On 06.04.2022, I began my first unforgettable journey to a place where I could find my thousands of possibilities, a place where I could be myself and assert my identity. In this journey, I will not be able to do anything without the precious support from those who always encourage me and believe in me. Finally, today I have the great opportunity to express my gratitude and my love for them.

First, I would send my best regards to my supervisors, who have provided me with the wonderful chance to be a student in their research team, Dr. Palma Rocchi and Professor David Taieb. Dear Palma, no words could express my gratitude to you because of the many wonderful things that I gained during my time as your student, from when I was an early bird in science working as a master-2 student in your lab until today, I have become mature and will soon be a scientist (oncologist). You are the one who gave me the wings to go far, with lots of patience and sympathy, and always supported and encouraged me to be brave to conquer my dreams. Working with you for my Ph.D, I had the first paper for my scientific career, a chance to travel to San Diego for a big cancer research conference, visiting the Vancouver Prostate Cancer Center, etc. There are so many good things that I have received, as I have always been well supported by you. I truly appreciate that you always tell me “because you deserved it”. You are the first supervisor who will be the special and unforgettable one to me. Dear David, thank you very much for your kind help and also for bringing me a lot of excellent ideas for the project. After we discuss, I always feel happy, and I know what I should do and am confident about myself. Thank you very much for always smiling, and I feel I am so lucky to be your student. To be honest, you and Palma are the best scientists that I have learned from my academic life, and looking at you, I found that I need to make a lot of effort to be a good scientist like you. To me, you are more than supervisors <3 (sending you hugs).

 It looks like a “family”, since we love each other. The cartoon is how I think about you :D

A special thank, I would like to say to my dear mentors and also my sisters, Dr. Le Thi Khanh and Dr. Tran Thi Thom, Love you <3. To work with you as well as being your little brother, I learnt so many things, not only scientific skills but also the way I could overcome depression in life far away from family and friends. I am truly grateful for that. Thank you to Dr. Le Thi Khanh for accepting me to work with a Master-2 internship in the laboratory, even though at that time, you did not know if I could be a good student or a good person. Being your little brother is one of my most lucky. No words can describe exactly what I think because you not only teach me valuable knowledge in science but also support and share with me the difficulties I met in a strange environment. I cannot be here without your help. You are a perfect mentor to me. Thank you very much for your precious support and help, which really made my Ph.D. more convenient. Together, we made many achievements; for me, these are all the first papers (both review and original research). I would like to send a big thank you to Dr. Tran Thi Thom, who taught me a lot of complicated experiments in the laboratory (organoids and microscopy, and flow cytometry), always supported me in experiments that I needed to do for my Ph.D project, and also helped me to do with a lot of administrative work to survive in France. From the things both of you taught me, I could be confident to go for many interviews for postdoc positions all over the world since these are very good skills to do research that I learnt from you (Dr. Khanh and Dr. Thom). Without your help, I could not go as far as I have now. Thank you very much for always listening to and encouraging me, and I would also be sorry if, during the time we worked together, I caused you any uncomfortable moments. Please forgive me :D. I hope every time you think about me, you will feel proud of me as a little brother and a good friend. I would also like to thank your families (bác Thắng, bác Sơn, Phễu, Min, Chun, Ping, Mai Ly) for being nice to me and sharing happy moments with me, which made me not feel lonely in France. I am so lucky!!!

         I would also want to send a big thank you to my friends and my colleagues Phan Thi Tu Uyen, Michael Baboudjian, Virginie Baylot, Souhaila Zadoudi, Ines Sousi, Elmira F. Khusnutdinova, and Sébastiene Wang, for their support for my Ph.D work. Thank Uyen and her family (Mr. Thach and Gau), for sharing happy moments in my life in Marseille, and I truly believe that you will gain more achievements in your Ph.D journey with the lab, keep trying :D. Also, thank you for listening to me and protecting me! Thank Virginie, for always supporting, encouraging me, and also giving me much precious advice, especially your recommendation to the laboratory of Dr. Renu at Stanford University. I am honestly grateful for that, and I hope I am able to work there in the future. I would also like to thank Dr. Laurence Colleaux, Dr. Michel Camplo, and Prof. Jean-Manuel Raimundo for their constructive advice and support for not only my Ph.D project, but also other projects that I have chance to work on.

          Importantly, I would like to thank to students in the lab that I have chance to work with. Thanks to Yinghua HU and Galdric Oliver, working with you guys makes me happy a lot!. I also learned how to be a good mentor, being honest and sympathetic with you. To my little student, HU Yinghua, thank you for your great work in the 5-FU project. You are a brilliant student whom I am lucky to work with. Hope to be your mentor again in your future career. I will always remember you said to me that “I choose to work with you not because of the project, it’s because of you”, it is so meaningful to me :D. To the most famous oncologist doctor that I know in Marseille, Dr. Galdric Oliver, thank you very much for being nice to me, thank you for sharing a lot of happy moments, and also lots of good cakes after lunch in the lab :D. Every time we work together, we laugh a lot. Working with you, I do not feel any stress and hope that in 10 years, we will still be keeping in touch and being good friends. I really like the people in your family that I met at your wedding. It is a great experience that I will not forget. And also thank you very much for your champagne, a gift to celebrate after my Ph.D defense.

To me, please remember that you are always proud of yourself and love yourself. Be strong and happy. Hi, I am Duong Quang Hieu, and I am a PhD.