Molecular plant geneticist Tofazzal Islam, elected a TWAS Fellow in 2022 and the founding director of the Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering at Gazipur Agricultural University (GAU), Bangladesh, has been appointed dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies at GAU for 2026–27.
He earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agriculture from Bangladesh Agricultural University, always graduating first position in his class. Later, he completed a PhD in applied biosciences at Hokkaido University in Japan, where he received the highest academic distinction.
His most widely recognized scientific achievement came in 2016, when he led an international research team that determined the genetic identity and origin of an epidemic outbreak of wheat blast disease in Bangladesh. He used field pathogenomics—an approach that relies on genetic tools to identify and track crop diseases directly in farms and fields. He also used open data sharing and open science approaches.
In that area, his team created a CRISPR-based test kit to detect wheat blast fungus, which is now considered a major breakthrough for global food security. CRISPR is a technology that allows scientists to find, cut, and modify DNA fragments in a very precise way. His kit is especially important because it can be used as a point-of-care tool, meaning that it gives results in just a few minutes directly in front of the operator, right where the patient is.
Islam has authored more than 480 high‑level research papers in international journals, gaining over 15,500 citations on Google Scholar with his publications.
He has consistently been listed among the world’s top 2% of scientists in the Stanford–Elsevier global rankings, and is widely recognized for helping position GAU among Bangladeshi top research universities under the Times Higher Education framework. He received fellowships from JSPS (Japan), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany), the Commonwealth program (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), and the Fulbright program (United States of America).
He has also received several distinguished honours, including the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences Gold Medal, the University Grants Commission Research Award (Bangladesh), the Commonwealth Innovation Award (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), and the Islamic Development Bank Transformers Award.
An elected Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society, Islam is an editor of some leading journals and book series, including Physiologia Plantarum and CRISPR-Cas Methods.