Rate My Professor Nipuna Parahitiyawa

Dr. Nipuna Parahitiyawa serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Curtin Medical School, Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. He earned his PhD in Oral Microbiology from the Faculty of Dentistry at The University of Hong Kong in 2009 and is an Accredited Medical Scientist with the Australian Institute of Medical Scientists (AIMS). His academic career includes a position as Lecturer in the Division of Microbiology at the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka from July 2003 to February 2014, Research Assistant in the Laboratory of Oral Biosciences at The University of Hong Kong from February to July 2004, postgraduate studies in Medical Microbiology at the University of Colombo from August 2004 to September 2005, and Tutor in the School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at The University of Western Australia since July 2015. Located in Building 410 on the Curtin Perth campus under the Office of the Provost portfolio, he contributes to teaching and research in health sciences.

Dr. Parahitiyawa's research focuses on molecular microbiology, encompassing the oral microbiome, bacterial consortia in root canals and gingival crevices, probiotic Lactobacillus species, genetic variants in chronic kidney disease, antifungal agents against Candida biofilms, and antimicrobial susceptibility. His publications include 'Evolving origin-of-transfer sequences on staphylococcal conjugative plasmids' (2021, Nucleic Acids Research), 'Genomic characterization of a unique Panton-Valentine leucocidin-positive ST93-IVa MRSA clinical isolate from Western Australia' (2023, Microbial Genomics), 'Enterococcus Species in the Oral Cavity: Prevalence, Virulence Factors and Antimicrobial Susceptibility' (2016), 'Clonality of bacterial consortia in root canals and subjacent gingival crevices' (2015), 'Whole-exome sequencing reveals genetic variants associated with chronic kidney disease characterized by tubulointerstitial damages in North Central Region, Sri Lanka' (2015), 'Study on isolation of potentially probiotic Lactobacillus species from fermented rice' (2015), 'Anti-candidal activity and effect on relative cell surface hydrophobicity of Pongamia pinnata' (2013), 'Exopolysaccharide matrix of developed Candida albicans biofilms after exposure to antifungal agents' (2012), 'Exploring the oral bacterial flora: Current status and future directions' (2009), and 'Proposal of a low-cost protocol for colorimetric semi-quantification of secretory phospholipase by Candida albicans grown in planktonic and biofilm phases' (2009). His body of work has accumulated over 1,085 citations on ResearchGate, underscoring his contributions to microbiology.