The female doctor has numerous research papers on drug delivery materials for treating brain cancer.

Dr. Giang was a top student in biotechnology at Can Tho University. Giang said that she previously enjoyed studying medical materials and knew that South Korea and China were two countries rapidly developing in this field. She also admired the romantic scenery in Korean dramas, so she decided to pursue a scholarship to study in South Korea.

Thanks to her excellent academic performance at Can Tho University and her proficiency in foreign languages, Giang received a doctoral scholarship at Incheon National University (South Korea) worth approximately 3 billion VND. In August 2018, Giang went to South Korea to study.

“Initially, I missed home a lot. I went to South Korea to study a program taught in English, and daily communication using the native language was a huge barrier. Studying and researching in South Korea is completely different from the program in Vietnam, so it took me a long time to adapt,” Giang said.

Dr. Nguyen Cao Thuy Giang

NVCC

Giang said the biggest challenge for women studying BioNanoEngineering (specializing in the synthesis of drug delivery materials for cancer treatment) is health. Some animal experiments last for months in the lab, requiring Giang to be in excellent health to closely monitor the process. However, being a woman, Giang feels she performs quite well in experiments that demand meticulous attention to detail.

During her studies in South Korea, Giang published a total of 14 scientific research papers in various journals in the fields of biomedical science and biomaterials. Among these, Giang was most proud of her research on drug delivery materials for brain cancer treatment. The research utilized exosome materials derived from endothelial cells to effectively deliver cancer drugs into the brain. This is because, until now, most drugs have struggled to directly penetrate cancer cells due to the selective nature of the brain membrane.

"My research has shown very promising treatment results in mice. In the future, this research will continue to be developed and clinically tested. I hope that this achievement will contribute in some way to the treatment of brain cancer in the future," Giang shared.

Dr. Nguyen Cao Thuy Giang aspires to become a professor in the future.

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Last February, Giang officially became a PhD after successfully defending her dissertation on the topic of using biomaterials to deliver drugs to targeted cancer cells, combined with the use of ultrasound to amplify the treatment effect. “Currently, my research has achieved some effective treatment results in animals. I hope that in the future it will continue to develop so that it can meet the treatment needs of cancer patients,” Giang said.

During her studies and research at Incheon National University, Giang received several awards, including: the Science and Arts Award at the 2023 American Materials Conference, organized by the American Materials Research Society; and the Outstanding Vietnamese Student Award in Biotechnology in Korea in 2023, presented by the Vietnamese Student Association in Korea...

Upon officially becoming a PhD holder, Giang had a happy wedding with her husband, Dr. Truong Hoang Quan. Prior to that, the two had spent over six years working together, supporting each other in research at Incheon National University.

Giang and her husband, Dr. Truong Hoang Quan, got married in March 2024.

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“We’ve been together, experiencing the ups and downs of our time studying and researching in South Korea. Sometimes, the experiments didn’t yield the desired results, which made me feel very stressed and want to give up. But luckily, he was always there to encourage me and help me overcome those challenges,” Giang shared.

For Giang, getting married doesn't mean "giving up the game." The female PhD holder says she and her husband will continue "playing the game" in their upcoming research journey. Currently, Giang and Quân are both postdoctoral researchers and assistant professors at the University of Massachusetts (USA). Both aim to become professors.

“Giang is very skillful and meticulous in conducting experiments. She always supports me in many things. Conversely, I support Giang in calculations and chemical synthesis. We always complement each other's weaknesses and encourage each other to develop together,” Dr. Quan shared.

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