Receiving the delegation, on the VAST side, there was also Dr. Nguyen Hoang Duong, Deputy Head of the International Cooperation Department; Representatives of the Genome Research Institute including: Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huy Hoang, - Director; Prof.Dr. Nong Van Hai, former Director of the Institute; Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thuy Duong, Head of Human Genomics Department.

Prof. Acad. Mark Stoneking is an internationally renowned anthropologist. For many years, he was a professor at Pennsylvania State University (USA), Munich University and Leipzig University (Germany). From 1999-2022, he was Head of the Evolutionary Genetics Group at the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA, Germany). In 2020, he was elected a Fellow of the US National Academy of Sciences. Since 2022, he is an honorary researcher at the Laboratory of Biometrics and Evolutionary Biology, Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, France. Prof. Acad. Mark Stoneking has developed research collaborations on human population history with many research groups around the world, especially with Asia-Pacific countries such as Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam...

At the working session, Prof. Acad. Mark Stoneking said that over the past decade, he has collaborated in research and training with VAST scientists on the genetic history of Vietnamese people. As a result, up to now, 2 VAST scientists have come to do postdoctoral research, 2 have worked as long-term and short-term interns at his Laboratory. Vietnamese human genome research in collaboration with MPI-EVA has been published in 3 prestigious international journals. Currently, he continues to cooperate and help scientists at the Genome Research Institute - VAST in deeper and broader research on the genetic history of Vietnamese people and he also expressed his hope that there will be more achievements in the near future.

Speaking at the reception, Vice President Chu Hoang Ha welcomed Prof. Acad. Mark Stoneking and evolutionary anthropologists from Thailand and France to visit and work with VAST scientists. Vice President Chu Hoang Ha thanked Prof. Acad. Mark Stoneking for cooperating with and helping VAST scientists in recent times, and expressed his wish that Prof. Acad. Mark Stoneking and international anthropological researchers continue to collaborate in research and training with VAST scientists. The Vice Chairman said that up to now, VAST has been invested by the Vietnamese government in the DNA Assessment Center with the task of assessing of martyrs' remains that lack information. In addition to assessment tasks, the center is also very interested in researching and developing advanced technologies such as ancient DNA extraction, and has enough capacity to coordinate with other research facilities around the world.

After the meeting, Prof. Acad. Mark Stoneking and the delegation visited the DNA Genetic Assessment Center at Co Nhue Technology Research and Development Area.

Some photos at the reception: 

Translated by Quoc Khanh
Link to Vietnamese version