7th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING IN VIETNAM

Vietnam-UK Workshop

Microfluidics, Nanomaterials, and Point-of-Care in Healthcare for developing countries

Time: June 27-29^th, 2018

Venue: International University — Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

ORGANISERS

International University — Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Dr. Khon Huynh - hckhon@hcmiu.edu.vn

Sheffield University, UK
Dr. Cecile Perrault - c.perrault@sheffield.ac.uk

WORKSHOP MENTORS

1. Prof. Vo Van Toi
Chair - Department of Biomedical Engineering
International University - Vietnam National University HCMC

2. Prof. Le Hoai Quoc
President - Saigon HiTech Park

3. Prof. Nguyen T K Thanh
Chair in Nanomaterials - University College London

4. Prof. Tony Cass
Department of Chemistry - Imperial College London

FORMAT

Scientific research presentation
Roundtable discussion
R&D facility tour

LANGUAGE

The workshop will be conducted entirely in English.

SUMMARY OF THE WORKSHOP

Vietnam is a rapidly developing and socially dynamic country. The average income of people in rural areas—occupying 67% of Vietnam’s population—is under USD $19 per month. The government spending for the healthcare is currently set at only 7-8% of GDP. Hence, a large number of people in Vietnam, especially the low-income populations in rural and remote regions, are unaffordable for healthcare services. Such populations have been suffering from health conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and infections due the limited access to health check-ups and timely treatments. There are lots of emerging needs and considerably growing interest in development of medical products in Vietnam.

This workshop is funded by British Council Newton Fund Researcher Links - Workshop Grant. The aim of the workshop is to establish Microfluidics, Nanomaterials, and Point-of-Care networks and stimulate collaborations about research and development (R&D), technology transfer, and commercialization of R&D results between UK and Vietnam, to improve health outcomes of underserved populations who are inadequately provided with a healthcare service or facility, and who are not able to access to the good healthcare services in Vietnam in particular and in the developing countries in general.

The workshop is organized along with the 7^th International Conference on the Development of Biomedical Engineering in Vietnam (http://csc.hcmiu.edu.vn/bmeconf/bme2018). The workshop will integrate a broad range of experts from VN governmental organizations who establish and implement public’s healthcare programs, from national and international research communities who have been involved in developing Lab-on-a-chip, Nanomaterials and Point-of-Care technologies, and from entrepreneurial ventures who engage in facilitating and commercialization the final products to enhance the accessibility of the advancements in healthcare for low income populations. Concretely, the following are the expected outcomes and potential collaborations:

(1) Establishing a collaboration network of scientists and experts from both Vietnam and UK in the fields of microfluidics, lab-on-chip, nanomaterials, point-of-care technologies

(2) Providing opportunities for UK scientists to come to Vietnam to investigate research
topics that are proper for Vietnam and developing countries

(3) Providing Vietnamese scientists to learn new UK technologies and approaches

(4) Technology transfer and collaborations about microfluidics, lab-on-chip, nanomaterials, point-of-care products development between Vietnam and UK: R&D projects, commercialization, visiting scholar programme, joint-development of research proposals.

WE ARE NOW INVITING EARLY CAREER RESEARCHERS FROM THE UK AND VIETNAM TO APPLY TO ATTEND THE WORKSHOP

The early career researchers who have been awarded their PhD not more than 10 years and/or less than 6 years into a lectureship appointment prior to June 2018 are eligible to participate in the workshop. If a researcher does not hold a PhD but has research experience equivalent to a PhD holder and works in the areas of BME and Healthcare, relevant NGO, infectious disease societies… they can still be considered eligible to participate in the workshop. Researchers from UK will be sponsored for the costs of the International travel between UK and Vietnam (air tickets), event participation and subsistence. Researchers from Vietnam will be sponsored for the costs of the event participation and subsistence only.

Important Note: Although insurance cost will not be covered by the organizers, participants are encouraged to purchase adequate travel and medical insurance. Organizers accept no responsibility for any problems which may occur when participants are in-country.

Please submit the online registration form before 15^st April 2018. Successful applications will be announced by 30^th April 2018.

ELIGIBILITY

Applications must be submitted via above online registration link
Applicants must be submitted before the above deadline
Applicants must be early career researchers. They are equivalent to the ‘Recognized Researcher’ and sometimes ‘Experienced Researcher’ categories in the EU framework for researchers’ careers
Participants from for-profit organizations cannot be funded.
Selected applicants will present an oral/poster presentation of their recent work during the workshop

QUALITY ASSESSMENT

Experience and relevance of the applicant’s research area to the workshop
Motivation and contribution to the aims of the workshop
Description of the long-term impact expected through participation in the workshop
Ability to disseminate workshop outcomes

SELECTION PROCEDURE

Eligibility check
Quality assessment

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

The workshop organizers are committed to equal opportunities and diversity in all its activities and this includes the avoidance of any bias in the assessment of applications due to gender, disability, racial or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or religious belief. Applicants’ selection undertaken by workshop organizers must not contravene this policy. Extra support to enable participation of early career researchers with special needs will be given.

TENTATIVE PROGRAMME (to be updated)

Day 1: 27 Jun, 2018
8:00 – 8:30	REGISTRATION
PLENARY SESSION W1 – Room A2-104
8:30 – 9:30	The Opening of the Conference
9:30 – 10:20	Keynote Lecture by Jeff Bulte
9:30 – 10:20	Clinically Applicable MR Tracking of Naked, Scaffolded and Encapsulated Cells
10:20 – 10:30	Group photo
10:30 – 10:50	COFFEE BREAK – POSTER VIEWING
PLENARY SESSION W2 – Room A2-104
10:50 – 11:40	Keynote Lecture by Ruth Nussinov
10:50 – 11:40	Oncogenic K–Ras signaling and drug discovery
11:40 – 11:50	Award Ceremony: Keylab prize
11:50 – 12:00	MOU signing between IU and National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan and between BME Dept. – IU, Vietnam & BMSE Dept. – GIST, South Korea
12:00 – 13:00	LUNCH – POSTER VIEWING
W3G: Newton Workshop: Healthcare opportunities for developing countries – Room: A2.507
13:00 – 13:15	Opening speech
13:15 – 13:50	Introduction
13:50 – 14:40	Mentor Talk: Challenges and Opportunities in Vietnam (Vo Van Toi - International University, Vietnam)
14:40 – 15:00	COFFEE BREAK – POSTER VIEWING
W4G: Newton Workshop: Healthcare opportunities for developing countries – Room: A2.507
15:00 – 16:30	Interactive workshop session 1
16:30 – 17:30	Clinical Talk: Healthcare system in Vietnam (Nguyen Minh Tuan, Director General of the Ministry of Health’s Medical Equipment and Construction Department)
18:00 – 20:00	BANQUET at Van Thanh Tourist Park
Day 2: 28 Jun, 2018
PLENARY SESSION T1 – Room A2-104
8:00 – 8:30	Keynote Lecture by Wellington Pham
8:00 – 8:30	Molecular Imaging in The Era of Precision Medicine
T1G: Newton Workshop: Technological Development in Microfluidics, and Point-of-Care – Room: A2.507
8:30 – 9:10	Mentor Talk: Micro magnetofluidics for tissue engineering and rapid disease detection (Nam–Trung Nguyen, Griffith University, Australia)
9:10 – 9:30	Microfluidics droplets and their applications: diagnosis, drug screening and the discovery therapeutic enzymes (Liisa van Vliet, University of Cambridge, UK)
9:30 – 9:50	A microfluidic device for nucleic acid-based analysis of Helicobacter pylori (Kirsty Shaw, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)
9:50 – 10:10	Low-cost Microfluidics fabrication method for the design of Point-of-care LAMP device (Nguyen Hoang Tuan, International University, Vietnam)
10:10 – 10:30	COFFEE BREAK – POSTER VIEWING
T2G: Lab–on–a–chip & Point of care technologies – Room: A2.507
10:30 – 11:15	Mentor Talk: Point of Care Diagnostics (Tony Cass, Imperial College, UK))
11:15 – 11:35	Toward the Digital Hospital: from implant design to in – clinic biofabrication (Javier Munguia, Newcastle University, UK)
11:35 – 11:55	Technologies for coupling nanomaterials and microfluidic chemical sensors for interactive data transmission to a remote central server (Enobong Bassey, Coventry University, UK)
11:55 – 12:15	Trung Le (International University, Vietnam)
12:15 – 13:00	LUNCH – POSTER VIEWING
T3-4G: Newton Workshop - SHTP Tour
13:00 – 16:30	SHTP Tour
Day 3: 29 Jun, 2018
F1G: Newton Workshop: Nanomedicine & Drug Delivery Systems – Room: A2.507
8:00 – 8:45	Mentor talk: Plasmonic and Magnetic Nanoparticles for Biomedical (Thanh Nguyen, UCL, UK)
8:45 – 9:05	Designing biotic-abiotic interfaces (Ben Almquist, Imperial College, UK)
9:05 – 9:25	Nanoneedles and Nanostructured for Studying Cell Interfacing (Stuart Higgins, Imperial College, UK)
9:25 – 9:45	Composite Nano-Fiber Mats Consisting of Biphasic Calcium Phosphate Loaded Polyvinyl Alcohol – Gelatin for Biomedical Applications (Linh Nguyen, Oxford, UK)
9:45 – 10:05	From Macroscopic to Microscopic: Experimental and Computational Methods to investigate Bio-Tribology (Raman Maiti, University of Sheffield, UK)
10:05 – 10:20	COFFEE BREAK – POSTER VIEWING
F2G: Newton Workshop: Development of MN-LOC-POC in Vietnam Room: A2.507
10:20-10:40	Redox polymeric nanoparticle as an effective oral nanotherapeutics for inflammatory bowel disease and cancer (Vong Binh Long, University of Science HCMC, Vietnam)
10:40-11:00	Direct Detection of Unamplified Pathogen RNA in Blood Lysate using Ultrabright SERS Nanorattles (Ngo Thanh Hoan, International University, Vietnam)
11:00-11:20	Nguyen Thi Hiep (International University, Vietnam)
11:20-11:40	Recent Advances in Development of Microfluidic Systems in Viet Nam (Nguyen Tien Anh)
11:40-12:00	Investigation of a Digital Microfluidic (DMF) system for liquid droplet manipulation (Hoang Trung Thien, International University, Vietnam)
12:00 – 13:00	LUNCH – POSTER VIEWING
F3G: Newton Workshop – Room: A2.507
13:00-13:30	British Council, Science and Innovation officer “Funding opportunities from Newton Fund in Vietnam”
13:30-14:30	Thinking outside the box: Multidisciplinary Approaches (talks of multidisciplinary collaborators, on the challenges and rewards of multidisciplinary research) - Bridget Wills (OUCRU, Vietnam) Cressida Bowyer (University of Portsmouth, UK)
14:30 – 14:40	COFFEE BREAK
14:40-15:30	Round table discussion and Closure

This work was supported by a Researcher Links workshop grant, ID 2017-RLWK8-10677, under the Newton Fund Vietnam Programme partnership. The grant is funded by the UK Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and delivered by the British Council. For further information, please visit www.newtonfund.ac.uk.