Star Online Report
Bangladeshi
scientist Maqsudul Alam, a professor at the University of Hawaii and
the decoder of jute plant genome, died today of liver cirrhosis at a
hospital in the United States at the age of 60.
He breathed his last at Queens Medical Center in Hawaii around 2:18am (Bangladesh time), Mahbubul Alam Babu, a brother of the scientist, told The Daily Star Online over phone.
Maqsudul was admitted to the hospital with liver problems on December 2 and was undergoing treatment there since, Mahbubul said.
The scientist will be buried in Hawaii on Monday, he added.
He left behind his wife and a daughter, a host of relatives, followers and well wishers to mourn his death.
Maqsudul became earned global after he and his team discovered the genome sequence of ‘Tossa’ jute -- the Jute Plant Draft Genome – in June, 2010.
Following
the initial success in decoding jute (tossa) genome in June 2010,
Maqsudul led a team of Bangladeshi scientists in decoding the genome of a
fungi deadly to jute in September 2012.
Three years into the successful genome sequencing of tossa jute,
Bangladeshi scientists, under the leadership of Maqsudul, unravelled the
genome sequence of deshi (white) jute in 2013. Maqsudul had earlier decoded the genome of papaya in the US and rubber plant in Malaysia.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed deep shock at the death of Maqsudul, news agency UNB reports quoting the Prime Minister’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad.
Scientist Maqsudul Alam
He breathed his last at Queens Medical Center in Hawaii around 2:18am (Bangladesh time), Mahbubul Alam Babu, a brother of the scientist, told The Daily Star Online over phone.
Maqsudul was admitted to the hospital with liver problems on December 2 and was undergoing treatment there since, Mahbubul said.
The scientist will be buried in Hawaii on Monday, he added.
He left behind his wife and a daughter, a host of relatives, followers and well wishers to mourn his death.
Maqsudul became earned global after he and his team discovered the genome sequence of ‘Tossa’ jute -- the Jute Plant Draft Genome – in June, 2010.
In
this August 19 star photo, internationally famed geneticist Maqsudul
Alam, second from left, is flanked by other scientists of jute genome
project at the Bangladesh Jute Research Institute.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed deep shock at the death of Maqsudul, news agency UNB reports quoting the Prime Minister’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad.
Published: 10:12 am Sunday, December 21, 2014
