“This is truly more than a valued scientific partnership; it is a very special friendship.”
From Toulouse, France, colleagues at the Toulouse Biotechnology Institute (TBI/INSA) sent this heartfelt message to the School of Chemistry and Life Sciences.
From Toulouse, France, colleagues at the Toulouse Biotechnology Institute (TBI/INSA) sent this heartfelt message to the School of Chemistry and Life Sciences (SCLS) as Hanoi University of Science and Technology celebrated its 70th anniversary. Their greetings carried a story of more than 15 years of working and growing together.
Today, a new generation is carrying that journey forward. Nguyễn Thảo Anh, a HUST alumna from cohort K59, is preparing to defend her doctoral thesis in December 2026. Trần Phương Nhi, an alumna of the Elitech Food Engineering programme, cohort K66, is set to begin her BioEco master’s internship at TBI in February 2027. For each, this marks an important step in her academic journey; for both institutions, it reflects a partnership that continues to create opportunities.
Looking back, around 10 co-authored scientific publications and more than 30 conference presentations reflect years of sustained collaboration. Many doctoral graduates have returned to research and teaching roles in Vietnam, bringing knowledge and experience to the training of the next generation.
Through academic exchanges, workshops and group discussions, researchers from both institutions have expanded their work from biomass conversion and the production of fermentable carbon sources to biotechnology using filamentous fungi. Their shared ambition has remained clear: to bring advances in biotechnology closer to the market, address environmental challenges and support a circular bioeconomy. Along the way, professional trust has grown into friendship.
Prof. Luc Fillaudeau and Prof. Carole Molina-Jouve (Laboratory head).
To find the beginning, we return to 2010. Following a conversation with laboratory head Carole Molina-Jouve, Associate Professor Chu Kỳ Sơn visited LISBP, now TBI. That visit marked the beginning of a relationship with HUST’s School of Biotechnology and Food Technology (SBFT), a predecessor of today’s SCLS.
It began with a laboratory visit. More than 15 years later, the colleagues sending their greetings from Toulouse were writing as friends.
