Vietnamese man receives nearly $70,000 award from American Heart Association

Xuan Bach, 24 years old, was awarded a research prize worth nearly 70,000 USD by the American Heart Association, for his initial successful purification of enzymes to find ways to develop new antibiotics.

Nguyen Xuan Bach, from Hai Phong, is a third-year PhD student majoring in Biochemistry at Duke University School of Medicine (USA). At the end of December 2023, Bach was awarded a research award worth more than $67,000 by the American Heart Association (AHA) for his project on developing a new antibiotic. In addition to the prize money, Bach became a fellow of AHA, was introduced, and had the opportunity to participate in scientific conferences and connect with scholars of the association.

On its website, Duke University says the American Heart Association is the largest non-profit, non- governmental organization for cardiovascular research in the United States. The AHA PhD scholarship is a prestigious, highly competitive award. In recognition of Bach’s achievements, Duke University awarded him an additional $5,000.

"For me, AHA is not only an award with great support, but also a recognition from experts for the research I am doing," Bach expressed.

Nguyen Xuan Bach, a third-year doctoral student at Duke University School of Medicine. Photo: Character provided

Bach came to the US in the fall of 2021, after completing his bachelor's degree in Chemistry at Nagoya University, Japan. At that time, he was awarded a doctoral scholarship by 7 universities, including Harvard, Cornell, Duke (USA), Oxford (UK) and British Columbia (Canada). The scholarship amount ranges from 500,000-672,000 USD for 5-6 years (about 11.5-15.5 billion VND). The Hai Phong boy chose Duke because it is a university with a long history of achievements in biomedicine, which is in line with his research orientation.

Bach spent the first year of his PhD program experiencing labs, working with professors to find suitable research. Eventually, he participated in researching the biosynthesis of a new antibiotic with his supervisor, Professor Kenichi Yokoyama.

Bach said that antibiotic resistance has become a serious problem in medicine, because when bacteria get used to a type of antibiotic, they will produce antibodies, making treatment less effective.

In 2019, Professor Kim Lewis of Northeastern University, USA, discovered darobactin - a substance that can kill many bacteria, and is considered to have the potential to become a new antibiotic. From June 2022, Bach and Professor Yokoyama decided to research the mechanism of darobactin's creation, in order to find ways to prepare and develop this substance.

Using bioinformatics analysis tools, Bach discovered that darobactin is naturally produced by the enzyme DarE. One of the obstacles to studying DarE is that this enzyme is anaerobic, so purification and experimental development with DarE must be carried out in a nitrogen atmosphere.

Because of the enzyme's sensitivity and expensive experimental conditions, not many scientists in the world can research it. This makes the documentation on DarE not abundant, Bach almost has to do everything himself without being able to inherit the existing research results.

Bach in the lab, Duke University. Photo: Character provided

After about a year of pursuing the project, the first positive signal came to Bach when he successfully purified the DarE enzyme, giving him an initial understanding of its working mechanism.

"I feel lucky that the first data of the research is not too different from my prediction. Many people work for 2-3 years before discovering that their research direction is not suitable and have to change direction, so it will take more time," Bach shared.

In September 2023, the Vietnamese man decided to apply for the AHA award. The application includes personal information, a draft of the research topic, future research orientation, transcripts, three letters of recommendation, and a training plan from the supervising professor. The difficult point in the AHA application process is that the doctoral candidate cannot register directly, but must be reviewed by the university, and then the school sends the application.

In a document sent to the American Heart Association, Professor Yokoyama affirmed that Bach was the best student he had ever supervised. He said that after only a few months of research, Bach was able to describe and prove the feasibility of the project, while normally a graduate student would spend several years on similar predictions.

In addition to the AHA, in 2023, Bach also received funding from Duke University School of Medicine, and a research fellowship award from the Center for Evolutionary Medicine, both for his research achievements.

Although Bach spends a lot of time on research, he is not a "bookworm". Professor Yokoyama said that Bach is a good communicator and often gives excellent presentations. He also gets along well with other graduate students in the lab.

"Overall, Bach is intelligent and possesses a very promising talent to become a leader of the next generation in the field of research on microbial metabolism," said Mr. Yokohama.

Bach takes his mother on a tour of the US, December 2023. Photo: Character provided

Bach said the immediate goal is to have enough data and evidence to explain the process of creating darobactin, thereby creating a library of substances for clinical trials on animals.

Regarding work after graduation, he thinks that working in a business or academic environment is fine, as long as he can continue research.

"I've always been curious about nature, especially chemical reactions and the processes that occur within them. Research may sound boring, because sometimes it takes 10-20 years, even a lifetime, to pursue a project, but every day there are new developments, and I also learn new knowledge," Bach said.

Thanh Hang

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