Van is enthusiastic about both fundamental and applied research. He carried out research in Bioinorganic Chemistry throughout his undergraduate and graduate studies, as well as in his postdoctoral training. He co-discovered metal-dependent enzymes involved in important biological pathways. He used a wide range of tools, from table-top spectrophotometers to particle accelerators, as well computational methods to get insights into these enzymes. He is currently the director of NTT Hi-Tech Institute (NHTI) at Nguyen Tat Thanh University. Under his leadership, NHTI has grown rapidly and now has a strong interdisciplinary team of more than 50 young researchers. In addition to fundamental research, NHTI has been developing various products, such as rapid test for infectious diseases in humans and animals and advanced LED systems for agriculture. The results of Van and his partners were published in top-tier journals, such as PNAS and JACS, some of which were patented.
Van was born in Hai Phong. He obtained his B.S. degree in Chemistry from University of Science, Vietnam National University in June 2003. He received his PhD in Chemistry in December 2011 from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, which was supported by a fellowship from the Vietnam Education Foundation. He then took a 3-year postdoctoral training at the Scripps Research Institute before returning to Vietnam and started his position as the director of NHTI in 2015.
