Summary：Vietnamese scientist wins prestigious US grant, sparking hope for vaccine preservation **IntroductiVietnamese scientist wins prestigious US grant, sparking hope for vaccine preservation
**Introduction** Dr. Linh Nguyen, a biomedical researcher based in Ho Chi Minh City, has been awarded a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a novel stabilizer for heat‑sensitive vaccines. The announcement, made earlier this week, highlights a growing collaboration between Vietnamese research institutions and U.S. funding agencies aimed at solving one of the most persistent challenges in global immunization: maintaining vaccine potency without continuous refrigeration.
**Key Developments** The grant will fund a three‑year project focused on encapsulating antigen proteins in a biodegradable polymer matrix that resists temperature fluctuations up to 40 °C. Preliminary laboratory tests showed that the formulation retained over 95 % of antigenic activity after six months at ambient temperature, a significant improvement over current lyophilized products that degrade rapidly above 8 °C. Dr. Nguyen’s team, which includes collaborators from the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, plans to move to pilot‑scale manufacturing by the second year and to conduct field trials in rural Vietnam and Southeast Asia by the project’s end.
**Industry Analysis** Vaccine cold‑chain logistics account for nearly 80 % of the cost of immunization programs in low‑ and middle‑income countries, according to the World Health Organization. Failures in temperature control lead to an estimated 25 % loss of doses each year, undermining eradication efforts for diseases such as measles, polio, and COVID‑19. Innovations that extend the thermal stability of vaccines could reduce reliance on expensive refrigeration
