Cong Minh Nguyen was born and raised in Vietnam, and completed his B.Sc. in Biotechnology-Pharmacology in 2014 at the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH, Vietnam), with a GPA ranked first in the department. During his high school, he was awarded several prestigious accolades in Mathematical Olympiads designed for gifted students. Following the BSc completion, Cong embarked on a short term internship in France at the University of Toulouse before proceeding to Kangwon National University (South Korea) for a master’s degree. He was awarded the prestigious Bring Excellent Student to Kangwon National University (BEST-KNU) scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in Medical Convergence. His M.Sc. thesis focused on the development of molecular mechanisms and animal models of cardiovascular diseases such as atherogenesis, diabetes and pre-eclampsia. During his candidature, he became fascinated with the field of molecular biology particularly the development of molecular diagnostic approaches for cardiovascular disease biomarkers and how these methods can be translated into clinical use.

After graduating for his master’s degree in 2017, Cong undertook a research internship at the Bionanoengineering Group within the Future Industries Institute at the University of South Australia (2018). During this tenure, he designed a simplified point-of-care testing approach for preeclampsia blood biomarkers based on nanoscale field effect transitors (FET). With a childhood dream of developing low-cost smart devices to detect and monitor various pathological conditions of patients in low- to mid-income countries, including his home country, Cong was awarded a Griffith University Scholarship to pursue a PhD degree. His research focus is on designing such technology platforms for the detection of various pathological conditions including cardiovascular diseases. With advanced expertise in the fabrication of unprecedented nanostructures and employing novel materials for werable transducers, his childhood dream will finally be fulfilled under the mentorship of Prof Shiddiky.

With multi-disciplinary academic and cultural experience, Cong can provide the team with a different perspective regarding the design and fabrication of point-of-care devices for pathological conditions. His solid hands-on skills in molecular biology, cell culture, animal models, and biosensing technology will be beneficial to the team.