Fellow

Prof. Zia Uddin Ahmed

(Fellow, 2002)

Professor Zia Uddin Ahmed was born on 1 December, 1942 in Ishwarganj, Mymensingh.

He did his Matriculation from East Pakistan Secondary Education Board in 1957; Intermediate from Daulatpur B.L.College, Rajshahi University, 1959; B.Sc (Hons.) in Botany, University of Dhaka, 1962; M.Sc. in Botany with specialization in Genetics, University of Dhaka, 1963; M.Sc. in Genetics from the University of Alberta, Canada, 1972; Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Dalhousie University, Canada, 1975.

Professor Ahmed joined the University of Dhaka as Lecturer in Botany in May, 1964, became Senior Lecturer in July 1964. In August 1968 he went to Canada for higher studies and returned to Bangladesh in 1975 to join University of Dhaka  as Assistant Professor in Botany. He became Associate Professor of Botany in 1976. In 1980 he went to Dalhousie University in Canada for Post-doctoral work. Upon return from Canada he joined Jahangirnagar University as Senior Consultant in Life Sciences to do the groundwork for the establishment of the Institute of Life Sciences at Jahangirnagar University. He then joined the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) where he worked as Senior Scientist from 1987 to 1996. He served as part-time teacher in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Dhaka from 1997 to 2000, and Honorary Director of the Institute of Life Sciences, National University from 1999 to 2002. From July, 2001 to June, 2008 he was Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Jahangirnagar University. From 2011 to 2015 he was Visiting Professor of Microbiology, Jahangirnagar University.

His field of specialization is Genetics and Molecular Biology with research work on plant molecular biology, genetics of antibiotic synthesis, and development of live oral vaccine against bacillary dysentery.

Prof. Uddin is a recipient of University of Dhaka Talent Scheme Scholarship (1962), Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship (1968), Dalhousie University Graduate Fellowship (1972), Rockefeller Foundation Biotechnology Career Fellowship (1985) and UNESCO Global Programme on Cellular and Molecular Biology Fellowship (1994).

He has about 40 original research publications in national and international journals. Invited major review articles include: Genetics and Physiological Control of Chloramphenicol Production, In: “Regulation of Secondary Metabolism ", Ed. H. Kkinkauf and H von Dohren; Verlag Chimie, Weinheim Germany, 1986 and “Genetics of Antibiotic Production”. In: Cell Metabolism: Growth and Environment Part II” Ed. T. A. V. Subramanian, CRC Press, Florida, USA 1988. A book entitled “Fundamentals of Molecular Biology” has been published in 2002 for advanced level students of B.Sc. Honours and M.Sc. classes. He also published a book, The Fading Horizon-Science and Technology in Bangladesh, in 2007. His recent publication is a book entitled “Genetics of Antibiotic Resistance” published by Jahangirnagar University in 2013.

Professor Ahmed has extensive involvement with editorial work for over three decades. He was the Chief Editor of Bangladesh Journal of Microbiology, and Journal of Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Science. He was in the Editoral Board of Journal of Diarrhoeal Disease Research published by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. He was an Editor of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering published by Bangladesh Academy of Sciences in 1986, an Editor of BANGLAPEDIA National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh published by the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh in 2003. He was Chief Editor of the Encyclopedia of Flora and Fauna of Bangladesh. This 56-volume work began in July, 2004 under the auspices of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh and completed in 2011. He was a member in the Editorial Board of Bangladesh Journal of Botany, and Bangladesh Journal of Life Science.

He was a recipinent of Dhaka University Botany Department Golden Jubilee Recongnition Crest in 2006.

He is a Fellow of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (2002), and Fellow of World Innovation Foundation, UK (2003); Fellow, World Innovation Foundation, Huddersfiled, UK; Life Member of Bangladesh Botanical Society, Bangladesh Society of Microbiologists; Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, and Member Bangladesh Biochemical Society.

Professor Ahmed visited many countries in connection with research work and travel. He travelled extensively across the Continent of North America during the 1970s, and visited many other countries such as USSR, UK, Iran, Pakistan, India, France, The Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Australia. Institutions where short working periods from a few weeks to a few months had been spent include the Pasteur Institute in Paris, the University of Adelaide in Australia and the National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi.