Professor Tofazzal Islam, born on December 20, 1966, is a distinguished academic figure serving as a Professor and Founding Director of the Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (IBGE) at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University in Bangladesh. Tofazzal did his MS and PhD degrees in Applied Biosciences at Hokkaido University in 1999 and 2002. He has held prestigious postdoctoral positions at esteemed institutions such as Hokkaido University, University of Goettingen, University of Nottingham, and West Virginia University, under various fellowship programs including JSPS, Alexander von Humboldt, Commonwealth, and Fulbright.

Throughout his career, Dr. Tofazzal has garnered international recognition for his groundbreaking research and expertise in the application of frontier sciences, including molecular plant-microbe interactions, genomics, nanotechnology, and genome editing, to address the impacts of climate change on agriculture through the development of climate-smart agrobiotechnology. He is a pioneer in establishing the IBGE with state-of-the-art laboratories for cutting-edge research, securing over 10 million dollars in internationally competitive grants. Collaborating with Professor Sophien Kamoun FRS and Professor Nick Talbot of TSL (UK), Tofazzal's team swiftly tackled the 2016 wheat blast outbreak in Bangladesh, employing field pathogenomics and open science principles. He has led extensive research efforts to mitigate the devastating effects of wheat blast disease, developing a CRISPR technology-based rapid point-of-care diagnostic method for detecting wheat blast fungus.

Collaborating with researchers at the Global Institute for Food Security of Canada, Professor Tofazzal's team recently achieved a milestone by decoding the entire genome of a year-round fruiting jackfruit. Throughout his career, Prof. Islam has discovered over 50 novel bioactive secondary metabolites from marine and terrestrial organisms, elucidating their mechanisms of action on phytopathogens and highlighting potential avenues for agricultural innovation and disease management.

In addition to his research, Prof. Tofazzal holds esteemed editorial roles in leading scientific journals and has authored numerous publications in top-tier journals, accumulating approx. 10,800 citations and boasting an impressive h-index of 54. Recognized for his exceptional contributions, Dr. Islam is an elected Fellow of esteemed organizations including the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, American Phytopathological Society (USA), Bangladesh Academy of Agriculture, and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS, Italy). He has received numerous awards and accolades, including the Gold Medal from the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences and the Commonwealth Innovation Award.

Prof. Tofazzal’s research endeavors have been generously funded by various international organizations, including the World Bank, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and USDA-FAS, among others. He has also been invited to deliver plenary and keynote lectures at numerous international congresses and conferences worldwide, cementing his reputation as a leading authority in his field.