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(Fellow, 2016)
Professor Dr. Md Tofazzal Islam was born on 20 December 1966.
Professor Md Tofazzal Islam obtained B Sc Ag (Hon) and M Sc (Ag) degrees from the Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), securing First Position in the First Class in both cases in order of merit. He went to Japan as a Japanese government scholar and did MS (1999) and PhD (2002) at Hokkaido University with distinction. Dr. Islam did Post-doc as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow (2007-2009) at the University of Goettingen, Germany with Prof. Dr. Andreas von Tiedemann in the Division of Plant Pathology and Plant Protection. He has been awarded the Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship (March to May 2013) to work with Prof. Michele L. Clarke at the University of Nottingham, UK. He worked with Prof. Satoshi Tahara of Hokkaido University and Prof. Shinya Oba of Gifu University, Japan as a JSPS Postdoctoral (2003-2005) and JSPS Invitation Fellow (June-July 2015), respectively. He has also been awarded the prestigious US Fulbright Visiting Fellowship (September 2017 to June 2018) to work on development of a convenient molecular tool for diagnosing anthracnose diseases in asymptomatic strawberry plants with Prof. Daniel Panaccione at West Virginia University.
Prof. Islam joined Bangladesh Open University as a lecturer in 1994 and became an Assistant Professor (1997), Associate Professor (2004) and Professor (2010). On July 1, 2010, he joined Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU) as a Professor in the Department of Biotechnology (current Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, IBGE). He served as an adjunct Professor (2014-2017) in the Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology of East West University, Dhaka.
Prof. Tofazzal Islam was awarded many prizes, awards, and medals for his outstanding academic and research accomplishments in interdisciplinary research in the field of molecular biology and agrobiotechnology. His notable awards include ATN Bangla Developing Bangladesh Award 2021, Commonwealth Innovation Award 2019, Islamic Development Bank Transformer Roadshow Innovation Award 2018, Rotary International Vocational Excellence Award 2017, Bangladesh Academy of Science Gold Medal & Award 2011 in Biological Sciences (Senior Group), Food & Agriculture Award 2011 from Oxfam, CSRL and GROW, University Grants Commission (UGC) Bangladesh Awards in 2004 and 2008, the Best Young Scientist Award 2003 from the Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology and Agrochemistry (JSBBA), Chancellor’s Prize in 1995 and a Gold Medal in 2003 from BAU.
Prof. Islam’s contributions have been published in many international journals and book series (>350 peer-reviewed articles, >25 book chapters, total citation, 7,700+ h index = 48, i10-index 147 on 25 May 2023).
Professor Islam is an elected Fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, the American Phytopathological Society, the Bangladesh Academy of Agriculture, and The World Academy of Sciences.
He is the Academic Editor of PLOS One, Associate Editor of Frontiers in Microbiology, Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of CABI Reviews, Editor of Annals of Bangladesh Agriculture, Editor of WebMedCentral (Microbiology), and Editor of Bangladesh Journal of Ecology; and Chief Editor of two series books, CRISPR-Cas Methods (Springer) and Bacilli and Agrobiotechnology (Springer).
Prof. Islam served as Head of the Department of Biotechnology of BSMRAU for 5 years. He served as the founding Director (2019-2021) of the Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (IBGE) (former Department of Biotechnology) of BSMRAU. He also served as Director of International Affairs and Director of Outreach Activities of BSMRAU. He was a member of the Syndicate of Sylhet Agricultura University and a Member of the Academic Council of Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science & Technology University, Bangladesh Open University, and BSMRAU. He was a member of the Board of Governors (BOG) of BOU.
Prof. Islam participated in more than 100 national and international conferences, symposia, and workshops and presented papers, and chaired sessions. He organized several international conferences and conference sessions at home and abroad. He served as a consultant for the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (China) and the South Pacific Community (Fiji). He is a Visiting Professor at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Prof. Islam discovered a large number (>50) of bioactive secondary metabolites from the host and non-host organisms that are involved in chemotaxis, motility behavior, differentiation, and biorational management of economically important oomycete phytopathogens (e.g., Phytophthora, Aphanomyces, Plasmopara) and fungi. Another important area of his research accomplishment is the discovery of probiotic bacteria and their applications in sustainable agriculture and industry. He led 31 researchers including Prof. Sophien Kamoun, FRS, and Prof. Nick Talbot, FRS, FRSB from 4 continents and rapidly determined the genetic identity and origin of the first epidemic outbreak of wheat blast fungus in 15,000 hectares in eight districts of Bangladesh using field pathogenomics, open data sharing, and open science approach.
He was awarded the Fulbright (2017-2018), Commonwealth (2013), Alexander von Humboldt (Georg Forster) (2007-2009), and Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences (JSPS) (2003-2005 & 2015) Fellowships for doing research in USA, UK, Germany, and Japan, respectively. He is an active member of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (USA), the American Phytopathogical Society (USA), the Board Member of DivSeek International (Canada), and Wheat Initiative (Germany)..
Prof. Islam supervised a good number of Postdoc, Ph D and MS fellows and has been mentoring a large number of young scholars. His current research foci include genomics, genome editing, plant probiotics, and wheat blast.
He visited the USA, UK, Germany, Japan, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Hong Kong, Norway, Malaysia, India, Nepal, China, South Korea, Fiji, Thailand, Iran, Belgium, France, Denmark, and Jamaica.
Address: Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (IBGE), Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Gazipur-1706, Cell:+8801714 001414, Email: tofazzalislam@bsmrau.edu.bd