Dr Rakesh Tuli started his career as a Scientist at Bhabha Atomic Research Institute in Bombay in 1976 and retired as Director, first from CSIR- National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow and then from DBT- National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali. During these tenures he also functioned as the Director of Central Drug Research Institute at Lucknow and Bioprocessing Unit at Mohali. After his superannuation from NABI, Dr Tuli was invited by Panjab University, Chandigarh to join as Senior Research Advisor at University Institute of Engineering Technology, Chandigarh. He promoted the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the area of Design Engineering. He was at Panjab University as JC Bose National Fellow till 2021 and developed a good team of faculty and students for startups and bio designing.

Dr Tuli is one of the first generation scientists to establish biotechnology research in the country. He is known for the designing and development of novel genes, expression systems and GM plants for applications in agriculture. Varieties of cotton crop developed for resistance to bollworms by his team are currently under development by seed companies in the country.