Meeting between VAST Vice President Prof. Dr. Chu Hoang Ha and DPAA Scientist Dr. John Byrd

Prof. Ha began by expressing his gratitude to Dr. Byrd for visiting VAST and mentioned that representatives from VAST had previously visited several DPAA laboratories. He expressed VAST's excitement at the opportunity to work directly with the agency. Dr. Byrd reciprocated the gratitude and emphasized that DPAA conducts research in various locations worldwide. Prof. Ha acknowledged DPAA's experience in working with degraded samples, suggesting that Vietnam would benefit from the collaboration. He expressed his willingness to collaborate with DPAA to enhance capabilities in identifying war missing individuals using state-of-the-art DNA technology.

Meeting between VAST Vice President Prof. Dr. Chu Hoang Ha and DPAA Scientist Dr. John Byrd

During the discussion, Prof. Ha and Dr. Byrd talked about the DPAA's upcoming conference in Hawaii scheduled for 2024. Dr. Byrd extended an invitation to Prof. Ha and VAST to attend the conference, which was gladly accepted. Dr. Phi Quyet Tien, Vice Director of the Institute of Biotechnology, mentioned that he had previously represented VAST at a conference in Hawaii and had the opportunity to meet Dr. Byrd there. He described it as a valuable experience for exchanging scientific ideas and learning about cutting-edge research. Dr. Tien took the opportunity to invite Dr. Byrd to visit the Center for DNA Identification (CDI) located within the Institute of Biotechnology after the meeting. This visit would provide an opportunity for further discussion and potential collaboration between the two organizations.
 
Overall, the meeting between Prof. Chu Hoang Ha, VAST Vice President, and Dr. John Byrd from DPAA was productive and laid the foundation for future cooperation in the field of DNA technology.

Dr Nguyen Hoang Duong