Dr. Jagath Kasturiarachchi

Senior Lecturer (Higher Grade)

Faculty of Humanities & Sciences | Department of Education

Career Summary

Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Science (09/2021 to 11/2021) CINEC campus, Malabe, Sri Lanka.

Senior Scientist (01/2021 to 03/2021) Adaptimmune, Oxford, UK.

Senior Scientist (11/2017 to 12/2020) Oxford Gene Technology, Oxford, UK.

Senior Research Technician (03/2015 to 09/2017) Cancer Institute, University College London, UK.

Research Assistant (06/2009-09/2010) Queens Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh, UK.

Research Technician (04/2006-01/2009) Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, UK. (Absynth Biologics)

Demonstrator (06/2005-02/2006) University of Hertfordshire, UK.

Research Assistant (03/2002-08/2003) University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.

Demonstrator (03/2001-01/2002) University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

PhD in Molecular Microbiology, University of Edinburgh, UK.

MSc in Molecular Biology, University of Hertfordshire, UK.

BSc Honours in Plant Science, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

HONOURS AND AWARDS

Edinburgh Global Overseas Research Scholarship for PhD (2010-2014) from the University of Edinburgh.
Presidential Scholarship for Postgraduate Studies in the UK (2003-2005) from the government of Sri Lanka.

Research Interests and Memberships

Research Interests

Plant natural products and their health benefits.

To understand the fundamentals of Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases.

Memberships

Ongoing Research

My Publications

Journal Publications

Jayaweera, Mahesh W., Kasturiarachchi, J C., Kularatne, Ranil K.A. and Wijeyekoon, Suren L.J. " Removal of Aluminium by constructed wetlands with water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms) grown under different nutritional conditions " Journal of Environmental Science and Health, vol.42, Issue 2, 2007, pp.185-193,
Jayaweera, Mahesh W., Kasturiarachchi, J C., Kularatne, Ranil K.A. and Wijeyekoon, Suren L.J. " Contribution of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms) grown under different nutrient conditions to Fe-removal mechanisms in constructed wetlands. " Journal of Environmental Science and Health, vol.87, Issue 3, 2008, pp.450-460,
Kularatne, Ranil K. A., Kasturiarachchi, J. C., Manatunge, Jagath M. A. and Wijeyekoon, Suren L. J. " Mechanisms of Manganese Removal from Wastewaters in Constructed Wetlands Comprising Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms) Grown under Different Nutrient Conditions. " Journal of Environmental Science and Health, vol.81, Issue 2, 2009, pp.165-172.,
Steele, V.R., Bottomley, A. L., Garcia-Lara, J., Kasturiarachchi, J. C. and Foster, S. J. " Multiple essential roles for EzrA in cell division of Staphylococcus aureus. " Molecular Microbiology. , vol.80, Issue 2, 2011, pp.542�555.,
Garcia-Lara, J., Weihs, F., Ma, X., Walker, L., Chaudhuri, R.R., Kasturiarachchi, J.C., Crossley, H., Golestanian, R. and Foster, S.J. " A supramolecular structure in the membrane of Staphylococcus aureus. " PNAS., vol.112, Issue 51, 2015, pp.15725-15730.,
Marshall, A., Kasturiarachchi, J., Datta, P. et al. Mi " Mir142 loss unlocks IDH2R140?dependent leukemogenesis through antagonistic regulation of HOX genes " scientific reports, vol.10, 2020, pp.19390,
Luke B. Roberts, Geraldine M. Jowett, Emily Read, Tomas Zabinski, Rita Berkachy, Murray E. Selkirk, Ian Jackson, Umar Niazi, Nelomi Anandagoda, Masatake Araki, Kimi Araki, Jagath Kasturiarachchi, Chela James, Tariq Enver, Rachael Nimmo, Rita Reis, Jane K. Howard, Joana F. Neves, and Graham M. Lord " MicroRNA-142 Critically Regulates Group 2 Innate Lymphoid Cell Homeostasis and Function " The Journal of Immunology, vol.10, 2021, pp.4049,
Jayaweera, M.W. and Kasturiarachchi, J.C. " Removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from industrial wastewaters by phytoremediation using water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms). " Water Science and Technology, vol.50, 2004, pp.217-225,

Conference Presentations

Garcia-Lara J., Kasturiarachchi J.C., Crossley H.C. and Foster S.J. " plsY: a novel essential gene, a novel essential function. Staphylococcal diseases. Presentation, at Gordon Research Conferences, Les Diablerets Conference Centre, Les Diablerets, Switzerland., 2007
Bottomley A., Fairclough V., Kasturiarachchi J.C. and Foster S.J. " Identification and characterisation of the cell division machinery in Staphylococcus aureus. Presentation, at EMBO Workshop, Frontiers of prokaryotic cell biology, Oxford, United Kingdom., 2009
Kasturiarachchi J.C., Kevin Dhaliwal., Haslett Chris and Mark Bradley. " Aptamer derived optical molecular probes to detect staphylococcal infection. Presentation, at World Molecular Imaging Congress. September 7-10, 2011. San Diego, California, USA. , 2011