Senior Lecturer Grade I
BSc Agri (Hons)(Peradeniya), MSc (Peradeniya), PhD (Australia)Department of Agricultural and Plantation Engineering
Faculty of Engineering Technology
Contact:
, Room No E 346, The Department of Agri. & PLant. Eng., Facuty of Engineering Technology
Office: 0112881589, Ext: 589
E-mail: nweer@ou.ac.lk
Dr Nimsha Weerakkody joined the Department of Agricultural and Plantation Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Technology as a Demonstrator in 2001. She was recruited to a permanent position as a Lecturer (Probationary) in the same department on the 1st of June 2004. In 2007, she was awarded the Asian Development Bank scholarship under Distance Education Modernization Project at the OUSL to pursue postgraduate studies at the School of Food Science and Agriculture at the University of Queensland Australia. she was awarded a PhD degree in the field of Food Molecular and Microbiology on 19th December 2011.
In 2012, she received two competitive research grant awards from the National Science Foundation and National Research Council. She has published 12 refereed journal articles during postgraduate studies and to date. According to the Google scholar https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=g3ykXRsAAAAJ&hl=en she has nearly 455 citations and H-index of 7. Out of 12 publications, 10 are indexed in Web of Science /Publons https://publons.com/researcher/3009997/nimsha-weerakkody/with total 222 citations with H-index 6. Eight publications are indexed in Scopus https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=36151585100 with 224 citations with H-index 5 (9.05 2020). In addition, she has been serving as a reviewer and reviewed nearly 19 manuscripts belonging to the Scientific Cited journals to date
In October 2015, she became the Head of the department and served for three years until October 2018. She served as a visiting academic at the University of Queensland, Australia from 1st February 2019 -29th January 2020.
She has more than 17 years of experience in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching since 2004.
Areas of Specialization:
Food Molecular and Microbiology
Research interests:Antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity of novel chemical compounds, toxicity study
Affiliations:- Member of Australian Society of Microbiology
- Joint secretary Institute of Food Science and Technology Sri Lanka
- Member Sri Lanka Association for Laboratory Animal Science
- Life Member of Institute of Biology
- Life Member of Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science
N. S Weerakkody. Functional properties of foods, allergens, toxic compounds,
adulterants and quality assurance 2015. SLASS. Govojana Seva 30th September 2015. Nittambuwa Sri Lanka.
N. S Weerakkody. Biologically Important Molecules from Spices, Herbs and Medicinal Plants grown in Sri Lanka 2015. Second Scientific Sessions, Sri Lanka Association for Laboratory Animal Science. Medical Research Institute, Colombo 16th & 17th January 2015.
N. S Weerakkody. Activity Specific Biomolecules in Sri Lankan Plants 2015. Institute of Food Science and Technology. University of Ruhuna 11th March, 2015.
Programme Coordination:Bachelor of Industrial studies in Agriculture
Course Coordination:Food and Nutrition, Food Processing, Post-harvest Biology and Technology
Awards:- Best Poster presentation in the Health Sciences Track (2014) International Conference on Multidisciplinary Approaches. Faculty of Graduate studies University of Sri Jayawardenepura 13th-14th August 2014.
- The Open University Research award (2010/2011)
- University consortium Thesis grant award (2010), Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA)
- Asian Development Bank scholarship award (2000) for the Master Studies in Biotechnology
1. Weerakkody, N.S, Smith, W M, Mikkelsen, D, Waanders, J, Kerven. G, Caffin, N, Dykes, G.A, and Turner, M.S.2012 Purified 1’acetoxychavicol acetate (1’ACA) from galangal spice affects membrane fatty acid composition and triggers a cell envelope stress response in Staphylococcus aureus. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents,39, 263-272.
2. Weerakkody, N.S, Caffin, N, Lambert, K. L, Turner, M.S, Dykes, G.A. 2011. Synergistic antimicrobial activity of galangal (Alpinia galanga), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and lemon iron bark (Eucalyptus staigerana) extracts. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 91,461-468.
3. Weerakkody, N.S, Caffin, N, Dykes,G.A, Turner, M.S. 2011 Effect of antimicrobial spice and herb extract combinations on Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and spoilage microflora growth on cooked ready-to-eat vacuum packaged shrimp. Journal of Food Protection, 74 (7), 1119-1125.
4. Weerakkody, N.S, Caffin, N, Turner, M.S, Dykes, G.A. 2010. In vitro antimicrobial activity of less-utilized spice and herb extracts against selected food-borne bacteria. Food Control, 21, 1408-1414.
Ongoing Research:National Research Council Research grant award (2012) NRC-12-05)
Application of extracts from selected spices, herbs and medicinal plants to reduce cross contamination of food borne bacteria and to extend the shelf life of ready to cook marinated chicken meat.
National Science Foundation Research grant award ( 2012) RG/2012/AG/02)
Antimicrobial, antibiofilm activity of Sri Lankan grown Galangal (Alpinia galanga) or Mahaaraththa against Staphylococcus aureus and confirm possible toxicity for safe use.
Research Supervisions:Application of extracts from selected spices, herbs and medicinal plants to reduce cross contamination of food borne bacteria and to extend the shelf life of ready to cook marinated chicken meat.
Antimicrobial, antibiofilm activity of Sri Lankan grown Galangal (Alpinia galanga) or Mahaaraththa against Staphylococcus aureus and confirm possible toxicity for safe use.
Publications:A.S.D De Silva, K.A.N.P Kanugala, N.S Weerakkody 2015. Microbiological quality of raw milk and effect on quality by implementing good management practices. International Conference of Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka- 2015 (ICSUSL 2015), 19th and 20th November 2015 at Berjaya Hotel, Colombo.
T Liyanage, EWMSDK Ekanayake, NS Weerakkody, JM Senevirathne, EDK Edirisinghe 2015. Effect of washing and drying of cocoa seeds during processing on fat content of high yielding cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) cultivars in Sri Lanka. Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Minor Export Crops (3) 13-14 August Peradeniya Sri Lanaka.
P.U.H.S Karunarathne, M.G Thammitiyagoda, R.PN.P RAjapakse, N.S Weerakkody.Determination of Eye Irritancy levels of Alpinia galangal extract using Hen’S Egg Test- Chorioallantoiic membrane (HET-CAM) method as alternative for Draize eye irritation test. Sri Lanka Association for Laboratory Animal Science.University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Colombo 28th & 29th January 2016.
Chandraguptha M, Thikshani Somarathna, Nimsha S. Weerakkody. Development of Ready to use rice based oyster mushroom ( Pleurotus ostreatus) burger. Institute of Food Science & Technology Sri Lanka. Annual research session. Colombo 3, 15th December 2015
Nimsha S. Weerakkody, KKDS Ranaweera, GAS Premakumara, Thikshani Somarathna. Invitro antibacterial activity of underutilized plant crude extracts against food-borne pathogens. Australian Society of Microbiology, annual scientific meeting and exhibition. QTCanberra , Australia, 12-15 July 2015.
Nimsha S Weerakkody, Mayuri Thammitiyagodage, Hansani Karunarathne. Antibacterial and antibiofilm activity of alpinia galanga ( galangal) against gram positive bacteria and evaluation of pharmacological safety. Australian Society of Microbiology, annual scientific meeting and exhibition. QTCanberra , Australia, 12-15 July 2015.
P.U.H.S Karunarathne, M. Thammitiyagoda, N.S Weerakkody. Safety evaluation of Sri Lankan grown galangal (Alpinia galangal) rhizome using standard methods. Second scientific sessions, Sri Lanka Association for laboratory animal science. Medical Research Institute, Colombo 16th & 17th January 2015.
N. S Weerakkody, G.A Dykes, M.S Turner. Investigation into the effects of purified 1’acetoxychavicol acetate (1’ACA) from Galangal spice on selected gram- positive bacteria. International Conference on Multidisciplinary Approaches. Faculty of Graduate studies University of Sri Jayawardenepura 13th-14th August 2014. Pp 186
E.M.L.O.K.Bandaranayake, P. Rajapakse, and N.S. Weerakkody . Selection of suitable saw-dust as growing media for reishi mushroom (Gonoderma lucidum) cultivation. In the Proceedings of the Academic Annual Sessions 2012 of the Open University of Sri Lanka. 27 to 28 of February 2013. Pp 21-24.
Weerakkody, N.S, Caffin, N, Lambert, K.L, Turner, M.S, Dykes, G.A, Mechanism of action of antimicrobial herbs and spices against food-borne pathogens MiM 2010, Microbiology in Maleny, Queensland branch of the Australian Society of Microbiology. 13 Saturday, November 2010 (Oral presentation).
Weerakkody, N.S, Caffin, N, Lambert, K.L, Turner, M.S, Dykes, G.A, Synergistic antimicrobial activity of galangal (Alpinia galanga), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and lemon iron bark (Eucalyptus staigerana) extracts and their chemical compositions. Australian Society of Microbiology, annual scientific meeting and exhibition. Sydney, Australia, 4-8 July 2010 (Poster presentation).
Nishantha, E.A.D.N, Silva, W.P.K, Weerakkody, N.S, Silva C. S de. 2007. Pathogenicity of isolates of Corynespora cassiicola from Papaya and Rubber. In the Proceedings of the Academic Annual Sessions 2007. The Open University of Sri Lanka. Pp 90-91.
Weerakkody,N.S., Bandara, J. M. R. S 2004. Agrobacterium mediated transfer of cry gene to Metarhizium anisopliae. Second Annual Academic Sessions, The Open University of Sri Lanka. 12 September 2004.