Female science and predestined relationship with toxicology research

As a woman, Dr. Dang Thi Cam Ha chose to study in the field of poison and see it as fate. She used to come to a place where a high concentration of dioxin was found to find a cleaning technology that surprised many people.

At the age of 64, but never before, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dang Thi Cam Ha , former Head of the Institute of Biotechnology (Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology), has no enthusiasm for science. She has been the head of nearly 30 projects and projects and published nearly 150 scientific and technological projects.

Being sent to study and later studying abroad at the age of 17, she chose oil microorganisms - a very new field for Vietnam - at the time to pursue. In 1995, she returned home, participated in many surveys, went to the forest, went to the sea and was present in many places to find the cause, making recommendations whenever the incident occurred.

Dr. Dang Thi Cam Ha.(Photo: PH).

In 1999-2000, she took on the task of developing a process of decontamination of herbicides / dioxin with biodegradable technology (bioremediatin). The team went to the Da Nang and Bien Hoa military airports, which have high dioxin levels.

"When many of my friends went to the battlefield without a chance to return, I was able to go to study abroad. To be grateful to them and contribute to reducing the serious consequences of dioxin poisoning existing with very high toxicity. hot spots, my colleagues and students found detoxification technology , " said Dr Ha.

15 years ago, many international experts who were skeptical about the possibility of biotechnology could handle dioxin cleanup, but she shared with them: "In 10 years we will bring technology to the field" .

Exactly 10 years later, the results of her research and her colleagues surprised the scientific community at home and abroad because "there is no claim in the world about detoxifying dioxin contaminated soil with this technology and implementing Large scale like Vietnam, " said a scientist.

At that time, despite the danger, she and her students went to many hot spots on dioxin in Da Nang and Bien Hoa to study, test and apply biodegradable technology . The group had to work at a toxic site 10-12 hours under the scorching sun, sometimes thinking of giving up, but the image of exposed victims helped her and her colleagues have more motivation to work.

This technology was created through a combination of landfill and treatment by inducing native biota to grow, transform and mineralize toxic chemicals under appropriate conditions. Although it takes a long time, it is rated by experts as safe at low cost.

In order to limit the effects of dioxin, she and her colleagues have to drink carbonated roasted rice to carbon when exposed to toxins. As a result, in February 2012 more than 3,384m ³ of dioxin contaminated soil in Bien Hoa airport was cleaned by biodegradation method. After 27 months, 99.5% of total toxicity was removed.

Also in 2009, the technology continued to be implemented with the US Environmental Protection Agency at pilot scale (11x2m ³ formulas both aerobic and anaerobic treatment) with funding from Ford Foundation in Da airport. Nang. After 6 months, 30% of total average toxicity was removed from contaminated soil with a very high total toxicity of 43,000 ngTEQ / kg of dry soil.

Associate Professor, Dr. Dang Thi Cam Ha and her colleagues in the US carried out the project at Da Nang airport in 2009. (Photo provided by the character).

"Research in the toxic field is probably my destiny. In the coming time, I still have many cherishes to find solutions to food safety , " she said, saying the group always expects dioxin treatment technology. Positive burial is widely used. "Vietnamese people are not poor and just sitting together we can do it," said Ha.

In order to have success in science, Dr. Ha had to sacrifice many things, but fortunately she had a solid rear-end family. This is also the most happy female doctor."Without family, women do science hard to succeed," she said.

So after each trip, Dr. Ha always tries to cook many delicious dishes for family, sewing, knitting and spending time confiding to his two sons. In one day, she always tried to arrange the time with the highest efficiency, because she was used to doing things all the time fast - think fast, speak fast, read fast.

Prof. Dr. Dang Thi Cam Ha was born in 1952. She graduated from Bacu University (Soviet Union) in 1975 specialized in microbiology using oil. In 1990, she successfully defended her doctoral thesis at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Then she worked at many research institutes like Hungary, Austria, Germany. She used to work at the Institute of Biotechnology and is currently a consultant of the President of Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.

Dr. Ha has received many awards such as the first prize of 2001 VIFOTEC, the gold and silver medal "International women inventors" held in Korea in 2012.