M Anwar Hossain

Family and early life

Hossain was born in the Juri Station of Sylhet, Bangladesh on 20 August 1949. His parents Mohiuddin Ahmed and Begum Ashrafunnessa were living in Juri at the time. Mohiuddin Ahmed who began his career as an Apprentice of the British Railway was serving as Station Master of Juri when Anwar was born. Anwar had 3 sisters and 8 brothers. Of the 11 brothers and sisters, 8 of them actively participated in the historic Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. Four of Professor Hossain's brothers were awarded Gallantry Awards for their acts of valour during the war. They were Lt. Colonel Abu Taher, Abu Yusuf Khan, Shakhawat Hossain Bahar and Waresat Hussain Belal, who were awarded the Bir Uttam, Bir Bikram, Bir Protik and Bir Protik respectively. No other family in Bangladesh has received so many Gallantry Awards.

Academic career

Anwar obtained his BSc (Hons) in 1971 from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Dhaka and completed his MSc from the same department in 1972. He did his MSc thesis under supervision of Professor Kamaluddin Ahmad. Anwar joined Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Dhaka as a Lecturer on 1 January 1975. In 1982 Anwar was awarded a Monbukagakusho Scholarship with which he pursued doctoral studies at Kyoto University, Japan under the supervision of Professor Kozi Asada. His PhD thesis was titled "Photosynthesis: Plant's Defence Mechanism Against Photo-Oxidative Damage” and was awarded the degree in 1985. He became an assistant professor at 1985 and associate professor at 1990. From 1994 to till date he is working as a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Dhaka. He was Chairman of the Department from 2001–2003. Professor Hossain was elected as Dean of the Biological Sciences and he is the current President of the Teachers Association of the University of Dhaka.

He was elected as the vice-chancellor of Jahangirnagar University (JU) on 17 July 2012. Since February 2013, some JU teachers had been demanding Hossain's resignation, accusing him of committing irregularities in teachers' recruitment, spoiling teacher-student relations, and misusing university funds. The situation escalated on 6 April when Bangladesh Chhatra League General Secretary Rajib Ahmed Rasel assaulted a teacher. The agitating teachers demanded Hossain's resignation for not expelling Rajib. On 24 October, he announced to resign by 24 January 2014. He returned to his position at the University of Dhaka.

Research career

M Anwar Hossain has conducted research with world renowned plant scientists, among whom are Joseph C. Arthur Distinguished Professor of Plant Physiology and Emeritus Professor of Botany and Plant Pathology of Purdue University Thomas K Hodges, Japanese Plant Physiologist and Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University Kozi Asada, former President of the Australian Academy of Science Jim Peacock and Professor Kamaluddin Ahmad. With over 1400 citations, Professor Hossain is one of the most cited plant scientists in Bangladesh. His works have appeared in premier scientific journals including the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Plant Physiology, Plant Molecular Biology and Plant and Cell Physiology. Professor M Anwar Hossain serves in the Editorial Board of Bioresearch Communications. After his PhD he returned to Bangladesh for 2–3 years, and then again went to Kyoto Prefectural University as a part of a Biotechnology Career Fellowship Program (1987–1990). This time he studied plant genetic engineering.

From 1991 to 1994 and 1995–1996 he worked in Purdue University, USA and Kyoto University, Japan respectively as visiting scientist (Full-time professor) during which he worked for developing submergence (flood) tolerant rice. This research was the frontier step in the biological field.

He has a patent in the USA on the discovery of Anoxia inducible promoter isolated from rice for its potential use in Cancer research in 2001. His current research involves group of Scientists, Research Fellows, Ph.D., M.Phil. and Masters course students from University of Dhaka, Bangabandhu Sk. Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University and Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI). A project entitled “Genetic Engineering of Rice to Develop Flooding Tolerant High-Yielding Cultivars” financed by the Rockefeller Foundation under the International Rice Biotechnology Program and Ministry of Science and Technology (S&T), GOB, is being conducted by Hossain. He is also leading research on bioremediation.

Awards

1. Japanese Monbusho Scholarship in 1982
2. University Grants Commission (UGC) Award 1985 for the research paper entitled, 'Monodehydroascorbate reductase from cucumber is a flavin adenine dinucleotide enzyme' which was adjudged as the best publication in 1985 in fundamental research in the field of Biological Sciences in Bangladesh.
3. The Rockefeller Foundation Biotechnology Carrier Fellowship in 1987.
4. The Rockefeller Foundation Visiting Scientist Fellowship in 1991.
5. Justice Ibrahim Gold Medal for the year 1993 for outstanding research in Biological Sciences.
6. Visiting Professorship in Kyoto University, Japan in 1995.

Literature

M Anwar Hossain's columns have appeared in leading national dailies such as bdnews24, Janakantha, Kaler Kantha, Samakal etc. Some of his works have appeared in leading Bengali blogs. He has written four books:

1. সি এম এম কোর্টে জবানবন্দি
2. কাঠগড়ায় ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ঃ রিমান্ড ও কারাগারের দিনলিপি
3. গণতান্ত্রিক রাষ্ট্র ও সেনাবাহিনী
4. মহান মুক্তিযুদ্ধ ও ৭ই নভেম্বর অভ্যুত্থানে কর্নেল তাহের
5. তাহেরের স্বপ্ন