Sujani Rathnayake

Reliable individual with skills and experience as Laboratory Technician. Smart and committed to job well done and offering exceptional drive.

• Used Microsoft Excel to develop inventory tracking spreadsheets.
• Achieved [Result] by completing [Task] with accuracy and efficiency.
• Achieved [Result] through effectively helping with [Task].
• Rathnayake, R.M.S.K., Karunarathne, S.I., Ranaweera, L.T., Rathnayake, P.G.R.G. and Sooriyapathirana, S.D.S.S. (2020). Battling against Brown Planthopper in Rice: Genomic Selection in Backcross Breeding to Produce Resistant Cultivars-A Review. Sri Lankan Journal of Agriculture and Ecosystems, 2(2).
• Rathnayake, R.M.S.K, Rathnayake P.G.R.G, Jayarathne, H.S.M., Nizam R., Ranaweera, L.T., Kannangara, S.K., Udawela, U.A.K.S., Sooriyapathirana, S.D.S.S. (2019). Assessment of the Sequence Based Haplotype-Variants in Selected DNA Marker Loci for the Molecular Breeding of Resistant Rice Varieties to Brown Plant Hopper. Sri Lankan Journal of Agriculture and Ecosystems. 1(1): 2-15.
• Ranaweera, L.T., Perera, H.A.C.R., Wijesundara, W.W.M.U.K., Rathnayake, R.M.S.K., Wijesundara, W.M.D.A., Senavirathna, H.M.T.N., Senevirathna, R.W.K.M., Weebadde, C.K., Hancock, J.F. and Sooriyapathirana, S.D.S.S. (2021). Potentila indica (Andr.) nov.(wild strawberry) in Sri Lanka is Restricted to a Small Climatic Envelop Urging Strict Conservation. The Journal of Agricultural Sciences Sri Lanka 6(1), pp 1-18. http://doi.org/10.4038/jas.v16i1.9179
• Kumari, S.A.S.M , Nakandala, N.D.U.S., Nawanjana, P.W.I.,. Rathnayake, R.M.S.K., Senevirathna, H.M.T.N., Senevirathne, R.R.K.M., Wijesundara, W.M.D.A., Ranaweera, L.T., Mannanayake, M.A.D.K., Weebadde ,C.K., Sooriyapathirana, S.D.S.S.The establishment of the species-delimits and varietal-identities of the cultivated germplasm of Luffa acutangula and Luffa aegyptiaca in Sri Lanka using morphometric,organoleptic and phylogenetic approaches. PLoS ONE 14(4): e0215176 (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215176)
• Dissanayake, R.M.N., Nakandala, N.D.U.S., Nawanjana, P.W.I., Rathnayake, R.M.S.K., Senavirathna, H.M.T.N., Senevirathne, R.W.K.M., Wijesundara, W.M.D.A., Ranaweera, L.T., Ariyathilaka, O.W.S.H., Weebadde, C.K. and Sooriyapathirana, S.D.S.S. (2019). Diversity analysis of Selected Solanum species in Sri Lanka using molecular and morphological descriptors. Tropical Agricultural Research, 30(4), pp.1-22.
• Nakandala, N.D.U.S., Karunarathne, S.I., Ranaweera, L.T., Wijesundara, W.W.M.U.K., Senevirathna, R.W.K.M., Rathnayake, R.M.S.K., Udawela, U.A.K.S. and Sooriyapathirana, S.D.S.S. (2019). Assessment of the association between yield parameters and polymorphic sites of the Ghd7 locus in a core-set of rice cultivars grown in Sri Lanka. Ceylon Journal of Science, 48(2), pp.121-132.
• Supervised team of [Number] staff members.
• Achieved [Result] by introducing [Software] for [Type] tasks.
• GenBank Submissions: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/popset/1569273999 (MK279343-MK279350: 8 sequences)
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/popset/1569273983 (MK279335-MK279342: 8 sequences)
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/popset/1569274021 (MK122640-MK122643-4 sequences)
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/popset/1569274025 (MK122636-MK122639-4 sequences)
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/ (MK271063-MK271070: 8 sequences)
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/popset/1594515735(MH779562-MH779573: 12 sequences)

Awards and Honors
▪ Arrell Food Institute Graduate Scholarship (2019) a prestigious scholarship of 50 000 CAD per annum awarded to a few selected scholars from around the world for graduate studies and research at University of Guelph, Canada.
▪ University Award for the Academic Excellence (2017) for the meritorious performance in BSc program, Awarded at 80th General Convocation-2017, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
▪ Savitri and Nimal Gunatilleke Scholarship for Excellence in Ecology (2016) for excellence performance in the related course criteria of the BSc program.

The Arrell Food Institute of University of Guelph

Alumni of Singapore Technology Endowment Program

Molecular Biology Laboratory Course Taken

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Recombinant DNA Technology, Enzymology,Plant Diversity I and II, Bioinformatics,Basic Microbiology, Advanced Microbiology, Analytical Chemistry, Plant Pathology, Basic Microbiology, Advanced Microbiology, Plant Systematics

Computer Literacy

• Successfully completed with Distinction, the Basic ICT Skills Training Program conducted by the Information Technology Centre, University of Peradeniya with proficiency in MS Office Packages
• Data analysis using the statistical package R, RStudio, SAS and Minitab
• Phylogenetic analysis using the bioinformatic tool MEGA7, Geneious Software

Professional Training

• Certificate Course on Graduate Student Research and Project Management organized by the Office of Research and Graduate Research Learning Initiative, University of Guelph
  ▪ DNA Metabarcoding course by the Biodiversity and Genomics Research Institute and the OpenEd, University of Guelph with an A+ final grade
  ▪ Arrell Food Institute’s Scholar Mentorship Program, Mentored by Dr. Shu Chen of the Agriculture and Food Laboratory, Lab Services Division, University of Guelph
  ▪ Strategic Communication Workshop by AFI partnered with ClarityHub, a training program to build capacity of Arrell scholars to use communication strategies and tools to showcase their work as subject matter experts and thought leaders
  ▪ Scientific Writing course at B.Sc and M.Sc levels which included the sections on project proposal writing, abstract writing, interpretation of results and scientific manuscript writing
  ▪ A course on seminar presentation; conducted an oral presentation on “Biotechnological Approaches to Improve the Crop Potential of Amaranthus, an Underutilized Crop Species” at Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
  ▪ A two-day Short Course on R- and R Studio, conducted by Board of Study in Statistics and Computer Science of Postgraduate Institute of Science and Department of Statistics and computer Science, University of Peradeniya
  ▪ A short course on “Chemometrics without Equations (or Hardly Any)” by Eigenvector Research, Inc, Manson, Washington, USA.
  ▪ Advanced Media Training Workshop by Edelman Canada focused on the how to work with current media and preparation for media interviews.

The Laboratory experimentation, primer search, primer ordering, dilution, reagent preparation, DNA extraction, DNA quantification, PCR amplification, Gel Electrophoresis. literature search, manuscript writing, preparation and submission for these publications were done along with the other research assistants of the Sooriyapathirana Lab, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.