DEPARTMENT OF MICROBIOLOGY

 

The Department of Microbiology was established in 1993 and at present consists of 08 academic and 09 non-academic staff members. The Chair is held by Professor Sirimali Fernando. The Head of the Department is Dr. Manjula Manoji Weerasekera.

 

 

MISSION

Our mission is to provide appropriate knowledge and skills in medical and clinical microbiology that would enable students to function as basic doctors when attending to patients with infective diseases or related disorders or when dealing with control of such diseases in the hospital and in the community.

We strive to provide opportunities to develop an attitude, which will improve communication and cooperation between members of the health-care team and the microbiology laboratory to optimize the microbiological services to the community, to develop self-learning through student centered learning, to develop critical thinking and analytical skills, and to provide a supportive departmental environment with dedicated, enthusiastic and trained staff.

 

 

Academic Activities

Undergraduate Training Programmes

Degree programme.

  • MBBS
  • B.Sc. (Human Biology) - General and Special
  • B.Sc. (Nursing)
  • B.Sc. (Pharmacy)
  • B.Sc. (Medical Laboratory Sciences)

 

Postgraduate Training Programmes

  • The Department of Microbiology provides training for the Diploma in Medical Microbiology and Pathology, M.Sc. in Molecular Medicine under the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo.
  • The Department also offers MPhil’s & PhD's in the research areas of Microbiology, Molecular biology and Immunology.

 

Research at the Department

The Department of Microbiology maintains a robust research environment and the academic staff members have been recognized for their research contribution both nationally and globally with prestigious awards such as Presidents awards, SUSRED Awards and International awards. The department of Microbiology carries out research in diverse areas of Medical and Clinical microbiology. In 2018 only the department was successful in publishing 13 publications in Peer Reviewed Indexed Journals including Science Citation Index (SCI) journals. Five academic staff members have a H-index of 10 or more in 2019. The Department of Microbiology was successful in achieving the Highest H-index award for the Faculty of Medical Sciences by the University of Sri Jayewardenepura for three consecutive years.

 

Research Achievements by Academic Members

Department Having the Highest Cumulative Citations in the Faculty of Medical Sciences 2015 - 2017
Research Awards - 2014 - 2017
Presidential awards for scientific publication - 2014 - 2018
SURSRED awards for postgraduate supervision from 2015 - 2018

 

Facilities

The department is located on the third floor of the Anatomy building. It comprises a fully air-conditioned seminar room, equipped with multi-media facilities and has the capacity to accommodate 50 students. Several laboratories are located within the department, including a student laboratory that is shared with the Department of Parasitology, several research laboratories as well as a serology and molecular biology laboratory with dark room facilities. The Microbiology laboratory is one of the few state-of-the-art laboratories of its kind in Colombo.


 

Services to the Community

The department offers services in Bacteriology, Virology, Serology, and Molecular Biology to the Family Practice Centre and the professorial units of the Colombo South Teaching Hospital.

Facilities are available to carry out culture and ABST in Bacteriology, culture in Mycology, Serology and Molecular Biology tests.