Minh Phuong T. CHU

Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology · 18 Hoang Quoc Viet Street · Hanoi · VN 100000 chuthiminhphuong31@gmail.com

I am a Biologist, Bioinformatician, and Data Scientist.

I have lived, studied, and worked in 7 different countries and gained valuable experiences in various aspects. I am interested in finding solutions for complex and cross-disciplinary problems, especially in Education, Life Science and Health Care areas.

Experience

Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi (Vietnam)

Bioinformatician, Data Scientist and Research Scientist

Responsibilities as a group leader of the Bioinformatics training team:

  • Analyze diverse datasets related to genetics, ecology, and bioinformatics that originate from various research projects conducted across different institutes within VAST
  • Develop software and pipelines aimed at improving the laboratory workflow
  • In charge of bioinformatics and biostatistics training
  • Writing projects proposal and budget plan
    • Nov 2018 - Present

    Mental Health Aid 4All (Vietnam)

    Co-founder

    Mental Health Aid 4All is a community-based organization that works on improving mental health for different groups in society, through mental health First Aid projects. Mental Health Aid 4All's debut project is the Mental Health First Aid for Educators Project. The project won first prize at the EAN Community grand 2023 organized by the European Union delegation in Vietnam. This project provides mental health first aid knowledge and skills to educators, enabling them to support themselves, their students and colleagues with mental health issues. We successfully organized three Mental Health First Aid on-site training courses (in Hanoi and Da Nang) and one online workshop titled "Educators, Are You Okay?".

    Responsibilities:

  • Project evaluation, management, and execution
    • Dec 2023 - Present

    Vietnam Symposium of Development - VSOD (Vietnam)

    Co-founder

    Vietnam School of Development (now Vietnam Symposium of Development) (VSOD) is developed from Vietnam Summer School in Development (VSSD) and Winter School of Sustainable Development (WSSD). These schools bring together hundreds of the most talented young people (between 20 and 35 years old) from around Vietnam with top Vietnamese scholars, researchers, artists, policymakers, and enterprises to create projects that help solve current problems in society from various areas.

    Responsibilities:

  • Program and curriculum design
  • Project evaluation, management, and execution
    • Apr 2021 - Mar 2023

    IBISC Laboratory (Informatique, Biologie Intégrative et Systèmes Complexes), Paris (France)

    Internship in Computational Biology

    Project: Algorithms for RNA structure prediction

    Responsibilities:

  • Develop a new method (using RNA 3D motifs) and improve current tools (RNAsubopt and BiokoP) to better the RNA secondary structure prediction
    • Jan 2018 - Jul 2018

    Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Giessen (Germany)

    Internship in Stem cells technology

    Project: Optimizing differentiation protocols of ovine mesenchymal stem cells

    Responsibilities:

  • Wet-lab on ovine mesenchymal stem cell differentiation
  • Find the optimal differentiation protocol for ovine mesenchymal stem cells
  • Investigate the effects of antibiotics/antifungal on these optimal protocols
    • Mar 2017 - Jul 2017

    Università degli Studi di Napoli 'Federico II', Naples (Italy)

    Internship in Cell biology and Histology

    Laboratorial trained on the Cell biology and Histology techniques

    Nov 2015 - Dec 2015

    Education and Training

    CoderSchool (Vietnam)

    Full time AI/Machine Learning Engineer Course
  • Hornbeck Gender Diversity full scholarship
  • Top best final projects

    • Jul 2019 - Oct 2019

    University of Paris-Saclay (France)

    M2 Genomics Informatics and Mathematics for Health and Environment (GENIOMHE), M.Sc.
  • Université Paris-Saclay international master's scholarship
  • Graduated with honour

    • Sep 2017 - Aug 2018

    University of Antwerp (Belgium)

    European Master in Comparative Vertebrate Morphology (EUCOMOR), M.Sc.
  • Erasmus Mundus master degree scholarship from the European Union
  • Graduated with the highest honour

    • Feb 2016 - Aug 2017

    Belgorod State National Research University (Russia)

    Biology, B.Sc.
  • Vietnamese government full scholarship to study in Russia
  • Graduated with the highest honour

    • Sep 2011 - Jul 2015

    Skills

    Language(s)
    • Vietnamese (Mother tounge)
    • English (TOEFLibt 102)
    • Russian (Intermediate)
    • French (Beginner)

    Job-related skills(s)
    • Maintaining the population and conducting research on animal models (mouse, rats and fruit flies (D.melanogaster))

    • Research skills related to molecular, cell biology and histology: DNA extraction, PCR, RT-PCR, Real-time qPCR, Western blot analysis, MTT assay, Immunofluorescence, Oil Red O staining, Alizarin Red staining, Cell culture, Sulforhodamine B protein (SRB) assay, Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) assay

    • Programming languages: ,,, Scratch, experience in SQL

    • Computational biology methods: Machine Learning (clustering, linear regression, logistics regression, K-Means, SVM, decision tree, random forest, PCA, MDS), Deep Learning (CNN, Transfer Learning, GRAD-CAM), Image Processing, Next-generation sequencing (NGS)

    • Tools and packages: Github, panda, matplotlib, tensorflow, scikit-learn, inbreedR, ggplot2, Galaxy, STRUCTURE, PRIMER 6

    • Other skills: Project proposal and funding proposal writing, project management, leadership, team work, work independently, critical thinking, problems solving

    Teaching & Mentoring

    • 2021 - Present: Teacher of 2 online Computer Science classes (in Scratch & Python) every year to around 100 children from the age of 5 to 17 years old at Minh Viet Academy (MVA)
    • 2020 - Present: Mentor at Erasmus Mundus Career Mentorship Program (Vietnam)
    • 2020: Lecturer at online course Biomedical Data Analysis with R: Intro Series organized by Vinmec Healthcare (Vietnam)
    • 2019 - Present: Mentor at Erasmus Mundus Scholarship Mentorship Program (Vietnam)

    Interests

    Apart from being a scientist, I enjoy losing myself in different hobbies. I love archery, dancing, running, hiking, and biking outdoors. I also practise meditation, yoga, and karate.

    When I am indoors, I often read books or play musical instruments (such as guqin, guzheng). As a tea lover, sharing good cups of tea with my friends and family is my definition of a fun time.

    I am currently a volunteer member of different initiatives such as the Erasmus Mundus Career Mentorship Program and the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship Mentorship Program. These initiatives not only provide useful information about studies, life and career but also direct mentorship for Vietnamese students who currently study/wish to study in Europe.

    In addition, I often participate in fund-raising and charitable activities for environmental protection, animal care, education development and disaster relief.

    Awards & Certifications