Dao Minh Huy, an assistant professor at the School of Pharmacy at the University of Louisiana Monroe, secured a $380,000 three-year grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation in April for research into better ways to preserve biological medicines and living cells.

The NSF funding is highly competitive and focused on fundamental scientific research that undergoes rigorous review. "I was happier than when I got into university because my first-ever proposal to NSF was funded," Huy says.

Born into a family of scientists, he is the son of Dao Minh Duc, a former head of the physical chemistry department at the Hanoi University of Pharmacy. His interest in science began in childhood, when he often accompanied his father to laboratories.

He recalls spending hours playing with equipment and doing small experiments at home, from observing sunlight through diluted milk to studying geckos in a confined space. His father would also bring chemicals home for Huy and his friends to conduct simple experiments under supervision, such as producing barium sulfate precipitates or burning magnesium strips.

"Those experiences made me realize how fascinating ordinary phenomena around us can be," he says.

Vietnamese scientist Dao Minh Huy. Photo courtesy of Huy

After graduating from the Hanoi University of Pharmacy, he spent five years teaching and doing research there. In 2016, he got a scholarship from the Vietnam Education Foundation to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Mississippi in the U.S. Under the guidance of his doctoral adviser, he developed an interest in materials science and surface science, adopting an interdisciplinary approach that later shaped his research.

His focus on drug preservation became more urgent during the Covid-19 pandemic, when some vaccines had to be stored at temperatures as low as minus 80 degrees Celsius. Once thawed, many vaccines remained stable for only a short period, creating major logistical challenges. The experience raised a basic scientific question: Could biological products survive repeated cycles of freezing and thawing without losing quality?

In 2021, he joined the University of Texas at Austin as a postdoctoral researcher, shifting from medicinal chemistry to freeze-drying technologies and biopharmaceutical preservation. "I felt completely in my element," he says, describing the transition after years of uncertainty about his true scientific interests.

The change required him to rebuild much of his knowledge. He spent long hours studying unfamiliar techniques and technologies. On one occasion, he spent two weeks seeking help from researchers across several departments to fix a few lines of Python code that had stalled his work.

"Whenever I look back on those frustrating periods, I realize I have gained many new skills," he says. Huy believes unexpected results often lead to the most interesting scientific questions. He cites a famous observation attributed to American biochemist and science writer Isaac Asimov: "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny.'"

Drawing inspiration from Buddhist philosophy, he says he has learned not to be discouraged when experiments fail. "When results do not turn out as expected, I remain at ease because they often reveal something interesting."

Breakthrough

His breakthrough came in 2024 during a visit to Vietnam. While having a drink by West Lake in Hanoi, he noticed that a piece of ice in his glass was nearly transparent, unlike the cloudy ice cubes commonly made at home.

The difference, he realized, was the presence of air bubbles. Those bubbles, he suspected, might also damage biological materials during repeated freezing and thawing. He reasoned that if biological products or tissues could be frozen in an environment similar to the clear ice, one largely free of air bubbles, they might be preserved more effectively.

The observation led to a month of experiments, but the early results were disappointing. Then, in what he describes as a last attempt, he removed nearly all air bubbles and dissolved oxygen from a solution before freezing it.

The outcome surprised him. Proteins and cells preserved in the oxygen-depleted solution survived better than those stored using conventional methods. The finding suggested that removing gases before freezing could improve the stability of biological products and living tissues.

When NSF opened applications for research funding, Huy submitted a proposal mainly to learn from the process. To his surprise, the project was approved.

According to Robert O. Williams, Huy's postdoctoral adviser at the University of Texas at Austin, NSF grant competitions are highly selective, with only 10% to 20% of proposals typically receiving funding. He describes the project as groundbreaking because it addresses both fundamental scientific questions and practical challenges.

"Huy's research will have an impact on biopreservation and advanced manufacturing. More broadly, it aligns with U.S. priorities in cryopreservation."

Dao Minh Huy (right) poses with his postdoctoral adviser, Robert O. Williams (far left), at the University of Texas at Austin. Photo courtesy of Huy

For Huy, the grant is more than a professional milestone. He sees it as a continuation of his family's academic tradition and evidence that scientific knowledge can help people overcome barriers of geography, background and economic circumstances.

When researchers master the language of science, they can find opportunities anywhere in the world, he says. The NSF funding will help him pay graduate students and laboratory assistants and buy research materials and equipment.

It will also allow him to expand his study of how biological products respond to the stress during freezing and storage. The work could eventually support research into preserving red blood cells at room temperature and freezing tissues and organs for transplantation.

The long-term goal remains ambitious. Scientists have yet to develop practical organ banks capable of storing transplant organs indefinitely.

"I do not expect to solve these problems completely," Huy says. "But I hope this research can help move science forward, so that one day frozen-organ banks will no longer belong only in science fiction."