Tofazzal Islam

Md. Tofazzal Islam (born December 20, 1966) is a biotechnologist, ecological chemist, educator, and author from Bangladesh. He is now a Professor and founding Director of the Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (IBGE) of Gazipur Agricultural University (GAU) in Bangladesh. He joined Bangladesh Open University (BOU) as a lecturer in 1994 and became an assistant, associate and full professor in 1997, 2004 and 2010, respectively. He joined GAU on July 1, 2010, as a professor and head of the Department of Biotechnology.

Tofazzal was born on December 20, 1966, in the village of Shashai, located in the Brahmanbaria district of what was then East Pakistan and is now Bangladesh. His father, Md Bazlur Rahman, was a farmer, while his mother, Khaleda Khanom, managed the household. His early education was disrupted by the brutalities of the Pakistani army during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. Consequently, he commenced his primary education at the second-grade level in a newly established primary school in Shashai. As the eldest son, he assisted his parents in agricultural activities to support the family during his primary and secondary education years. Despite these challenges, he consistently excelled academically, never ranking lower than first place from grades 2 to 10. He completed his secondary school certificate (SSC) from Satbarga High School and his higher secondary certificate (HSC) from Brahmanbaria Government College, achieving First Division in both examinations.

Tofazzal earned his B.Sc. Ag (Honors) and M.Sc. (Ag) degrees from Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), securing First Position in the First Class on both occasions based on merit. He furthered his studies in Japan as a Japanese government scholar, completing his MS (1999) and PhD (2002) degrees at Hokkaido University with distinction under the guidance of Professor Satoshi Tahara, specializing in chemical ecology and natural products chemistry. Dr Tofazzal undertook a post-doctoral position as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow (2007–2009) at the University of Göttingen, Germany, specializing in molecular cross-talks between grapevine and downy mildew pathogen Plasmopara viticola under Andreas von Tiedemann's guidance. He was honored with the Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship (March to May 2013) to collaborate with Prof. Michele L. Clarke at the University of Nottingham, UK. During his career, he also collaborated with Prof. Satoshi Tahara of Hokkaido University and Prof. Shinya Oba of Gifu University, Japan, as a JSPS Postdoctoral fellow (2003–2005) and JSPS Invitation Fellow (June–July 2015), respectively. His achievements include being awarded the prestigious US Fulbright Visiting Fellowship (September 2017 to June 2018), during which he worked on developing a molecular tool for diagnosing anthracnose diseases in asymptomatic strawberry plants alongside Prof. Daniel Panaccione and Professor Mahfuzur Rahman at West Virginia University. Tofazzal also contributed as an international consultant across various organizations, including the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) spanning 22 Pacific Countries & Territories. Dr Tofazzal assumed the role of visiting professor at the Institute of Plant Protection of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in China from 2021 to 2023. Additionally, he played a pivotal role in establishing the Asian Wheat Blast Research Center at Kobe University with Prof. Yukio Tosa while serving as a visiting professor from 2023 to 2024.

Tofazzal married Hasna Hena Begum in 1995. Hasna Hena currently holds the position of Senior Specialist (Soil and Environment) at Waste Concern, Bangladesh. The couple has one son, Tahsin Islam Sakif, born on July 2, 1997, who currently works as an IT specialist in the USA. Hasna Hena completed her Ph.D. in plant physiology at Hokkaido University in 2003.

Since 1997, Tofazzal has been dedicated to researching the ecological chemistry of Peronosporomycete phytopathogens and applied phytochemistry. His MS and PhD theses focused on understanding the cell biology of flagellar motility, taxis, viability, and differentiation of zoospores of oomycete phytopathogens, particularly their interactions with host and non-host plant secondary metabolites. He successfully elucidated the mechanisms underlying damping-off disease control in spinach and sugar beet through the action of Lysobacter sp. SB-K88. In recognition of his expertise, he was awarded a fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) from 2003 to 2005. During this fellowship, he investigated signaling systems between root and rhizoplane microorganisms, including oomycetes, and explored their potential agricultural applications at the laboratory of Hokkaido University.

Tofazzal has made significant contributions to academia, with over 350 research articles published in national and international peer-reviewed journals and book series, alongside more than 250 articles in national dailies and periodicals. His scholarly output also includes the authorship of twenty books. His groundbreaking research has been featured in esteemed international publications such as Nature Communications, Molecular Plant, Trends in Biotechnology, BMC Biology, PLOS Biology, Trends in Genetics, Briefings in Bioinformatics, Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Phytochemistry, Phytopathology, Plant and Soil, Biological Control, Frontiers in Microbiology, Scientific Reports, Marine Drugs, Organic Letters, Rice Science, Journal of Natural Products, Plant Disease, Plant Biotechnology Journal, Engineering, Animal Microbiome, Frontiers in Immunology, Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, the Journal of Antibiotics, and Environmental Pollution, among others. He is one of the pioneer researchers in open and distance learning (ODL) in Bangladesh. As the founding teacher, he significantly contributed to the establishment of School of Agriculture and Rural Development at Bangladesh Open University. His research book titled "Information and Communication Technology in Education" published by Paragon Enterprises Ltd. in Bangla language has been well accepted by readers and elites. He co-edited a book Effectively Implementing Information Communication Technology in Higher Education in the Asia-Pacific Region with Jim Peterson, Okhwa Lee, and Matthew Piscioneri.

Tofazzal worked as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow (2007–2009) at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany with Andreas von Tiedemann in the Division of Plant Pathology and Plant Protection.[3] His research interests are concentrated in understanding the underlying molecular mechanism of asexual sporulation in peronosporomycetes and signal transduction pathways of chemotaxis and differentiation of zoospores. He engaged and led 31 researchers from 4 continents to rapidly determine the origin of the first epidemic outbreak of wheat blast in Bangladesh in 2016 using field pathogenomics, open data sharing and open science. Since then he has been leading a large group of national and international researchers for the mitigation of worrisome wheat blast disease caused by Magnaporthe oryzae Trticum using genomics, genome editing, nanobiotechnology and other advanced molecular approaches. His team developed a point-of-care diagnostic method for rapid detection of wheat blast fungus in collaboration with researchers in China, USA and KSA using genome-specific primers and CRISPR-Cas12a technology. In collaboration with researchers at GIFS and NRC, his team recent decoded the whole genome of a year-round fruiting jackfruit. Over the years, Prof. Tofazzal discovered a large number (>50) of novel bioactive secondary metabolites from marine and terrestrial organisms, and elucidated the mode of actions of some of these natural products on fungi and oomycete phytopathogens. Prof. Tofazzal collaborating with Prof. Yusuke Yamauchi and Shahriar Hossain of University of Queensland in Australia to utilize nanotechnology for production of high valued products from jute fiber, development of nanopesticide and preparation of agriculturally and environmentally valuable mesoporous nanomaterials. He secured more 2 million dollars of funding from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, FCDO, World Bank, USDA, British Council (UK), BBSRC, Bangladesh Academy Science – USDA, University Grants Commission of Bangladesh etc. and established the laboratories with state-of-art facilities for research in the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering at his established IBGE.

Prof. Tofazzal is the Editor-in-Chief of two series books, Bacilli and Agrobiotechnology, and CRISPR-Cas Methods that publish by Springer Nature. He serves as an Editor of Physiologia Plantarum, Academic Editor of PLOS ONE, Editor of Scientific Reports, Associate Editor of Frontiers in Microbiology and Member of Editorial Advisory Board of CABI Reviews. Prof. Islam is an elected Fellow of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (FBAS), American Phytopathological Society (FAPS), Bangladesh Academy of Agriculture (FBAA) and The World Academy of Sciences (FTWAS). He received many awards and medals including a Gold Medal of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, UGC Research Award, Commonwealth Innovation Award, Islamic Development Bank Innovation Award, and the GNOBB Gold Medal Award.