Dr. Kaveesha J. Wijesinghe
Position: Senior Lecturer
kwijesin@med.sab.ac.lk
Qualifications
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Cambridge University, UK (2018-2019)
PhD in Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, USA (2013-2018)
B.Sc. (special) Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (First Class), University of Colombo, Sri Lanka (2008-2012)
Research Interests
Molecular virology and pathogenesis of Dengue virus infection, Bio-imaging
Research Grants/Research Awards
Research Grants
UNESCO/The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) research grant (2020-2022)
Fellowships
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Ruth L. Kirschtein National Research Service Award from the Chemistry-Biochemistry-Biology Interface (CBBI) Program at the University of Notre Dame (2015-2017)
Awards
• ASBMB 2017 Graduate/Postdoctoral Conference Travel Award (ASBMB- Experimental Biology-2017)
• Travel award from Graduate Student Union- Conference Presentation Grant (GSU CPG) of University of Notre Dame-2017
Research Grants
UNESCO/The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) research grant (2020-2022)
Fellowships
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Ruth L. Kirschtein National Research Service Award from the Chemistry-Biochemistry-Biology Interface (CBBI) Program at the University of Notre Dame (2015-2017)
Awards
• ASBMB 2017 Graduate/Postdoctoral Conference Travel Award (ASBMB- Experimental Biology-2017)
• Travel award from Graduate Student Union- Conference Presentation Grant (GSU CPG) of University of Notre Dame-2017
Research Publication in Indexed Journals
- Wijesinghe, K. J. and Stahelin, R. V., 2016. Investigation of the Lipid Binding Properties of the Marburg Virus Matrix Protein VP40. Journal of virology, 90 (6), pp.3074-3085.
- Wijesinghe, K. J., et al., 2017. Detection of Lipid Induced Structural Changes of the Marburg Virus Matrix Protein VP40 Using Hydrogen/Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry. Journal of Biological Chemistry, pp.jbc-M116.
- Wijesinghe, K.J., McVeigh, L., Husby, M.L., Bhattarai, N., Ma, J., Gerstman, B.S., Chapagain, P.P. and Stahelin, R.V., 2020. Mutation of Hydrophobic Residues in the C-Terminal Domain of the Marburg Virus Matrix Protein VP40 Disrupts Trafficking to the Plasma Membrane. Viruses, 12(4), p.482.
- Abeywickrama, C.S.*, Wijesinghe, K.J.*, Stahelin, R.V. and Pang, Y., 2019. Lysosome imaging in cancer cells by pyrene-benzothiazolium dyes: An alternative imaging approach for LAMP-1 expression based visualization methods to avoid background interference. Bioorganic chemistry, 91, p.103144. *co-first authors
- Oda, S.I., Noda, T., Wijesinghe, K.J., Halfmann, P., Bornholdt, Z.A., Abelson, D.M., Armbrust, T., Stahelin, R.V., Kawaoka, Y. and Saphire, E.O., 2016 Crystal Structure of Marburg Virus VP40 Reveals a Board Basic Patch for Matrix Assembly and a Requirement of the N-Terminal Domain for Immunosuppression. Journal of virology, 90(4), pp.1839-1848.
- Abeywickrama, C.S., Wijesinghe, K.J., Stahelin, R.V. and Oang, Y., 2017. Bright red-emitting pyrene derivatives with a large Strokes shift for nucleus staining. Chemical Communications, 53, pp.5886-5889.
- Ahn, G., Kim, H., Kim, D.H., Hanh, N.H., Yoon, Y., Singaram, I., Wijesinghe, K.J., Jhonson, K.A., Zhuang, X.H., Liang, Z. and Stahelin, R.V., 2017. SH3P2 plays a crucial role at the step of membrane tubulation during cell plate formation in plants. The Plant Cell, 29(6), pp.1388-1405.
- Abeywickrama, C.S., Wijesinghe, K.J., Stahelin, R.V. and Pang, Y., 2019. Bright red-emitting highly reliable styryl probe with large stokes shift for visualizing mitochondria in live cells under wash-free conditions. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 285, pp.76-83.
- Abeywickrama, C.S., Wijesinghe, K.J., Stahelin, R.V. and Pang, Y., 2019. Red-emitting pyrene–benzothiazolium: unexpected selectivity to lysosomes for real-time cell imaging without alkalinizing effect. Chemical communications, 55(24), pp.3469-3472.
- Abeywickrama, C.S., Wijesinghe, K.J., Plescia, C.B., Fisher, L.S., Goodson III, T., Stahelin, R.V. and Pang, Y., 2020. A pyrene-based two-photon excitable fluorescent probe to visualize nuclei in live cells. Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences.
- Wickramatunga, P. G. T. S., Gunawardene, Y. I. N. S., Wijesinghe, K. J., Ellepola, A. N. B., & Dassanayake, R. S. (2020). RNAi-mediated silencing of ARV1 in Setaria digitata impairs in-vitro microfilariae release, embryogenesis and adult parasite viability. Veterinary Parasitology, 284.