Cancer research, Can Tho female student receives full scholarship to study in UK

With a desire to develop a way to 'package' cancer treatment drugs using nanotechnology, Ngoc Ngan has 4 scientific publications published in international journals and was sponsored by the British government with a full scholarship for her master's degree.

Lam Ngoc Ngan, one of the first two Vietnamese scholars of the ASEAN-UK SAGE scholarship program

NVCC

"Hunter" for scholarships and awards

Lam Ngoc Ngan, a student majoring in advanced biotechnology at Can Tho University, recently beat hundreds of candidates in 11 countries to win the STEM scholarship for women from the ASEAN-UK SAGE program. This means that the 23-year-old girl will study for a master's degree at Warwick University, ranked 9th in the UK's best university rankings by The Guardian, without having to worry about any expenses in the near future. "I received the email notification at 7 p.m. while I was in the lab with my friends. When I read the news that I had won the scholarship, I froze and cried so much. I couldn't sleep all night because of joy and happiness," the excellent student who graduated with an average score of 3.9/4 recalled. Notably, because the training program is 4.5 years long, she will not have her official graduation ceremony until the end of September. Ngan said that she comes from a working-class family, both parents could not study until grade 12 but always invested their all in the education of her two sisters. Grateful for that and not wanting to let her parents down, Ngan always wanted to study to develop herself, to "become her own boss" and further, to be a support for her family when her mother recently had a stroke. "I also hope that after studying, I can contribute to society to repay life and the benefactors who have helped me," she said. This spirit helps the female student continuously conquer many awards and scholarships from high school to university. For example, when studying in the literature class at Ly Tu Trong High School for the Gifted (Can Tho), for 3 years Ngan received the "Nurturing Knowledge" scholarship from Sacombank, the excellent student scholarship from the school and was an excellent student in the 2016-2019 school year. In addition, in the city-level excellent student exam in literature in 2018 and 2019, she won third and second prizes respectively.

Ngoc Ngan continuously received many scholarships and awards from high school to university.

NVCC

At university, Ngan continued to maintain her impressive achievements by receiving scholarships to encourage learning in each semester, scholarships from the Never Give Up talent development program, scholarships from The Light from Within fund, scholarships for outstanding female students from WEAV organization, and the Outstanding Student award at the school level every year. And in her role as a member of the Youth Union Executive Committee, she also received many awards for her outstanding achievements.

Looking for a cure for cancer

Another highlight of Ngan's university journey is her research ability. Because she has 4 scientific publications in international journals, with 2 articles as the main author and 2 articles as the corresponding author, the main topic is the molecular mechanism extracted from natural compounds in antibacterial and antimicrobial properties. Thanks to that, Ngan was awarded the Vietnamese Science and Technology Female Student Award from the Central Youth Union and the Ministry of Science and Technology, the KOVA Award for promising research from the KOVA Group, the Science and Technology Award for students from the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Science and Technology... "My orientation is to research molecular and cellular mechanisms in supporting diagnosis and research on disease treatment, especially cervical cancer. Because, in terms of both incidence and mortality rates from cancer, recent figures show that Vietnam is at the top," Ngan said. "Given this situation, I really hope to meet and collaborate with more talented researchers to contribute a small part to the cancer treatment process in the world." The female student shared that one of the common cancer treatment methods is using chemicals, namely chemotherapy. However, the current method of transporting drugs not only "kills" cancer cells but also other cells, causing hair loss and many other symptoms. "Therefore, I want to use nanotechnology to "package" the drug in a "bag" that connects to cancer cells. Thanks to that, when the drug enters the body, it can "find" and "kill" each cancer cell, minimizing side effects," Ngan said.

Ngoc Ngan working in the lab in 2023

NVCC

Ever encountered bias in research

Studying and researching in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) field where women are a minority, Ngan admits that she sometimes encounters gender bias. For example, during a scientific report, she had to face a "different attitude" from the committee compared to when her male classmates reported. Or when participating in an all-male lab, everyone also judged her with skepticism. "In the above situations, I always 'remain confident' and try to do my best so that everyone knows that whatever men can do, I can do too," Ngan confided.

The only Vietnamese in the master's class

To receive a full scholarship, Ngan had to go through two independent stages. First, she had to apply to a school in the UK, pass the application round, and the interview round to receive an unconditional admission letter. With that invitation, she continued to complete the scholarship application to submit to the receiving agency, the British Council, and wait for the final result. "It was a long journey, and I can never forget the interview with the school while I was in the hospital taking care of my mother," she recalled. Specifically, the school will review and evaluate the candidate's attitude, motivation, and research capacity in this round. For example, the school gave her three scientific publications published in the journal Nature , asking her to choose one publication to present in her own way. The school also looked at Ngan's graduation thesis and asked her to share about the topic she had done. "To really convince the council, the most important thing is sincerity, both in terms of personality and desire to study at the school. Like in the first question, because I had researched very carefully about where I wanted to study, I not only explained it again but also suggested future research directions thanks to the existing laboratories at the school. Or in the next question, I confessed that my topic still had major shortcomings and analyzed how the upcoming master's journey could solve it," she said. "Doing science requires sincerity from the time of implementation to presentation, because when talking to the professor, if you lie, everything will be revealed," Ngan commented. And thanks to that, she was accepted into a highly competitive study program, accepting only 14 students worldwide and she was also the only Vietnamese person in the class.

Ngoc Ngan is one of 12 outstanding female students nationwide to be awarded the 2023 Vietnam Female Science and Technology Student Award.

NVCC

Accompanying Ngan on her research journey since she was in her second year, Associate Professor, Dr. Do Tan Khang, Head of the Department of Molecular Biology, Institute of Biotechnology and Food, Can Tho University, commented that the female student has a very good English foundation, "paving the way" for her to access many international documents and improve her research skills and experience. "She has written and published an international article in the Scopus system and the guidance of the lecturer only contributed a small part to this achievement," said Mr. Khang. At the end of September, Ngan will go to the UK to start an interdisciplinary biomedical research program, which means learning how to apply technology in the biomedical field. Her short-term goal is to promote and raise awareness among Vietnamese people when from 2026, the HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer will be deployed for free nationwide. In the long term, the female student will seek opportunities to study for a doctorate to continue realizing her aspiration to treat cancer.

How to win scholarships

To effectively "hunt" for scholarships, according to Ngan, students should not wait for opportunities to come but should proactively seek them from many different sources, such as information from the student affairs office or reputable scholarship funds. "Regarding how to prepare your application, you should clearly understand the criteria of the scholarship program and reflect on yourself so that you can build your CV and write a suitable essay. Don't 'spread your application' to many places with the same content," Ngan shared.

Thanhnien.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nghien-cuu-ve-ung-thu-nu-sinh-can-tho-nhan-hoc-bong-toan-phan-du-hoc-anh-18524082515272676.htm