Pursuing her passion for the field of Biotechnology, student Le Nguyen Gia Thi reaped the first "sweet fruit" when successfully defending her Graduation Thesis with the topic "Application of ITS molecular markers in Identification of pathogenic fungi on Cordyceps militaris.

With this research result, Gia Thi and her research team at Duy Tan University published a Q1-ranked article with an IF index=4.6 in the prestigious international journal Scientific Reports (part of the Nature Portfolio) with the title “First report of emerging fungal pathogens of Cordyceps militaris in Vietnam”. The topic was also awarded the "Excellent Poster Report" award at the 5th National Mycological Conference held in Hanoi on November 26, 2023.

Born in 1997, Gia Thi decided to temporarily stop studying while she was a student at a university due to the economic pressures her family faced. Not wanting to be a burden to her parents, Gia Thi threw herself into part-time jobs to both cover the family's living expenses and accumulate a sum of money to be able to continue pursuing the biotechnology industry in future.

During 3 years of doing her best to do every job possible to earn money from her own hands, intelligence and health, Gia Thi's burning dream of returning to college was never forgotten. On the contrary, the harder she worked and the more difficulties she encountered, the stronger the young girl's determination to return to university became ever stronger.

“Returning to study from scratch while my peers have graduated and gone to work makes me feel discouraged and want to give up many times. However, it was the love and support of my family and close friends who understood what I had gone through just to go back to school, which gave me more strength.

Not choosing to attend the university I had studied before, I decided to study Biotechnology at Duy Tan University when I found a very creative learning environment here. More specifically, I feel extremely lucky to be able to participate directly in scientific research projects at all levels with the school's experienced lecturers. This is an important fulcrum that helps me soon gain access to modern scientific research methods as well as gradually learn how to write a complete scientific article to get the results I have today.", Gia Thi said.