Yusoff is a Senior Professor of microbiology at the Faculty of Biotechnology at the Universiti Putra Malaysia. In 2010, La Trobe University awarded her DSc (honoris causa). Her research on the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) won her many awards including the 2005 Carlos J. Finlay UNESCO Prize for Microbiology, the National Young Scientist Award in 1990 by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, and the Malaysian Merdeka Award in 2015. Her current research interest is in the development of NDV as a therapeutic oncoviral vaccine through the use of reverse genetics. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia and Vice-President of TWAS for East and South-East Asia, as well as of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences. She also sits on the Council of Science Advisers of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB). She was formerly a Board of Trustee member for the International Livestock Research Institute and a member of the Board of Governors for SEAMEO-BIOTROP. She is the Acting Chairperson for Greentech Malaysia, and a member of the Board of Directors for VentureTech and the Steinbeis Malaysia Foundation.

Zakri is presently the Chairman of Atri Advisory, a consultancy company advising governments, regional bodies and international organisations on science and technology for sustainable development, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Other current positions include being pro-chancellor, Multimedia University (MMU);pro-chancellor, Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris (UPSI); Vice-Chair, Governing Council of the UN Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries (Turkey); member of the Scientific Advisory Board to the President of the Islamic Development Bank (Jeddah) (IsDB), and member, Governing Board, Science and Technology for Society Forum (Kyoto). He was also recently appointed the Ambassador and Science Adviser to the Campaign for Nature led by Wyss Foundation and National Geographic Society. Previously, he was the science advisor to the Prime Minister for Malaysia (2010-2018). Recipient of numerous awards include recently; Zayed International Prize for the Environment (2014); the Academy of Science of South Africa Distinguish Visiting Scholar Award (2015); Merdeka Award for the environment category (2015); Midori Price for Biodiversity Award (2018).

Prof. Emerita Datuk Dr. Asma Ismail is a woman of many firsts. She was the first female Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia and Universiti Sains Malaysia,the country’s first female Director-General of Higher Education, first female President of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia and the first woman to be the National Science Advisor to the country. She has a BSc (Biology) from the University of Nevada Reno (UNR), USA, M.A. (Microbiology) from Indiana University, USA and a Ph.D (Cellular and Molecular Biology) from UNR. She was also awarded Honorary Doctoral Degrees from the University of Glasgow, Keele University and Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (KUFS). She was elected to the Academy of Sciences Malaysia in 2003, The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) in 2010 and The Islamic World Academy of Sciences in 2016. Asma has 16 patents and commercialized world-wide the rapid diagnostic test for typhoid called TYPHIDOT. She received numerous awards including the National Academic Laureate, the most prestigious national award to a Malaysian academic in 2022.