prof-chandima jeewandara

RESEARCH & PUBLICATIONS

 

Prof. Chandima Jeewandara

Prof. Chandima Jeewandara MBBS, MRCGP (INT), PhD

Head and Professor in Immunology, Allergy and Molecular Medicine
Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine

Telephone - Office : +94 11 2758000 Ext: 4285     Mobile : +94 77 7359740
E-mail : jeewandara@sjp.ac.lk

 

EDUCATION/TRAINING

Institution and Location Degree MM/YY Field of Study
University of Colombo, Sri Lanka MBBS 12/05 Surgery and Medicine
Royal College of General Practitioners, UK MRCGP 08/16 Family Medicine
University of Colombo, Sri Lanka PgDFM 08/18 Family Medicine
University of Sri Jayewardenepura PhD 03/15 Immunology

 

 

POSITIONS AND EMPLOYMENT

2016 - Senior Lecturer, University of Sri Jayewardenepura

2012- 13 - Recognized student, University of Oxford

 

 

OTHER EXPERIENCE AND PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP

  • 2012 - Council member: Allergy and Immunology Society of Sri Lanka
  • 2012 - Member, British Society of Immunology
  • 2012 - Member, European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
  • 2012 - Member, American Association of Immunologists
  • 2018 - Chairperson, Community based medical learning programme, MBBS, University of Sri Jayewardenepura
  • 2011 - 2017 - Coordinator, Family Practice Centre, University of Sri Jayewardenepura
  • 2017 - Director, National Center for Primary Care and Allergy Research
  • 2011 - Life member, Sri Lanka Medical Association

 

 

HONOURS

  1. SC Paul Oration and Gold medal - Sri Lanka Medical Association 2016
  2. Presidents Awards for Medical Research Sri Lanka 2013, 2015, 2016
  3. National Research Council Merit Awards for Scientific Publication 2012, 2014
  4. Best Young Researcher of the year, University of Sri Jayewardenepura 2015, 2016, 2017
  5. Best young researcher at World Organization of National Colleges, Academies and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physician in the South Asian region in 2016
  6. The award of excellence for the best poster presentation 1st place, A study on the nutritional status of internally displaced under five-year-old children in Vavuniya. Student scientific sessions; Colombo 2004
  7. The award of excellence for the best oral presentation 1st runner up, Effectiveness of a home-based early intervention programme for children with autism; The Annual scientific sessions of Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists; Colombo 2010- Free Paper
  8. The award of excellence for the best poster presentation 1st place, The Annual Academic Session of Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists; Colombo 2010- Free Paper
  9. The award of excellence for the best oral presentation 1st runner up, Placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial; The Annual Academic Session of Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists; Colombo 2011- Free Paper
  10. The award of excellence for the best oral presentation 1st place, Placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial; The Annual Academic Session of Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians; Colombo 2011- Free Paper
  11. The award of excellence for the best poster presentation 1st place, School refusal visited and revisited; The Annual Academic Session of Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists; Colombo 2012- Free Paper
  12. The award of excellence for the best oral presentation 1st place, Descriptive study of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) procedure in low resource setting: experience and early results; Annual Academic Session of Sri Lanka College of Radiologists; Colombo 2012- Free Paper
  13. The award of excellence for the best poster presentation 1st place, The Annual Academic Session of University of Sri Jayewardenepura; Colombo 2012- Free Paper
  14. The award of excellence for the best poster presentation 2nd place Sandyaganee VMS, Perera H, Jeewandara KC; The Annual Academic Session of Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists; Kandy 2013- Free Paper
  15. Gold medal for the best free paper Effectiveness of a parent-implemented intervention programme for autism: a case-control study; The Annual Academic Session of Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists; Kandy 2013- Free Paper
  16. Research awards for the presentation, Congress of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and World Allergy Organization (WAO); Milan- Italy; June 2013
  17. Best research paper: Defining the role of dengue virus-specific T cell and antibody responses and their contribution to severe clinical disease in a large cohort of individuals from Sri Lanka -Asia Pacific Congress of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology November 2013, Taiwan

 

 

CONTRIBUTION TO SCIENCE (Total publications 50, Citations 288, h-index 8, i10 index 8)

  1. Investigation of the pathogenesis of vascular leakSevere form of dengue, a result of vascular leak, could advance into lower blood pressure, reduced organ perfusion, accumulation of fluid in pleural and peritoneal cavities and if untreated, leads to shock and subsequently death. I was the co-investigator and the first author in the study which found that platelet-activating factor (PAF), sphingosine 1-phosphate and secretory phospholipases were important mediators of the vascular leak. The finding leads to further investigations on in vitro assays and mouse studies to determine the effect of a PAF receptor blocker (rupatadine) in the treatment of acute dengue infection. The trial showed good safety, and dose-dependent significant benefits in reducing dengue complications and shortening the duration of illness, particularly when given early. We have started the next phase of this trial where we are using this drug in an out-patient setting to determine its efficacy (http://slctr.lk/trials/787)
    1. Jeewandara C, Gomes L, Wickramasinghe N, Gutowska-Owsiak D, Waithe D, Paranavitane SA, Shyamali NL, Ogg GS, Malavige GN. Platelet-activating factor contributes to vascular leak in acute dengue infection. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2015 Feb 3;9(2):e0003459.
    2. Kamaladasa A, Gomes L, Jeewandara C, Shyamali NL, Ogg GS, Malavige GN. Lipopolysaccharide acts synergistically with the dengue virus to induce monocyte production of platelet-activating factor and other inflammatory mediators. Antiviral Res. 2016 Jul 28;133:183-190.
    3. Jeewandara, C., Gomes, L., Udari, S., Paranavitane, S.A., Shyamali, N.L.A., Ogg, G. S. and Malavige, G. N. Secretory Phospholipase A2 in acute dengue infection. Immun Inflamm Dis. 2016 Dec 11;5(1):7-15.
       
  2. Investigating the role of dengue-specific T cells in acute dengue
    As the role of dengue-specific T cells in the pathogenesis of severe dengue is unclear, the belief is the high levels of proinflammatory cytokines seen in severe forms of dengue were produced from highly cross-reactive dengue-specific T cells. The studies, where I was the co-investigator, showed that high levels IL-10, which is an immunosuppressive cytokine, is found in severe dengue and dengue-specific T cells are unlikely to result in disease pathogenesis.
    1. Malavige GN, Jeewandara C et al., Suppression of virus-specific immune responses by IL-10 in acute dengue infection. PLOS Neglected Tropical diseases.2013 Sep 5;7(9):e2409
    2. Wijeratne DT, Fernando S, Gomes L, Jeewandara C, Ginneliya A, Samarasekara S, et al. (2018) Quantification of dengue virus-specific T cell responses and correlation with viral load and clinical disease severity in acute dengue infection. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 12(10): e0006540. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006540
       
  3. Investigation of dengue-specific memory T cells in individuals who have been naturally exposed to dengueThe functionality of dengue-specific memory T cells is not clearly understood. It is believed that the presence of highly cross-reactive memory T cell responses contributes to severe clinical disease. The study on the functionality of dengue-specific memory T cell responses in a large cohort of individuals resulted in the findings that show individuals with past severe dengue and asymptomatic/mild dengue produced multiple cytokines in response to DENV-NS3 protein. Due to the highly cross-reactive nature of dengue-specific T cell responses, dissecting dengue virus serotype specific T cell responses have been complicated. serotype-specific and highly conserved regions of the four DENV serotypes were identified, and a new T cell-based ELISpot assay was developed in this study, which I was a co-investigator. I was the first author of this study.
    1. Jeewandara C, Adikari T.N., Gomes L, Fernando S., Fernando R.H., Perera M.K.T., Ariyarante D., Kamaladasa A, Salimi M, Prathapan S, Ogg G.S., Malavige G.N. Functionality of dengue virus-specific memory T cell responses in individuals who were hospitalized or who had mild or subclinical dengue infection. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2015)
       
  4. Role of NS1 and NS1 antibodies in the pathogenesis of acute dengue
    Dengue NS1, a secretory viral protein, was found to induce production of proinflammatory cytokines and contribute to vascular leak. The studies I was a co-investigator found that NS1 also induces production of immunosuppressive cytokines such as IL-10. Also, data on the role of NS1 antibodies in humans had not been studied, and our recent studies of which I am a co-investigator showed that NS1 antibodies appear to differ quantitatively and quantitively in patients with varying severity of the disease.
    1. Paranavitane SA, Gomes L., Kamaladasa A, Adikari TN, Wickramasinghe N, Jeewandara C, Shyamali NL, Ogg GS, Malavige GN. Dengue NS1 antigen as a marker of severe clinical disease. BMC Infect Dis. 2014 Oct 31;14:570 b) Jayathilaka D, Gomes L, Jeewandara C, Jayarathna GSB, Herath D, Perera PA, Fernando S, Wijewickrama A, Hardman CS, Ogg GS, Malavige GN. Role of NS1 antibodies in the pathogenesis of acute secondary dengue infection. Nat Commun. 2018 Dec 7;9(1):5242. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-07667-z
       
  5. Assessment of seroprevalence rates for dengue over a periodMajority of the dengue infections result in asymptomatic clinical disease. Therefore, if we can determine the rate of asymptomatic dengue infections in the community over a given period, we would be able to determine the 'true' incidence of dengue infections in the community. We are currently following up with a large community cohort to investigate the asymptomatic transmission. I was the first author of the following study.
    1. Jeewandara C, Gomes L, Paranavitane SA, Tantirimudalige M, Panapitiya SS, Jayewardene A, et al. (2015) Change in Dengue and Japanese Encephalitis Seroprevalence Rates in Sri Lanka. PLoS ONE 10(12): e0144799. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144799

 

 

RESEARCH SUPPORT

Ongoing

  1. 2019-2022 (AHEAD grant by world bank) - 5,882
    Title: Investigating factors leading to severe dengue
    (Role: Coinvestigator)
  2. 2016-2019 National Science Foundation (RPHS/D-06) - 3,333
    Identification of the true burden and associated complications of dengue and related viral infections in Sri Lanka and finding long-lasting solutions, through an in-depth understanding of the pathogenesis for development of therapeutic targets (Role: CoI)

 

Completed

  1. 2015-2017 National Science Foundation (Technology grant) - ,733
    T cell-based assay for the detection of serotype-specific immunity to dengue infection and comparison of PRNT (Role: CoI)