University Research Council

Latest Research

Developing Eco-Friendly Soil Fertility Management Technologies For Rice Cultivation In Sri Lanka

Indiscriminate fertilizer usage and related environmental and health issues are hot topics in the agriculture sector today. Even with correct usage of chemical fertilizers, about 50 -80% of the applied fertilizers are lost to the environment polluting the environment. In order to minimize losses while protecting the food security and environmental health of the country, the Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture in collaboration with several other local and foreign institutions, i.e. Rice Research and Development Institute, Batalegoda, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, The University of Winnipeg and International Plant Nutrition Institute is conducting a target oriented research project with the funding from National Research Council of Sri Lanka (NRC TO-16/07).

AI4COVID

This is a project funded by the IDRC Canada and members from the Faculty of Engineering, Arts and Medicine is involved in the project. Some of the activities carried out under this project are: Development of AI based forecasting models for COVID-19 and similar pandemics; Design and Development of a human behavior emulator for COVID and other pandemic threat assessment to enable optimal spread control while mitigating socioeconomic impact of containment measures and the pandemic and Utilization of AI and Data analytics to analyze and interpret online and household data collected which studies the educational, economical, occupational, sociopolitical, mobility and psychological impact of the pandemic.

Applications of White Light Images and Artificial Intelligence for the Early Detection of Oral Cancer in Sri Lanka

This project involved two phases. Phase one of the study involved obtaining the ‘Mobile Mouth Screening Anywhere – MeMoSA’ software and conducting a feasibility pilot study on its usage in Sri Lanka. The functionality of this software is to provide a platform for transmission of oral cavity images and patient details by the dental surgeons to specialists, where the specialist can provide review decisions and management suggestions. This software was developed by Cancer Research Malaysia (CRMY), and its original version is currently being used in Malaysia. The original version was modified by the developers of the CRMY team to suit local requirements according to instructions from the two oral medicine specialists in the research team.

Microbial control of mosquitoes

Dengue is one of the deadliest mosquitos borne diseases where Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus act as primary and secondary vectors. Sri Lanka is one country with a record number of annual dengue cases. In the absence of effective treatment for dengue disease, the control of mosquito populations is important in controlling the disease. Use of symbiotic microbes in dengue mosquito control programs is an effective alternative to chemical insecticides as the symbiotic microbes affect the fitness of mosquitoes and thereby the population structure. The aim of this study is to characterize the composition and structure of microbial communities (bacteria and eukaryotes) in Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus in Sri Lanka and identify the microbes that affect the vectorial capacity and fitness of female mosquitoes as well as the larvicidal activity of these microbes.