Project at HIAS
Fighting Superbugs with Sustainable Chitosan
Hoai Nguyen’s HIAS project focuses on developing eco-friendly antimicrobial agents by converting native chitosan, a natural biopolymer derived from shrimp shell waste, into low-molecular-weight chitosan oligosaccharides through a green and selective enzymatic hydrolysis process that enhances solubility, bioavailability, and antimicrobial activity. The modified chitosan will be evaluated against multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, and B. thailandensis to assess its ability to inhibit bacterial growth, disrupt biofilm formation, and enhance susceptibility to existing antibiotics. By investigating the relationship between molecular characteristics and antimicrobial performance, the research aims to optimize these materials for practical applications such as antimicrobial coatings, wound dressings, medical devices, and drug delivery systems. Ultimately, this work supports a circular bioeconomy by transforming seafood processing waste into high-value biomedical products, providing an innovative, sustainable strategy to fight superbugs.
Her Tandem Partners are Wolfgang Streit, Professor for Microbiology and Biotechnology at the University of Hamburg, and Mirko Himmel, University of Hamburg and Associated Researcher at University Medical Centre Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg.
Website
Funding
The HIAS Fellowship is provided by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the federal and state funds acquired by the University of Hamburg in the framework of its Excellence Strategy.
Tandem
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Streit, Mikrobiology & Biotechnology, University of Hamburg
Dr. Mirko Himmel, Mikrobiology & Biotechnology, University of Hamburg; University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)
Biography
Hoai Nguyen is the leader of the Medical Microbiology Research Group and Vice Director of the Research Center for Infectious Diseases at International University, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City. She earned her PhD from the University of Greifswald and conducted postdoctoral and visiting research at UCL (Belgium), NIAID/NIH, and UC San Francisco.
She has published over 100 papers and eight book chapters on antimicrobial resistance and the One Health approach. A prominent leader in her field, she serves as President of the Vietnam Omics Society and as an ambassador for both the German Academic Exchange Service and the American Society for Microbiology. Her honors include the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science National Award (2023) and the Vietnamese Woman National Award (2024).
Hoai Nguyen’s research focuses on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the discovery and development of alternatives to antibiotics, and the application of advanced molecular technologies to infectious diseases. Her work explores sustainable antimicrobial agents from natural products and nanomaterials, as well as novel strategies to combat multidrug-resistant pathogens. She also employs omics approaches, including genomics, proteomics and metagenomics, to investigate pathogen evolution in AMR development and microbial communities. In addition, she develops CRISPR-Cas-based diagnostic platforms for the rapid, sensitive, and accessible detection of infectious diseases, with applications in clinical diagnostics and public health.
Thi Thu Hoai Nguyen’s HIAS Fellowship is provided by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the federal and state funds acquired by the University of Hamburg in the framework of its Excellence Strategy.