNA messengers that produce oncogenic proteins,” said Dr. Vu Gia Phong added

Research Development at Faculty of Medicine, Hong Bang International University

Dr. Vu Gia Phong shared, he has opened a number of short research courses for students of the Faculty of Medicine and HIU. Thereby, students of the Faculty of Medicine, Hong Bang International University, will be instructed to use molecular scissors to cut some viruses. In addition, Dr. Vu Gia Phong also teaches medical students to extract active ingredients, mix bacterial cultures to make antibiotic charts… This is a bridge between the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Faculty of Medicine in biomedical research as well as in medical examination. Healing.

“We need to nurture inspiration for students. Achieving small successes creates passion and vice versa. We can completely dream of flying high to go far. At least when we fly high, even if we are half successful, we can become a shining star in the sky,” said Dr. Vu Gia Phong affirmed.