Ismayil Zulfugarov, a well-known scientist, the head of the Proteomics International Laboratory of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies of the Ministry of Science and Education, a research professor at South Korea's Pusan National University for 17 years, and a doctor of philosophy in biology, died in the 65th year of his life. Ismayil Zulfugarov was born on January 16, 1959, in the Talistan village of the Ismayilli district into the family of an intellectual. He studied at a Talistan village secondary school in 1965-1975, and at the Faculty of Biology of Azerbaijan (now Baku) State University in 1976-1981. After graduating from the university, he was assigned to the Institute of Botany of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences, where he rose from the position of senior laboratory assistant to the position of a leading researcher. In 1988, he defended his dissertation on "Spectral characterization and orientation of native forms of pigments in pigment-protein complexes" in the specialty of Biophysics in the specialized council of Tbilisi State University. Ismayil Zulfugarov was recognized as a leading specialist in the biophysics, physiology, and biochemistry of the photosynthesis process in plants. He conducted scientific research in the direction of elucidating the mechanism of non-photochemical extinction of chlorophyll fluorescence in higher plants, studying the molecular basis of photosynthetic apparatus adaptation to extreme factors. From 2008 to 2020, he worked as a research professor at the Pusan State University of the Republic of South Korea. At the same time, he lectured at the North-Eastern Federal University located in the Yakutsk region of the Russian Federation. From 2016 until the end of his life, Ismayil Zulfugarov headed the Proteomics International Laboratory of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies of MSE AR. He worked as a member of the Seminar Council of the ED 1.25 Dissertation Council operating at the institute and was the vice-chairman of the UNESCO Azerbaijan National Committee on Ethics of Bioethics, Science, and Technologies.

The scientist was a member of the editorial board of several international journals. I. Zulfugarov has repeatedly delivered scientific reports at local and foreign scientific congresses, conferences, and symposia. He successfully represented Azerbaijan at the events of the European Union and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Ismayil Zulfugarov is the author of more than 140 scientific works. Under his guidance, 1 PhD and 2 master dissertations were successfully defended. Two PhD dissertations were prepared for defense.

The memory of the famous biologist-scientist Ismayil Zulfugarov will always live in the hearts of those who knew him.

Rest in peace!