Center for plant materials and herbal product research

Our center

The field of plant materials and herbal products related research has been recognized by the Sri Lankan government as an area for future investment and growth. The University of Sri Jayewardenepura, identifying the need for enhanced attention in harnessing the potential of readily available indigenous knowledge and herbal resources towards research and development on plant material and herbal products, has established the Centre for Plant Materials and Herbal Products Research in October 2017 by Prof. Chayanika Padumadasa as the founding director under the patronage of the Vice-chancellor Prof. Sampath Amaratunge and the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Professor Sudantha Liyanage at the Faculty of Applied Sciences.

Website Link – https://cpmhpr.sjp.ac.lk

Objectives of the Centre

To strengthen research to enhance the quality of the intellectual property pool through high-quality publications, intellectual properties and technology transfer.
To facilitate the move of important findings and innovations from the bench to the market to contribute to the economic development of the country.
To facilitate collaborations with national and international research institutes/organizations to achieve global research standards. To increase the postgraduate output efficiency to strengthen post-graduate studies on herbal products.
To offer consultancy services to public and private sector institutions at the national and international levels.
To facilitate the development of cosmeceuticals, nutraceuticals, functional foods and herbal medicines.
To disseminate knowledge on plant and herbal materials.

Research Fields

Centre for Plant Materials and Herbal Products Research is currently involved in trending research areas in science including natural products, plant secondary metabolites, and drug discovery based on herbal products mainly focusing on their biochemical aspect. For the drug discovery related research, we use bioinformatics based predictive approach in drug target identification and Caenorhabditis elegans as animal model. Apart from these, we are interested in myco-chemicals, mushrooms, and plant endophytes.

5Natural products
Plant secondary metabolites
Drug discovery
Biochemistry
Caenorhabditis elegans animal models
Mycology and Mushrooms
Bioinformatics in drug targets
Genetics and Molecular Biology

Research Focus

Chemistry and biological activity studies of medicinal plants.
Development of cosmeceuticals, nutraceuticals, functional foods and herbal medicines.
Taxonomy and identification of unexploited medicinal plants and herbs.
Scientific validation of herbal preparations.
Chemotaxonomic studies of plant materials.
Collection of ethnopharmacological knowledge on medicinal plants.0

Research Team

Dr. Helani Munasinghe
Director
(Senior Lecturer, Department of Botany, Faculty of Applied Sciences
Email: director.cpmhpr@sci.sjp.ac.lk
helani@sci.sjp.ac.lk

Address

Dr. D.H.H Munasinghe
Director
Centre for Plant Materials and Herbal Products Research
Faculty of Applied sciences
University of Sri Jayewardenepura
Gangodawila, Nugegoda (10250)
Sri Lanka

Biography
Dr. D.H.H. Munasinghe is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and her research centers on Molecular Biology focusing on food and drug safety and aging, using Caenorhabditis elegans as the model organism. She has obtained her BSc (Hons) Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2001, MSc in Marine Biotechnology from Cheju National University, South Korea in 2004, and PhD from the University of Birmingham, UK in 2015. She has received BRAIN KOREA 21 project scholarship in 2002, Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) fellowship in 2003, Commonwealth Scholarship, UK in 2007 and Associate of the Higher Education Academy, UK (46539) in 2011. She has been working as a Senior Lecturer attached to the Department of Botany, University of Sri Jayewardenepura since 2006.

Mr. Aravinda Siriwardhene
Secretary
(Senior Lecturer, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences)
Email: aravindasjp@gmail.com0

Prof. Chayanika Padumadasa
Committee member
(Professor, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Sciences)
Email: chayanika@sjp.ac.lk

Dr. Chinthika Gunasekara
Committee member
(Senior Lecturer, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences)

Email: chinthika@sjp.ac.lk

Prof. Sugandhika Suresh
Committee Member
(Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medical Sciences)Email: sugandhika@sjp.ac.lk

Prof. S.B. Navarathna
Committee member
(Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Applied Sciences)
Email: sbnava@sci.sjp.ac.lk08

Dr. Isurika Fernando
Committee member
(Senior Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Sciences)Email: isurika.fernando@sjp.ac.lk