Vinusha Wickramasinghe

 

Graduate research assistant

Google scholar

 

Vinusha is originally from Kalutara, Sri Lanka, where she grew up surrounded by rice fields. She graduated from the University of Colombo with a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, and her undergraduate research thesis was about the identification and characterization of a salt-tolerant gene promoter in Arabidopsis thaliana, under Dr. Hettiarachchi. After graduating, she earned a teaching assistantship in the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Colombo. She volunteered for a research study led by Dr. Weerasinghe on molecular modeling and drug design, while volunteering in a biochemistry lab at Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, Colombo, both of which she considered invaluable service opportunities.

 

Later, Vinusha joined the Welti lab at Kansas State as a Ph.D. student in the Division of Biology. Vinusha is curious about the plant molecular world, primarily regarding how molecules affect each other and are interdependent. She is passionate about triacylglycerols, which are major storage lipids and abundant in seeds. She utilizes a Sciex 6500+ mass spectrometer in her current project, which aims to identify genes that correspond to lipid level changes in plants. She is passionate about incorporating technological advances into scientific studies so that research can be approached from many angles and across disciplines.

 

Vinusha believes in giving back to society. Hence, she is involved in diverse communities, including the Graduate School at Kansas State, the American Society of Plant Biologists, and Females in Mass Spectrometry. She loves taking care of her indoor plants, working out, and playing guzheng as time permits.