The first steps of the scientists who won the VinFuture 2024 Special Prize were very faltering as they did not know what was ahead. The only thing they had was curiosity and the courage to take risks.
The owners of the VinFuture 2024 Special Prize shared with students on December 7 - Photo: NGUYEN KHÁNH
The inspirational stories of the VinFuture 2024 Special Prize winners were spread to the young generation and Vietnamese students on December 7.
After an emotional night of the awards ceremony on the evening of December 6, not only the winners but also the listeners were eager to share.
Always be curious to learn
Growing up in a remote rural area of the United States, Professor Kristi S. Anseth - the winner of the Special Prize - shares the turning points in her career. Initially, she chose to study chemistry because chemical engineering helps solve problems in the energy industry and water filtration systems.
But then a meeting with biologist Leslie Leinwand and researcher Nicholas Peppas set her on a new course.
By successfully transmitting signals to cells to multiply rapidly and regenerate skin, cartilage, and bone when injured, Anseth has opened up opportunities for many patients, especially those with severe burns.
From a small piece of skin a few centimeters long, the 55-year-old female professor can make it grow as big as 50 football fields, saving the lives of people with large burns.
Professor Kristi S. Anseth gives advice on the need to be motivated to find something new, not follow current trends - Photo: NGUYEN KHANH
"When I started my research, most of the materials in the medical field had already been applied in other industries such as construction and clothing. So I was interested in what materials could be used for the human body," Professor Anseth shared with students.
She also said she finds inspiration in collaborating with colleagues to solve challenges.
"It's important that we keep learning," she shared.
Professor Carl H. June and Professor Michel Sadelain - co-winners of the VinFuture 2024 Special Prize for their contributions to the development of CAR-T cell therapy to treat cancer and other diseases - also shared their surprising journey.
"I never thought I would pursue this field because no one in my family studied medicine," said Professor June, who said he served in the military before becoming a scientist.
He stressed that sometimes we need to take risks because no initial choice will be completely right.
It is important to have at least two people who can be both mentors and companions during this process. This could be a respected professor in your field or a colleague, friend or family member.
Professor Carl H. June shares with students - Photo: NGUYEN KHANH
Meanwhile, Professor Sadelain honestly confessed that at first he did not know what was right when learning about epidemiology, but his curious brain led him to delve deeper into this field.
"Scientists like me are not only thinking about improving the effectiveness of CAR-T therapy, but also want to ensure that everyone has equal access to this therapy. This could also be the direction of my future research," Sadelain shared.
The event stage screen then showed an image of Emily, the first patient treated with CAR-T cell therapy at the age of 7. After 14 years, she is an adult, her leukemia is almost completely cured and she is doing research at Stanford University (USA).
The CAR-T story shows that curiosity, commitment, and self-innovation can yield results that we may not even have imagined.
Professor June shared that 25 years ago, the idea of laying the foundation for CAR-T therapy was not welcomed, even considered an illusion because it involved gene changes, so the research team was quite cautious at the beginning.
After some positive developments, optimism grew and today, thanks to CAR-T, some cancers are considered treatable.
"We will only know when we learn more. In the past, when we did research, we did not know about artificial intelligence (AI). But now, we have more scientists, larger-scale screening and better technology. I hope AI will help improve treatment even more," he shared.
Be persistent and don't be ashamed of being different.
Professor Yoshua Bengio talks about self-motivation in research - Photo: NGUYEN KHANH
The stories of Professor Yoshua Bengio and Professor Yann LeCun , two of the five winners of the VinFuture 2024 Main Prize on AI, also received much admiration from attendees at the December 7 event.
Their groundbreaking contributions fueled the advancement of deep learning, ushering in an era where machines can “learn” from massive amounts of data and achieve incredible accuracy in tasks such as image recognition, natural language processing, and decision making.
Mr. LeCun shared that since the 1950s, the first steps for the birth of AI had existed, but at that time there was no such thing as machine learning or AI. By the 1980s and 1990s, AI was not of interest, even considered a "dead" field.
“Research ebbs and flows are inevitable, so we have to be motivated to always restart our own interests,” says Professor LeCun.
To students, he shared that they should ask themselves questions like "What are people doing wrong, what is different and new? What can AI not do?" to urge them to think. Maybe the things they think are not popular now, but no one knows what will happen in 5-10 years.
Currently, AI has no motivation, only knowledge, so we must create positive motivation for AI to contribute to the community.
Sharing the same view on self-renewal and creative exploration, Professor Bengio believes that following someone's instructions is different from pursuing one's own thoughts and urges.
"Research is exploration. You may not find the answer right away, so you need many different directions and labs. Don't be embarrassed when you're not like anyone else, not like your colleagues or someone you admire," he advised.
Tuoitre.vn
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/vinfuture-2024-prize-winner-khuyen-nguoi-tre-chap-nhan-rui-ro-va-luon-to-mo-20241207165428716.htm
![[Photo] Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs Government Conference with localities on economic growth](https://vstatic.vietnam.vn/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/2/21/f34583484f2643a2a2b72168a0d64baa)
Comment (0)