Profesor Emeritus Dato’ Dr Khalid Abdul Kadir FASc
April 28, 2023
EMERITUS PROFESSOR DATUK DR ABDUL LATIF IBRAHIM FASc
(1 September 1938 – 11 December 2022)
Professor Emeritus Dato’ Dr Abdul Latif Ibrahim FASc can be considered as one of the most outstanding scientists in the area of microbiology and biotechnology in the country. He was born on 1 September 1938 at Kajang and completed his secondary education at the Kajang High School in 1956. He began his career as a veterinary assistant before pursuing a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at East Pakistan Agriculture University in 1961. Upon graduation in 1967, he worked as a District Veterinary Officer. In 1969, he was awarded a Fulbright Hays/ East-West Center scholarship to follow a program leading to MSc. in Microbiology at the University of Hawaii. Upon completing of his study in 1971, he was appointed as a research officer at the Department of Veterinary Service Malaysia. Dr Latif joined UPM in 1972, and in the same year, he went to the University of California, Davis to pursue a PhD in Microbiology.
He graduated in 1976 and continued his career at UPM. While at UPM, he held a number of positions, such as lecturer, Associate Professor, Professor, Head of Department, Deputy Dean until he retired in 1995. He was active in vaccine development research leading to the development of Newcastle Disease Vaccine, which was commercialised.
In June 1995, he was offered the post of Managing Director of National Biotechnology Directorate under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (MOSTE). As the managing director, he planned a number of programmes to develop biotechnology in Malaysia. The programmes were R&D, Commercialisation of Biotechnology, Human Resources Development & Biotechnology, Strategic Alliances, and Outreach Programme.
In order to implement the programme, he developed a number of initiatives, such as The Biotechnology Corporate Centre (BCC), and the Biotechnology Research Cluster Programmes, where three research Institutes in the area of genomics, agrobiotechnology and nutraceuticals & pharmaceuticals were developed. To enhance the development of biotechnology in Malaysia, he developed a partnership programme with MIT under the Malaysia MIT Biotechnology Partnership Programme (MMBPP). The objective of MMBPP was to acquire expertise from MIT and utilise natural resources in Malaysia to develop commercialised products. Human Resources Development was also part of the programme.
In June 2003, he joined the Universiti Selangor (UNISEL) as a Senior Professor and was appointed as the Director of the Institute of Bio-IT Selangor. As a Director, he was responsible in the development of biotechnology in Selangor through research and education. One of the research projects was on Green Chemistry, funded by MOSTI. He also developed an international programme known as the International Islamic Academy for Life Sciences and Biotechnology (IAB). IAB aims to promote networking and partnership in S&T in the Islamic World.
He made an outstanding contribution to research in microbiology and biotechnology in Malaysia and will always be remembered as one of ASM’s Foundation Fellows.