Research Interests

• • Main research interest is on light and abiotic stress signaling pathway and development of transgenic plants.   During my postdoctoral research, I studied a group of Arabidopsis proteins (STO, STH, STH2 & STH3) that were identified through their interactions with two key regulators of light signaling, COP1 and HY5. Also, the research conducted with sth2 mutants to test their involvement in other abiotic stresses (salinity, drought) showed,  STH2 gene is hypersensitivity to Abscisic acid (ABA), a drought and salt stress regulating hormone, and to NaCl in germination and root growth assay. Furthermore, the expression of several key regulators of ABA signaling was altered in the sth2 mutant indicating that the STH2 gene plays an important role in response to drought and salinity. Hence, it is worth to apply the  knowledge gained from  Arabidopsis on rice to develop drought and salinity  tolerance Sri Lankan rice varieties. The research is on going. Also I conduct research in
  • Production of recombinant industrial enzymes
  • Screening of medicinal plants and marine sponges to check their potential bioactive compounds to develop antimicrobial, anticancer and anti-inflammatory drugs (This project is conducted in collaboration with Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Uppsala University, Sweden)
  • Investigation of the possibility of using FITC-doped silica nanoparticles as a biosensor for bacterial detection

Research Experience

Visiting Scientist – Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Uppsala University (2014 to date)

Guest Researcher – Department of Plant & Environmental Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, Feb 2011 – Feb 2012

 Post doctoral fellow – Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, June 2004 – May 2006