Muntaser Eltayeb Ibrahim

Muntaser Eltayeb Ibrahim (, born June 17, 1957) is a Sudanese geneticist and professor of molecular biology at the University of Khartoum, where he leads its Institute of Endemic Diseases. Science described him as "one of Sudan's most distinguished living scholars". and co-founded the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences (SNAS). He received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1980 from Zagazig University in Egypt. He subsequently earned a postgraduate diploma in Medical Entomology and Parasitology from Cairo University in 1982 and a Masters of Science in Zoology from the University of Khartoum in 1987. In 1994, he graduated with a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Copenhagen. as well as the role of diseases in shaping human genetics. He has studied the impact of genetics on susceptibility to diseases including malaria and leishmaniasis. He has also studied the genetics of cancer, including leading a study showing an association between Epstein–Barr virus infection and breast cancer in Sudan.

Awards

Ibrahim won the C. N. R. Rao Prize for Scientific Research in 2014. The award was presented to Ibrahim for his "fundamental contribution to our understanding of the role of human genetic variation and population structure in disease susceptibility."

2019 protests and imprisonment

After participating in non-violent protests advocating for political change in Sudan, Ibrahim was arrested and released twice in January 2019. Along with other academics, Ibrahim drafted a proposal for reforms to help resolve the political crisis in Sudan. Ibrahim was subsequently detained on February 21, 2019, and imprisoned for more than a month. Multiple groups, including Sudanese academics, the African Society of Human Genetics, the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies, the Committee of Concerned Scientists, and Ibrahim's international colleagues, called for his release. Ibrahim was freed along with other political prisoners following the 2019 Sudanese coup d'état.