RESEARCH & PUBLICATIONS   Prof. Shalindra Ranasinghe Professor in Parasitology Department of Parasitology Telephone - Office : +94 11 2758679      E-mail : ishalindra@yahoo.com   Present Position Professor in Parasitology, Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka Date of Appointment to the University of Sri Jayewardenepura Jan 14th 2000   Recent Previous Posts 06/2005 - 05/2010 Senior Lecturer Grade II, Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka 05/2010 Senior Lecturer Grade I, same Department & Institution 02/2016 Head, same Department & Institution   Qualifications 1998 MBBS (Second Class Honours), Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka (1992-1998) 2005 M. Phil, Keele University, United Kingdom (2002-2004) Title of the Theses: Chemical and molecular studies on Leishmania manipulation of Lutzomyia longipalpis blood feeding behaviour. 2013 PhD, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka (2010-2013) Title of the Thesis: Molecular detection and sero-prevalence of Leishmania donovani & risk factor analysis in selected areas in Sri Lanka.   Registration in Professional Bodies 2000 Full registration with Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) 2002 Member of the Sri Lanka College of Microbiologists (SLCM) 2010 Member of the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA)   Teaching Activities Undergraduate Medical students (MBBS 3rd year Parasitology stream) Undergraduate BSc Nursing (2nd Year Parasitology module) Undergraduate BSc Medical Laboratory Sciences (1st Year, & 4th Year Parasitology Modules) Undergraduate BSc Human Biology (2nd Year & Final Year Parasitology Modules) Undergraduate BSc Pharmacy (2nd Year Parasitology Module) Postgraduate Diploma in Medical Microbiology & Parasitology (Ad hock) MD in Medical Parasitology (Ad hoc)     DIAGNOSTIC SERVICES Provide conventional and molecular diagnostics for leishmaniasis and other parasitic diseases prevalent in Sri Lanka     CURRENT MAJOR RESEARCH FUNDING Global Challenges Research Fund, Medical Research Council UK (MR/P024661/1); Ranasinghe (Project Manager from Sri Lanka) (PI-Professor Paul M Kaye). 2017-2019 University of Sri Jayewardenepura Research Grant ASP/01/RE/MED/2016/70; Ranasinghe (PI) and two others. Validation of Mobile Suitcase Laboratory; a field based rapid diagnostic test and evaluating the efficacy of different culture media and sample preservation medium for PCR to diagnose cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka.18/05/2016-17/05/2019     COMPLETED MAJOR FUNDING University of Sri Jayewardenepura Research Grant ASP/01/RE/MED/2015/45: Ranasinghe (PI) and two others; Prevalence of anti-Leishmania antibodies among patients in a Renal-Unit in a cutaneous leishmaniasis endemic area in Sri Lanka.; 01/05/2017; SLR 884, 772.75 University of Sri Jayewardenepura Research Grant ASP/06/RE/MED/2012/30. Ranasinghe (PI) and two others. Analysis of internal transcribed spaced (ITS) sequence of RNA gene and partial sequence of 6phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGDH) gene of Leishmania DNA isolated from selected Sri Lankan patients with leishmaniasis.2012-2015. SLR: 213,150.00 National Research Council of Sri Lanka NRC-09-24. Wickremasinghe R (PI) & Ranasinghe PhD Student. Detection of Leishmania donovani in clinical samples using DNA based techniques in Sri Lanka. 2010-2013. SLR 2,965,800.00 University of Sri Jayewardenepura Research Grant ASP/06/RE/2008/03. Ranasinghe (PI). A study to assess the prevalence of sandflies in diagnosed cutaneous leishmaniasis patients' habitats. 2008-2010.     WORK OF SPECIAL INTEREST Isolation of the visceral leishmaniasis causing strain in Sri Lanka for the first time and obtaining the opportunity to name it as MHOM/LK/2010/OVN3; Ranasinghe (PI).     ORATIONS Ranasinghe S 2015. Characterization & genotyping of visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis causing strains in Sri Lanka and epidemiological findings. Annual Scientific Sessions of Faculty of Medical Sciences.     CONTRIBUTION TO DEVELOP NEW CENTRES Development of the Molecular Biology laboratory in the Department of Parasitology and obtaining the recognition from the Ministry of Health Sri Lanka as one of the two Leishmaniasis diagnostic centers in the country. Development of a Radio Frequency Thermotherapy Unit at Teaching Hospital Colombo South in Collaboration with the College of Dermatologist in Sri Lanka.     SPECIAL WORKSHOPS ORGANIZED & CONDUCTED Shalindra Ranasinghe (Co-Chair) and Alison Layton (Co-Chair; Consultant Dermatologist, Consultant Dermatologist, Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer Hull and York Medical School); A clinical score for cutaneous lesions of Leishmaniases" 9th March 2018. Ranasinghe S (Co-Chalir), Abd Ahemd Alwahed (Co-Chair: University of Gottengen, Germany) & Prof. Aresha Manamperi (University of Kelaniya). Tchnology Transfer workshop 22-28 March 2018. Introduction of Recombinase Polymerase Amplification Assay Based Mobile Suitcase Laboratory to Sri Lanka through Diagnosis of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Introduction of Recombinase Polymerase Amplification Assay Based Mobile Suitcase Laboratory to Sri Lanka through Diagnosis of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis; Funding: National Science Foundation Sri Lanka. Shalindra Ranasinghe (Co-Chair) and Omar Harb (Co-Chair; EuPathDB); "EuPathDB usage" distance learning workshop 8-10 September 2015, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Lanka; Funding: National Science Foundation Sri Lanka     SYMPOSIUM LECTURES ON LEISHMANIASIS Symposium Lecture: conducted on "Laboratory diagnosis of leishmaniasis" Symposium organized by the Communicable Disease Committee of the Sri Lanka Medical Association 22nd Nov 2013. Symposium Lecture: Emerging infections-Leishmaniasis. Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Annual Scientific Sessions 2010.     INVITED FOREIGN LECTURES "Treatment protocols and treatment practice of leishmaniasis - a Sri Lankan perspective". At Leishmaniasis modelling & economics: towards a future research. October16/17 2017. "Current status of Sri Lankan leishmaniasis". At Mini Symposium on Host Parasite Relationship,Under INDO-TRIT Networking project in the frame of the Indo-Belgian Research and Technology Cooperation at Floatel, Kolkata(organized by CSIR-IICB)     POSTGRADUATE AWARDS Presidential Award for scientific publications in 2008 National Research Council of Sri Lanka Merit Award for scientific publications in 2012 Presidential Award for scientific publications in 2013 Presidential Award for scientific publications in 2014 Research Award University of Sri Jayewardenepura for scientific publications 2014 Presidential Award for scientific publications in 2015     NETWORK MEMBERS LeishPathNet : LeishPathNet Team member. https://leishpathnet.org/about/ VALIDATE member: https://www.validate-network.org/people/shalindra-ranasinghe     INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS 2008- 2013 Distance learning PhD student (2010-2013) under the supervision of Dr. Rhayza, Maingon, Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology, Keele University, United Kingdom. 2010-2015 Distance learning PhD student (2010-2013) under the supervision of Professor Greg Matlashewski, Centre for Host-Parasite interactions, McGill University, Canada. 2015 Co-Chair and organizer of distance learning EuPathDB bioinformatics workshop in Sri Lanka in Collaboration with Dr. Omar Harb, Director of Education & Scientific Outreach, Eukaryotic Pathogen Database Resource Center, Penn Center for Bioinformatics, USA. 2016 Visiting Research Associate, Centre for Immunology and Infection, Hull York Medical School, United Kingdom. Work in collaboration with Prof. Paul Kaye Professor of Immunology, Centre for Immunology and Infection. 2016 Dr. Ahmed Abd El Wahed Head of Virology Laboratory, Division of Microbiology and Animal Hygiene, University of Goettingen, Germany. Title of the project: Validation of Mobile Suitcase Laboratory; a field based rapid diagnostic test and evaluating the efficacy of different culture media and sample preservation medium for PCR to diagnose cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka. 2017 Professor Paul Kaye, Centre for Immunology and Infection, Hull York University, UK. Title of the project: Towards a global research network for the molecular pathological stratification of leishmaniasis. 2017 Dr. Jyotsna Shah & Professor Ranjan Ramasamy. IDFISH Technology, USA. Title of the project: Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) Assay to diagnose cutaneous leishmaniasis due to Leishmania donovani in Sri Lanka 2018 International Center for Diarrheal Diseases Research Bangladesh, Rajendra Institute of Research of Medical Sciences, BP Kiorala Institute of Health Sciences, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and PATH. Title of the project: A multi-country, single-blinded, phase 2 study to evaluate a point-of-need system for rapid detection of leishmaniasis and its implementation in endemic settings     SPECIAL TRAINING OBTAINED "Working with the parasite data base resources 2014", Cambridge, UK. Wellcome Trust and National Science Foundation Sri Lanka, Participation and Travel Grant Worldleish5 international conference 2013, Brazil. Worldleish5, Participation and Travel Grant Theoretical and Practical Course on "Molecular Biology of Leishmania 2012" ICGEB, Trieste, Italy. ICGEB and National Science Foundation Sri Lanka, Participation and Travel Grant "Taxonomy of Phlebotomus sandflies" 2009. Department of Entomology, Medical Research Institute, Sri Lanka. WHO sponsored participation and training     SUPERVISION High Resolution Phenotyping of the Healing Process of Sri Lankan Cutaneous Leishmaniasis MD Thesis (2016-) (Ranasinghe S –Principal Supervisor & Project manager of Sri Lanka of MRC-GCRF grant). Validation of Mobile Suitcase Laboratory; a field based rapid diagnostic test and evaluating the efficacy of different culture media and sample preservation medium for PCR to diagnose cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka. M.Phil (01.01.2017-) (Ranasinghe S Principal Supervisor). Detection of Leishmania antigen in cutaneous leishmaniasis skin lesions using a rapid diagnostic test kit (2014-2015) MSc in Parasitology (Completed) (Ranasinghe S Principal Supervisor). Prevalence of anti-Leishmania antibodies among patients in a renal unit in a cutanoeus leishmaniasis endemic area in Sri Lanka (2014-2015). MSc in Parasitology (Completed) (Ranasinghe S Principal Supervisor).     COMMITTEE MEMBER OF EXTERNAL INSTITUTIONS Member of the Infectious Diseases Committee, Sri Lanka Medical Association (2014-. Chairperson of the Technical Evaluation Committee, Equipment Purchase Grant, Molecular Biology Laboratory, Aniti-Filariasis Campaign, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka (2015). Leishmaniasis research project evaluator, National Research Council of Sri Lanka (2015-) (Ad hoc)     COMMITTEE MEMBER WITHIN THE INSTITUTION Member of the Technical Evaluation Committee of World Class University Grant, University of Sri Jayewardenepura (2013 - ). Member of the Research and Scientific Publication Committee, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura (2014 - ). Co-Chair of the organizing Committee of "EuPathDB usage" distance learning Bioinformatics workshop (8-10, September 2015) conducted at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.     INTERNATIONAL REVIEWER PLoS NTD – Ad hoc     SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS (Google Scholar h-index 6, citations 143) De Silva G, Somaratne V, Senaratne S, Vipuladasa M, Wickremasinghe R, Wickremasinghe R, Ranasinghe S. Efficacy of a new rapid diagnostic test kit to diagnose Sri Lankan cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania donovani. PLoS One. 12:e0187024. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187024. Ranasinghe S, Wickremasinghe R, Hulangamuwa S, Sirimanna G, Opathell N, Maingon RDC, Chandrasekharan V 2015. Polymerase chain reaction detection of Leishmania DNA in skin biopsy samples in Sri Lanka where the causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis is Leishmania donovani. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 110:1017-23. McCall LI, Zhang WW, Dejgaard K, Atayde VD, Mazur A, Ranasinghe S, Liu J, Olivier M, Nilsson T, Matlashewski G 2015. Adaptation of Leishmania donovani to Cutaneous and Visceral Environments: in Vivo Selection and Proteomic Analysis. J Proteome Res. 14:1033-59. Zhang WW, Ramasamy G, McCall LI, Haydock A, Ranasinghe S, Abeygunasekara P, Sirimanna G, Wickremasinghe R, Myler P, Matlashewski G 2014. Genetic analysis of Leishmania donovani tropism using a naturally attenuated cutaneous strain. PLoSPathog. 10:e1004244. Ranasinghe S, Wickremasinghe R, Munasinghe A, Hulangamuwa S, Sivanantharajah S, Seneviratne K, Bandara S, Athauda I, Navaratne C, Silva O, Wackwella H, Matlashewski G, Wickremasinghe R 2013. Cross-Sectional Study to Assess Risk Factors for Leishmaniasis in an Endemic Region in Sri Lanka. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 89:742-49. McCall LI, Zhang WW, Ranasinghe S, Matlashewski G 2013. Leishmanization revisited: Immunization with a naturally attenuated cutaneous Leishmania donovani isolate from Sri Lanka protects against visceral leishmaniasis. Vaccine. 31:1420-25. Ranasinghe S, Zhang WW, Wickremasinghe R, Abeygunasekera P, Chandrasekharan V, Athauda S, Mendis S, Hulangamuwa S, Matlashewski G, Pratlong F 2012. Leishmania donovani zymodeme MON-37 isolated from an autochthonous visceral leishmaniasis patient in Sri Lanka. Pathog Glob Health. 106: 421-24. Ranasinghe S, Maingon RD, Bray DP, Ward RD, Udagedara C, Dissanayake M, Jayasuriya V, de Silva NK 2012. A morphologically distinct Phlebotomus argentipes population from active cutaneous leishmaniasis foci in central Sri Lanka. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 107: 402-09. Ranasinghe PHKIS, Abeygunasekera PH, Athauda SB, Chandrasekharan NV, Mendis AVS, Hulangamuwa CS, Wickremasinghe DR 2011. First successful in vitro culture of Leishmania sp. causing autochthonous visceral leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka. Ceylon Med J. 56: 179-80.     GUIDELINES PREPARATION Sirimanna GMP, Seneviratne JKK, Samaraweera ESN, Ranawaka RR, Hulangamuwa CS, de Silva VNH, Madarasinghe NP, Ranasinghe S, Silva KKMBK, Chandrawansa PH, Ariyawansa DS 2013. Guidelines on management of leishmaniasis. Sri Lanka College of Dermatologists. ISBN 978-955-0326-02-0     COMMUNICATIONS Menike C, Wickremasinghe R, Dassanayake R, Dassanayake J, Kahatapitiya S, Wijesiriwardene I, De Alwis I, Ranasinghe S 2017. Prevalence of leishmaniasis among patients in a renal unit in an area where cutaneous leishmaniasis and chronic kidney disease overlap in Sri Lanka. 6th World Congress on Leishmaniasis, Toledo. De Silva G, Wickremasinghe R, Somaratne V, Senaratne S, Vipuladasa M, Ranasinghe S 2017. Validation of an antigen detection rapid diagnostic test kit to diagnose sri lankan cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania donovani. 6th World Congress on Leishmaniasis, Toledo Ranasinghe S, Hulangamuwa S, Opathella N, Wickremasinghe R, Chandrasekharan V 2015. Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) of the Internal Transcribed Spacer 1 (ITS1) region of cutaneous leishmaniasis causing Leishmania donovani in Sri Lanka. Proceedings of Annual Scientific Sessions of Faculty of Medical Sciences. 2: O- 4. de Silva G, Somaratne V, Senaratne S, Vipuladasa M, Premachandra J, Munasinghe H, Munasinghe C, Ranasinghe S, Wickremasinghe R 2015. Use of a rapid diagnostic test to detect cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka. Proceedings of Annual Scientific Sessions of Faculty of Medical Sciences. 2: P-11. Peduru Shalindra Ranasinghe, Rajitha Wickremasinghe, Asoka Munasinghe, Sanjeeva Hulangamuwa, Kamal Seneviratne, Samantha Bandara, Indira Athauda, Chaturi Navaratne, Ositha Silva, Hasini Wackwella, Greg Matlashewski, Renu Wickremasinghe 2013. Early pattern of rk39 sero-prevalence in a cutaneous leishmaniasis endemic area in Sri Lanka. The fifth world congress on leishmaniasis - Worldleish5. P- 670. Peter J Myler, Gowthaman Ramasamy, Maowia Mukhtar, Greg Matlashewski, Wen Wei Zhang, Shalindra Ranasinghe, and Carlos Costa 2013. Comparative genomics of Leishmania isolates from Africa, Asia and South America. 5th International congress on leishmaniasis- WorldLeish5. O- 349. Laura-Isobel McCall, Wen-wei Zhang, Shanlindra Ranasinghe, Greg Matlashewski (2013). Live immunization against visceral leishmaniasis: immunization with a naturally attenuated cutaneous Leishmania donovani isolate from Sri Lanka protects against visceral disease. The fifth world congress on leishmaniasis - Worldleish 5 O-155. Shalindra Ranasinghe, Rajitha Wickremasinghe, Asoka Munasinghe, Sanjeeva Hulangamuwa, Kamal Seneviratne, Samantha Bandara, Indira Athauda, Chaturi Navaratne, Ositha Silva, Hasini Wackwella, Greg Matlashewski, Renu Wickremasinghe 2012. A cross sectional study to assess the socio-demographic risk factors for transmission of leishmaniasis in an endemic region of Sri Lanka. Theoretical and Practical Course on "Molecular Biology of Leishmania" ICGEB, Trieste, Italy. P-17. Shalindra Ranasinghe, Sanjeeva Hulangamuwa, Rhayza Maingon, Opatha Nandimitra, Renu Wickremasinghe, Vishvanath Chandrasekharan 2012. Detection of Leishmania DNA in skin biopsy samples using DNA based methods in Sri Lanka. Theoretical and Practical Course on "Molecular Biology of Leishmania" ICGEB, Trieste, Italy. O-11. PHKIS Ranasinghe, JGC Hamilton, ME Rogers, PA Bates, RDC Maingon 2005. A real-time PCR assay to quantify Leishmania within sandflies. 5th International Symposium on Phlebotomine sandflies. O-33. Ranasinghe S, Maingon R, Hamilton JGC, Ward RD 2003. Development of a highly sensitive real-time polymerase chain reaction as a tool for quantifying Leishmania in sandflies. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 6: 630.