Antibiotic resistance is on the rise and is projected to kill over 10 million people per year by 2050. Therefore the need to find a successor to antibiotics has become urgent.
I have always been interested by the interaction of light with matter. Appropriately, my chosen PhD project is Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy (PDT). PDT is the use of a light activated molecule to cure a disease. Using unconventional synthetic techniques I have managed to synthesis a novel antimicrobial PDT agent based on a metal complex. I've used this chemical to kill infectous bacteria called P.gingivalis and MRSA, reducing their numbers by 3 orders of magnitude even at a very low concentration of 5 nM. Furthermore, this complex is able to target bacteria internalised in human cells, which conventional antibiotics are unable to do. I look forward to finishing this work and seeing what these compounds can do to help patients in the future.
I have always been interested by the interaction of light with matter. Appropriately, my chosen PhD project is Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy (PDT). PDT is the use of a light activated molecule to cure a disease. Using unconventional synthetic techniques I have managed to synthesis a novel antimicrobial PDT agent based on a metal complex. I've used this chemical to kill infectous bacteria called P.gingivalis and MRSA, reducing their numbers by 3 orders of magnitude even at a very low concentration of 5 nM. Furthermore, this complex is able to target bacteria internalised in human cells, which conventional antibiotics are unable to do. I look forward to finishing this work and seeing what these compounds can do to help patients in the future.
I originally moved to the UK from Sri Lanka in 2011 to pursue a degree in Chemistry. In Sri Lanka a prominent place is given to medicine and engineering while research subjects such as chemistry and physics are not heavily practiced. So I was in awe of the resources British universities poured into scientific research.
I feel very privileged to have access to virtually limitless equipment and chemicals on demand in order to carry out my research to its full potential. Upon completion of my PhD I intend to continue working on antimicrobial PDT, using every resource at my disposal, expanding into antiviral PDT with special focus on dengue fever, which affects a large population of Sri Lankans yearly. I will also focus greatly on combining photochemical and biomimetic techniques to synthesise novel fuels in order to store energy harvested from the sun to combat global warming and help make the world green once more.
I feel very privileged to have access to virtually limitless equipment and chemicals on demand in order to carry out my research to its full potential. Upon completion of my PhD I intend to continue working on antimicrobial PDT, using every resource at my disposal, expanding into antiviral PDT with special focus on dengue fever, which affects a large population of Sri Lankans yearly. I will also focus greatly on combining photochemical and biomimetic techniques to synthesise novel fuels in order to store energy harvested from the sun to combat global warming and help make the world green once more.
