Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Doan Le Hoang Tan, 33, deputy director of the Centrefor Innovative Materials and Architectures under the Vietnam NationalUniversity-HCM City, was recently honoured as one of the 10 outstanding youngscientists, making him one of the 2020 Golden Globe Award winners.

Theaward is handed out by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the Ministryof Science and Technology to recognise successful research of young scientistsin information and technology, medicine, biology, the environment and newmaterials.

Taanwas honoured after he researched and developed metal-organicframework material and biodegradable nano-silica material and used thematerials in environmental and biomedical treatment.

Tanearned a BA in chemistry from the University of Natural Sciences under the VietnamNational University-HCM City in 2009. The same year, he applied for a trainingprogramme of metal-organic framework material run by his university andUniversity of California Los Angles. He participated in the programme in2010.

“Thiswas a time when I felt tremendous pressure, but I learned a lot ofknowledge and experience for my research process,” he said.

Theprogramme was guided by leading experts in the field of metal-organic frameworkmaterial, with high expectations for fellows, he said.

“Atthat time, the research on traditional materials are not really a breakthrough,so I wanted to find a new direction of research for myself,” he said.

Researchon metal-organic framework material in Vietnam was very new in 2010, he said.

Itwas believed to be a research direction very close to the direction of globalresearch at that time and applications from metal-organic framework materialwere hoped to bring useful things to life, Tan said when he explained why hehad researched new materials.

Forthe first time, he was published in an international scientific publication ofmetal-organic framework material in 2015 after tireless efforts for five years.

Tan haswritten 27 scientific articles in prestigious scientific journals so far.

Hesaid his achievements were not only because of his efforts but also the greatsupport from the centre he was working for.

Later,Tan began researching and developing biodegradable nano-silica material tocarry and transmit anticancer drugs.

Hesaid, in cancer treatment, when injecting anticancer drugs into the body, apartfrom cancer cells, the drugs could also affect normal cells, causing the cellsto weaken or die, leading to side effects and adversely affecting the patient'shealth.

Therefore,research on a method to correctly transmit anticancer drugs to cancer cells wasalways important in cancer treatment, he added.

Thebiodegradable nano-silica material that Tan and his colleagues developed waslike a smart truck delivering anticancer drugs to the right tumour, he said.

Afterreleasing pharmaceutical substances in cancer cells, the nanoparticles woulddecompose into small pieces and be eliminated from the body after passingthrough the kidney, he said.

Thenanomaterial had been tested on cell and animal models with anticancer drugs.The results showed that the nanomaterial transported the drugs to the targetedcancer cells in a tumour without being spread to normal cells, he said.

Publishingthe research results on this issue, however, from research to the applicationwas a long process, requiring the participation of many parties, especiallybusinesses, he said.

Asa scientist, he hoped the research results would soon be applied to contributeto effective cancer treatment, he said.

AssociateProfessor, Phan Bach Thang, director of the centre said Tan always showed histalent and responsibility in both roles of researcher and manager.

Thangsaid when researching, Tan had made many scientific publications andsynthesised a metal-organic framework that had not been identified in the worldthat Tan named VNU. The new material was thought to have high potential.Recently, Tan successfully studied material carrying and transmittinganticancer drugs.

Tanwas assigned to be in charge of researching metal-organic framework materialsand he did it very well, Thang added./.