Nguyen Thanh | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Nguyễn Thị Kim Thanh |
| Alma mater | Vietnam National University, Hanoi (BSc) University of Amsterdam (MSc) University of East London (PhD) |
| Awards | Rosalind Franklin Award (2019) Royal Society University Research Fellowship (2005) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Nanoscience |
| Institutions | University of New Orleans University of Liverpool University College London |
| Thesis | Renal lipid changes in response to chemical insults (1998) |
| Website | www |
Nguyễn Thị Kim Thanh FRSC FInstP FRSB FIMMM is a professor of Nanomaterials at University College London.[1] She was awarded the 2019 Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award for her research and efforts toward gender equality.[2]
Thanh grew up in Vietnam. She studied chemistry at the Vietnam National University, Hanoi, which she graduated in 1992.[3] She was selected for the Netherlands organisation for international cooperation in higher education (NUFFIC) scheme and moved to the University of Amsterdam to begin a Master's program in chemistry.[3] Thanh completed her master's degree in 1994, before being selected for a PhD program in biochemistry at the University of East London.[3][4][5] During her PhD she developed new techniques to study the renal toxicity of N-Phenylanthranilic acid.[5] To do this, she studied various types of lipids in rat kidneys and demonstrated that lipids are a viable non-invasive method to study renal papillary necrosis.[5]
After her PhD, Thanh was a postdoctoral researcher at Aston University, where she worked on medicinal chemistry. She developed a technique that could be used to synthesise cell membrane permeable fluorescent versions of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP).[5] Thanh moved to the University of New Orleans in 2001, where she began to work with nanotechnology.[3] Here she developed nanoparticle sensors for biological assays. In particular, Thanh used gold nanoparticles combined with fluorescent sensors.[5] She moved to the University of Liverpool in 2003, where she worked in the Centre for Nanoscience.[3] Here she worked with glycosaminoglycan and tissue engineering.[5] She was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship and appointed a lecturer in 2005.[3] She took part in the Royal Society parliamentary pairing scheme in 2007, and was paired with Andrew Miller, then Chair of the Science and Technology Select Committee.[6]
In 2009 Thanh joined University College London as an associate professor of nanotechnology, where she is based in the Davy Faraday Laboratory.[3][7] She studies nanomaterials and their applications in biomedicine, and has continued to investigate colloidal gold.[3][8] She is particularly interested in magnetic nanoparticles and how they can be used to treat cancer.[9]
In 2010 she presented her work in nanoscience at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition.[10][11] The project was selected by the New Scientist as one of the highlights of the show.[12] Thanh is involved with the London Centre for Nanotechnology and was a co-founding member of the Global Young Academy.[6][13] She has presented at the World Economic Forum, the Vietnam Young Academy and the European Commission.[6] She was awarded the 2019 Rosalind Franklin Award from the Royal Society.[14]
She is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP), the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB) and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (FIMMM).[5]
Her publications[2] include:
