Hue Vu
CV
Hue Vu studied organic chemistry at Vietnam National University and received her master's degree in medical science from Kyoto University. Her master thesis, titled “Discovery of self-assembling molecules as vaccine adjuvants”, was done in the chemical biology laboratory of Prof. Uesugi Motonari. She worked as a stem cell researcher at Vinmec International Hospital before moving to Gent.
Hue is currently pursuing her PhD with the focus on peptide hydrogels for delivery of therapeutics in the Organic and Biomimetic Chemistry Research (OBCR) group of Prof. Annemieke Madder at Ghent University.
Hue’s research interests include discovering and designing self-assembling molecules as well as developing self-assembling supramolecular materials for different applications.
Research Project
Peptide Hydrogels for Delivery of Therapeutics
Peptide hydrogels are promising materials for biomedical applications in tissue engineering and controlled drug release due to their numerous advantages such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and, most importantly, injectability. Our hydrogels consist of all-natural short hexapeptides which form hydrogel networks via non-covalent intermolecular interactions. In vitro release of different types of cargos including small molecules, peptides, and proteins have been observed. A comprehensive understanding of the properties of the hydrogel formation and interactions with cargo helps to better design and develop suitable self-assembling hydrogel materials for a specific application. Therefore, we try to expand our library of hydogelating peptides, study and optimize their properties, as well as performing both in vitro and in vivo experiments with various cargos for different therapeutic applications.
