Curiosity driven life

STUDENTS

1.Ms Methsala Wedage

Methsala was a B.Sc. (Special) student in Biology who did her 4th year research in 2015.

4th year thesis title – “Nitrogen Fixing Inhabitants of Root Nodules of Two Cover Crops of Rubber; Pueraria phaseoloides (Roxb.) Benth and Mucuna bracteata (L.) DC.“ 

Some News: Methsala is now a Research Assistant, at Centre for Biotechnology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

2. Mrs Lakma Pelpolage

Lakma was a B.Sc. Microbiology Special student who did her research project with me.

4th year thesis title – “Further characterization of root nodule inhabiting nitrogen fixers of Casuarina equisetifolia”

Some News about Lakma – She is a chemist/microbiologist at Nature’s Secrets, one of the premier companies dealing with herbal beauty products in Sri Lanka. Lakma too is an avid expert in Taekwondo.

3. Mrs Uthpala Pushpakumara

Uthpala explored the cyanobionts from Azolla pinnata finding in the process a rare non-nostocales cyanobiont. She is planning to pursue higher studies on symbionts.

4th year thesis title – “Study of the cyanobiont(s) associated with Azolla pinnata and gathering evidences for the presence of dual nitrogenases”

Some News: Uthpala has represented Sri Lanka in table tennis.

4. Ms Isuru Gomes

Isuru worked on Vanadium and Molybdenum dependent nitrogenase genes found in bacteria isolated from paddy soil.

4th year thesis title – “Isolation and Characterization of Molybdenum and Vanadium Dependent Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria from a paddy field”

5. Mrs Erandi Wijesinghe

Erandi worked on cowpea grown in Sri Lanka, where she isolated many likely rhizobial candidates from cowpea root nodules. Erandi now is domiciled in New Zealand where she is pursuing a Masters Degree.

4th year thesis title – “The characterization of probable nitrogen fixers capable of nodule formation in cowpea, Vigna unguiculata.”

6.  Mrs Upekha Lenaduwa

Thesis Title – “A study on the phytoremediation potential of Azolla pinnata under laboratory conditions”

7. Mrs Uthpala Yamasinghe

Thesis Title – Nitrogen fixers from three wild rice species: Oryza nivara, Oryza granulata and Oryza eichingeri. 

8. Mrs Dewumi Gunasekara

Thesis Title – Different actinomycetes isolated from surface sterilized root nodules of Casuarina equisetifolia and effect of different concentrations of cadmium on their growth.

RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

1. Ms Thilakshani Atugoda

Thilakshani was a research assistant on an Azolla project for 6 months. She too is an avid pianist and has a passion for music.

2. Nadeeshani Aberathne

News on Nadeeshani: Nadeeshani worked as a Research Assistant in my lab, for one year, where she helped in the characterization of bacterial cultures, isolated from Pueraria phaseoloides. She is currently pursuing post-graduate studies.