About me

I completed my Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree at the University Of Sri Jayewardenepura (Sri Lanka). Since then, Genetics and how the environmental factors can influence genetics has always been an exciting area that I have found fascinating. Thus, I have undertaken my Ph.D. project under the supervision of Prof Brian Oliver and Dr. Alen Faiz, looking at the genetic and epigenetic influences mainly in respiratory diseases.

My Project

My project is focusing on one of the major noncommunicable respiratory diseases, which is known as Chronic obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Even though cigarette smoke is one of the major contributing factors in the progression of COPD, only a subset of smokers develops COPD. That indicates the influence of genetics on cigarette smoke susceptibility and disease development. Previous studies found that lung inflammation remains in COPD smokers even after they quit smoking, suggesting the epigenetic effects of smoking.

 In my project, I am looking at the genetic and epigenetic drivers of cigarette smoke susceptibility in COPD through both bioinformatics and CRISPR genome editing based in-vitro approaches. The integration of epigenetics and genetic factors will give better insight into the heterogeneity of the disease, which helps to improve the existing disease diagnostic strategies to smoke associated COPD by giving new molecular targets and perception to personalized and precise medicine.