Young doctor with remarkable scientific inventions

At the age of 34, Dr. Truong Thanh Tung has an international patent and more than 40 scientific works published in prestigious journals.

6 top ranked articles in the world

Dr. Truong Thanh Tung, Head of the new drug research group (Phenikaa Advanced Research Institute), lecturer at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Phenikaa University (Hanoi), is a prominent figure among young Vietnamese and international scientists, because he has many scientific works that have had a global impact. One of them is a research project aimed at inventing new drugs for infectious diseases . Specifically, finding new drugs with new mechanisms in the "war" against antibiotic resistance (drugs that replace antibiotics to avoid cross-resistance with antibiotics).

Passionate about scientific research, Dr. Truong Thanh Tung has made important inventions with international influence.

NVCC

"Currently, pharmaceutical companies and research groups around the world focus mainly on drugs to treat diseases that bring great economic benefits, or can be said to be diseases of rich countries, such as diabetes, Alzheimer's... but invest very little in infectious diseases. As a result, infectious diseases such as Covid-19, Ebola make the world unable to respond. Especially for poor countries, developing countries like Vietnam, the problem of antibiotic resistance is very urgent. Therefore, finding drugs to replace antibiotics is a research topic that brings great benefits to Vietnam", Dr. Tung shared.

Following this research direction, Dr. Tung has had 3 outstanding international publications on "Research on design, synthesis and invention of new drug candidates to inhibit Quorum sensing pathway to replace antibiotics". The research project has marked an important milestone: for the first time in the world, new series of substances have been born, capable of fighting bacteria, which can replace antibiotics. The new substances have the potential to become drugs produced by Vietnamese people, which can solve international problems. The research results of the topic are the basis for conducting animal tests and clinical trials.

"Currently, my research group has formulated topical products for new substances, antibacterial peptides for veterinary use. At the same time, research on the application of new antibacterial substances and peptides is being conducted under the Ministry of National Defense's project on topical antibacterial preparations, burn healing... for soldiers. These products are patented drugs, developed by 100% Vietnamese people and mastering the synthesis process. Therefore, when successfully applied, it will save the lives of many people with drug-resistant skin diseases, reducing the cost of drugs to 5-10 times less than at present," said Dr. Tung.

During his PhD in Denmark, Dr. Tung was in the top 3 outstanding young pharmaceutical chemists in Denmark, under the European Chemical Society in 2017. During this period, he published 3 Q1 works, including the invention of a new drug design method, helping to find drugs faster, which was highly appreciated by scientists around the world.

During the period 2022 - 2023, he discovered and invented a potential method to eliminate HIV virus from the body, which was highly appreciated by the international community, and could become the world's first HIV treatment method created by Vietnamese people. In 2022 alone, he published 12 prestigious international ISI scientific articles, including 6 articles ranked highest in the world (top 10%, Q1 rank, as main author).

In 2022, as a research team leader and lecturer at the Faculty of Pharmacy, he was elected as one of 28 outstanding young scientists in the world to participate in the advisory board of 2 international scientific journals ISI. Notably, he is the first young scientist (outside the US) in Vietnam to be elected as an official member of the Sigma Xi International Research Society - one of the oldest research scientific associations in the world, founded in 1886, headquartered in the US.

Mr. Bui Quang Huy, First Secretary of the Central Youth Union, congratulated Mr. Truong Thanh Tung on being honored as Outstanding Young Vietnamese Face of 2022.

Journey of choosing a job in home country

Dr. Tung was born and raised in Hai Duong, and was a chemistry student at Nguyen Trai High School for the Gifted (Hai Duong). His passion for scientific research began when he became a student at the University of Pharmacy (Hanoi) and was mentored and guided by a teacher.

"In my fourth year of university, I had my first ISI article in which I was the main author. The topic of the article was about new substances with potential for cancer treatment. For me, the fact that a student had a scientific article in an ISI-listed journal was a great happiness and the motivation for me to decide to pursue scientific research after graduation. Because at that time, my peers often chose to do pharmaceutical business after graduation, a job with a much higher income than pursuing scientific research," Tung shared.

After graduating, with the desire to experience and learn about scientific research experiences in advanced countries around the world, he studied and participated in research in many countries. In 2014, after graduating with a master's degree from Seoul National University (Korea), Mr. Tung continued to study for a doctorate at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) - one of the cradles of medical and pharmaceutical science. This was also the time when he began researching the inhibition of bacterial communication pathways, to find drugs to replace antibiotics. The initial successes helped him complete his doctoral thesis in 2017, opening up opportunities to participate in research in other developed countries such as Finland, the UK, and the US.

Having had the opportunity to live, work and research in many countries around the world, Mr. Tung returned to Vietnam to participate in domestic research activities with limited facilities and equipment. Sharing this story, he said that there are many places to go but only one place to return to, which is his homeland. For young people, the most important thing is to dare to commit to learning and improving yourself. When he returned, he chose Phenikaa University as the starting point because here he had an environment to explore himself and constantly create.

"I was able to publish international work when I was a student in Vietnam, so now that I have all the knowledge I learned abroad, why not return to Vietnam to do research?", Mr. Tung asked the question and also answered his choice.

With those contributions, Dr. Truong Thanh Tung was honored at the 7th Congress of Advanced Youth Following Uncle Ho's Teachings in 2023.

Thanhnien.vn