Professor Cameron Simmons

Dengue is one of the most important infectious disease public health challenges in Viet Nam.  On September 19/20th the OUCRU and HTD jointly hosted a "Dengue Therapeutics Workshop". With local and international delegates, from industry, academia and research funding bodies, the meeting discussed the latest results from therapeutic clinical trials performed at the HTD in dengue patients and provided non-clinical experts with a working knowledge of issues in diagnosis and management of patients with dengue.  Doctors from the HTD played a vital role in this workshop by sharing their knowledge and expertise in dengue clinical research.   An important outcome of the meeting was the general agreement to assemble a panel of "standard" molecules for use and calibration of in vitro assays of anti-dengue virus activity .  This initiative should serve to accelerate only the "best" molecules into expensive pre-clinical and clinical development pathways.   It's hoped that another workshop will be convened in 2 years time to provide further updates in this field.

Buddha Basnyat

Griffith Pugh was an eccentric Welsh physiologist who was instrumental in the successful 1953 Everest climb by Ed Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. He was so absent minded that he was wearing  pajamas when John Hunt’s  team was formally presented to King Tribhuvan after their Everest climb. Regarding his eccentricity a well known incident on the 1953 expedition has to do with a heavy crate of Pugh’s “physiological equipment”. The Sherpas carefully brought the crate up the Khumbu’s treacherous Icefall only to find out after opening the crate that it contained bottle after bottle of mango chutney!! Often he would forget where he parked his car in London and report to the police that the car was stolen, following which the police would eventually recover it.

He may have been eccentric, but no one questioned his brilliance. In the Spring 1952, the Swiss team of Raymond Lambert and Tenzing Norgay ( the same Tenzing that would later summit with Hillary) were only 300 m from the top of Everest. But amazingly they abandoned their attempt!

Griffith Pugh from his field studies in May 1952 in the Cho Oyu area determined that there were two important reasons for the failure of the physically strong Swiss team. Pugh concluded that dehydration due to excessive deep breathing ( hyperventilation) could be severe at extreme altitudes if not replenished by generous quantities of fluids. Incredibly the Swiss team in 1952 forgot to pack a stove in their ultimate bid for Everest and were melting snow with candle for drinking water! Pugh in his  extensive report to the Royal Geographic Society emphasized the importance of plentiful fluids for a  successful climb. Indeed, as a result Hillary and Tenzing were drinking “mugs of lemonade” as they ascended.
Pugh also concluded that the second reason why the Swiss team failed was that the supplemental oxygen apparatus in those days allowed you to breathe oxygen only while resting. So Pugh designed a device that enabled climbers to inhale plentiful oxygen even while walking up.
Climbing experts think there is little doubt that the Swiss team born and bred in the mountains with a technical climbing ability superior to that of the British failed  in the spring of 1952 primarily because of insufficient attention to oxygen and hydration.  Eccentric Griffith Pugh cleverly outmanoeuvred the Swiss and help put the British team on top the next year.

Phan Son

Vietnam First Science Cafe

Viet Nam's first ever Science Café took place on 5 March 2011 at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy HCMC, posing the question “Why does medical research need ethics?”, moderated by Professor Tran Tinh Hien, Director of Clinical Research at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU).  Fifty five 4th to 6th year medical students from UMP participated.

Science Cafés are an interactive method of engaging the general public with aspects of science that they might otherwise not consider. They create a forum for scientists and the community to debate about medical and health issues, and scientific and environmental topics, in a friendly and informal manner. This has the dual purpose of helping scientists to understand the public’s perceptions of scientific research and improving people’s knowledge of and engagement with science.

The first OUCRU Science Café was held in an open space in the university, creating a friendly and non-academic environment, encouraging participants to talk to scientists while enjoying a free drink and cakes. The outcome of the first Science Café was encouraging: 24%  and  76% of  participants stated that the discussion at the cafe was stimulating and fun respectively, and 100% of them hoped to join again and would recommended their friends for next café.

The OUCRU Science Cafés will be held on the first Saturday of every month. The first series will be held at various medical and science universities in HCMC, but the subsequent series will be held in public venues such as coffee shops.

Congratulations to Dr Ngo Thi Hoa, a Senior Postdoctoral Scientist in the Zoonosis Group of the OUCRU and Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme in Viet Nam. Dr Hoa has just been awarded a two year research grant by the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) for her research on Streptococcus suis infection in pigs (http://www.dost.hochiminhcity.gov.vn/web/vn/default.aspx?cat_id=416#content).

The award is recognition of the outstanding work of Dr Hoa and her team who have spent the last two years studying the zoonotic pathogen Streptococcus suis, an important animal diseases and the major cause of acute bacterial meningitis in adult patients throughout Viet Nam and South East Asia. In collaboration with the Sub Departments of Animal Health Services in the southern provinces of Viet Nam, Dr Hoa has recently extended her research to local communities in Dong Nai, Tien Giang, Thai Binh, Soc Trang and Regional Animal Health Office VI. The major aim of this research is to investigate the prevalence of S. suis carriage and infection in pigs and link this with on-going studies in humans.

Dr Hoa completed her undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences in Ho Chi Minh City before completing a PhD from the University of London. After her PhD Dr Hoa was awarded a prestigious Wellcome Trust Fellowship for post-doctoral studies at Yale University before returning to Viet Nam. Her research is now based at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and she is very involved with the teaching progammes of the University of Science, HCMC and the Pham Ngoc Thach Medical University. Dr Hoa has contributed to 20 international publications and has successfully supervised 12 BSc and MSc students.

Congratulations also to Dr Nguyen Thi Hue who has just received ‘The Lecturer of the Year Award 2010 Ho Chi Minh City’. Dr Hue completed her PhD with the OUCRU and WT MOP in 2008. Following her PhD (Host genetics of Malaria in Viet Nam supervisor Dr Sarah Dunstan) Dr Hue was appointed as a Lecturer at the School of Biotechnology of the International University, HCMC. She has been subsequently been leading the teaching courses in Molecular Cell Biology, Molecular Biotechnology, Molecular Diagnostics and Genetics. In December 2010 Dr Hue was honoured with the award of The Lecturer of the Year Award 2010 Ho Chi Minh City’.

Despite her teaching commitments Dr Hue has continued her research interests and in 2009 was awarded a grant of USD 10,000 from the Vietnam National University’s for her research on mutations causing G6PD deficiency in Vietnamese people.

In 2010 Dr Hue was awarded her second major grant of USD50,000 from the National Foundation of Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) for further work on the genetics of G6PD deficiency.  This work will link the International University with the OUCRU and WT MOP at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases In addition to this collaborative work Dr Hue has built collaborations with other research groups including the cancer research group of Professor Lyn Griffiths, the Research Genome Centre, Griffith University, Australia, and the Hospital for Cancer in HCMC. With financial support from the NAFOSTED grant, along with support from OUCRU and Wellcome Trust in VN and Tu Du Hospital in HCMC, Dr Hue has established and developed research and training collaborations for BSc and MSc students of the International University.

These two major awards represent the first grants to be awarded by the National Foundation and Department of Science and Technology Viet Nam for research conducted in partnership with the OUCRU-VN and WT MOP.