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Tra Nguyen

Tra Nguyen

Tra Nguyen

Major Professor: Yang
Email: tranguyen@ou.edu

Hometown:
Binh Duong, Vietnam

High School:
North Dallas Adventist Academy, Richardson, TX

Education:
B.S.
, Biochemistry, Texas Woman's University
M.S., Chemistry, University of Oklahoma


I found my interest in Chemistry/Biochemistry when I first studied the periodic table in my Chemistry class. I was introduced to different chemical elements and their chemical properties. As an 8th grader, it was a fascinating moment for me when I learned that mercury exists as liquid at room temperature. At that time, I was always interested in becoming a scientist and pursuing chemistry research as my career.

It is an honor for me to work with Professor Dr. Zhibo Yang in the Analytical Chemistry division. It was a great pleasure for me to self-lead a few projects while working on collaborative studies with different labs (Dr. McCall’s lab and Dr. Rajan’s lab) in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at OU and the Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida.

My research focused on single cell mass spectrometry, HPLC/MS, single cell metabolomics and genomics in infectious disease and cancer research.

After graduation, I hope that I have an opportunity to work in industry and in academia.


Publications, Presentations & Awards

  • Nguyen, T. D.*; Lan, Y.*; Kane, S. S.; Haffner, J. J.; Liu, R.; McCall, L.-I.; Yang, Z., Single-Cell Mass Spectrometry Enables Insight into Heterogeneity in Infectious Disease. Analytical Chemistry 2022, 94 (30), 10567-10572 (2022). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.analchem.2c02279
  • Liu, R.*, Li, J.*, Lan, Y., Nguyen, T.D., Chen, Y.A., Yang, Z. Quantifying Cell Heterogeneity and Subpopulations Using Single Cell Metabolomics. Analytical Chemistry 2022, submitted (2022).
  • Nguyen, T.D.*; Lesani, M.*; Forrest, I.*; Lan, Y.*; Dean, D.A.; Gibaut, Q.M.R.; Guo, Y.; Hossain, E.; Olvera, M.; Panlilio, H.; Parab, A.R.; Wu, C.; Bernatchez, J.A.; Cichewicz, R.H.; McCall, L.-I. Local Phenomena Shape Backyard Soil Metabolite Composition. Metabolites 2020, 10, 86 (2020). https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/10/3/86/htm
  • Nguyen, T.D., Fraire, C., Sheardy, R. D. Linking pH, Temperature and K+ Concentration for DNA i-Motif Formation. Journal of Physical Chemistry B 121, 7872-7877 (2017). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.jpcb.7b06317

* Authors contributed equally

Oral Presentations

  • Lan, Y.*, Nguyen, T.D.*, Liu, R., Kane, S.S., McCall, L.-I., Yang, Z. Single cell mass spectrometry metabolomics studies of cell heterogeneity in the infection of Chagas disease. The 68th American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS), Houston, TX (2020). International
  • Nguyen, T.D., Fraire, C., Sheardy, R. Linking pH, Temperature, K+ Concentration and Conformation for DNA i- Motif. The 2018 Student Creative Arts and Research Symposium, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, TX (2018). University

Poster Presentations (at OU)

  • Liu, R., Li, J., Lan, Y., Nguyen, T.D., Chen, Y.A., Yang, Z. Quantifying Cell Heterogeneity and Subpopulations Using Single Cell Metabolomics. The 2nd Chinese American Society for Mass Spectrometry (CASMS) Virtual Conference (2022) International.
  • Nguyen, T.D., Yang, Z. Single cell mass spectrometry metabolomics of primary and metastatic melanoma. The 2022 Annual Cancer Research Symposium, OUHSC (2022) Local.
  • Nguyen, T.D., Yang, Z. Single cell mass spectrometry metabolomics of cell heterogeneity in primary and metastatic melanoma. The 2021 Annual Cancer Research Symposium, OUHSC (2021) Local.
  • Nguyen, T.D., Yang, Z. Single cell mass spectrometry metabolomic studies of primary and metastatic cancers. The 69th American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) Conference, Philadelphia, PA (2021) International.
  • Nguyen, T.D., Yang, Z. Single cell mass spectrometry metabolomic studies of primary and metastatic cancers. The 1st Chinese American Society for Mass Spectrometry (CASMS) Virtual Conference (2021) International.
  • The 2022-2023 Dodge Family College of Art and Sciences Dissertation Research Fellowship (University), Awarded to top 2% Ph.D. candidates to facilitate doctoral completion ($5,000) May 2022
  • 2021 Outstanding Graduate GenChem Teaching Assistant Award (Department) May 2021, Awarded on the basis of exceptional performance as a TA in our undergraduate laboratories at University of Oklahoma.
  • 2018 Outstanding Undergraduate Chem/Biochem Student Award at TWU (Regional) May 2018, Awarded by Dallas – Fort Worth Section of American Chemical Society (ACS-DFW)
  • 2018 Student Symposium Chancellor’s Student Research Scholar (University) April 2018, Awarded by Research Committee of the Graduate Council for the Highest Recognition in Research at Texas Woman’s University.
  • College of Art & Sciences Dissertation Research Fellowship (OU) Fall 2022 – Spring 2023, It was awarded to top 2% in order to fund the remaining of dissertation research at an amount of $5000
  • Robberson Research and Creative Endeavors Grant (OU) Spring 2021
  • Summer Research Fellowship, Welch Foundation (TWU) Summer 2016, 2017
  • TWU Presidential Scholarship (full 4-years scholarship) Fall 2014 – Spring 2018
  • Texas Public Education Grant/Resident Fall 2014 – Spring 2018
  • Texas Toward Excellence, Access & Success Grant Fall 2014 – Spring 2018
  • Willis Clark Research Scholarship Fall 2016 – Spring 2018
  • Helen Ludeman Scholarship Fall 2015 – Spring 2016
  • Robert W Higgins Memorial Scholarship Fall 2015 – Spring 2016