OWSD PhD Fellowship
OWSD Early Career
2024
Dahanayake Jayangika
About the project
Her research project will identify novel derivatives of curcumin as potential anti-Alzheimer agents, and develop a nanocarrier drug delivery system for the effective delivery of these derivatives. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia among older adults and there are only a limited number of drugs available for treatment of AD. Most of these can only treat the symptoms, and are associated with side effects. Curcumin, a natural chemical produced by plants of the Curcuma longa species and the primary bioactive compound in turmeric, has been shown to improve cognitive function in AD patients; however it it has low bioavailability and is unstable in most body fluids. The project will study newly synthesized curcumin derivatives for their neuroprotective capabilities, as well as utilize nanoparticles to develop a targeted drug delivery system that can help them overcome the blood-brain barrier.
Field of Specialization
Position
Senior Lecturer
About the institution
January 2023
Jayangika Dahanayake > Other Awards
April 2023
Jayangika Dahanayake > Other Awards
April 2021
Jayangika Dahanayake > Other Awards
January 2019
Jayangika Dahanayake > Other Awards
Full Member
Dr. Jayangika Dahanayake
Membership since:
2023
Field of activity:
Awards
Other Memberships/Affiliations
Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science
Degrees:
2017
Doctorate
Chemical Sciences
2011
Undergraduate
Chemical Sciences
Publications resulting from Research
1. Doan, L. C., Dahanayake, J. N., Mitchell-Koch, K. R., Singh, A. K., & Vinh, N. Q. (2022). Probing Adaptation of Hydration and Protein Dynamics to Temperature. ACS omega, 7 (25), 22020-22031.
2. Rajapaksha, H., Pandithavidana, D. R., & Dahanayake, J. N. (2021). Demystifying Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology (CKDu): Computational Interaction Analysis of Pesticides and Metabolites with Vital Renal Enzymes. Biomolecules, 11(2), 261.
3. Jayangika N. Dahanayake, Elaheh Shahryari, Kirsten M. Roberts, Micah Heikes, Chandana Kasireddy, Katie R. Mitchell-Koch; “Protein Solvent Shell Structure Provides Rapid Analysis of Hydration Dynamics”; J. Chem. Inf. Model., 2019, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.9b00009
4. “How does solvation layer mobility affect protein structural dynamics?”; Jayangika N. Dahanayake, Katie R. Mitchell-Koch, Front. Mol. Biosci., 2018, 5:65, DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2018.00065
5. “Entropy connects water structure and dynamics in protein hydration layer”; Jayangika N. Dahanayake, Katie R. Mitchell-Koch, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 14765-14777.
6. “Evaluating electronic structure methods for accurate calculation of 19F chemical shifts in fluorinated amino acids”; Jayangika N. Dahanayke, Chandana Kasireddy, Jonathan M. Ellis, Olivia A. Hull, Dylan Morlan, Katie R. Mitchell-Koch, J. Comp. Chem., 2017, 38, 2605-2617.
7. “To keep or not to keep? The question of crystallographic waters for enzyme simulations in organic solvent”; Dahanayake, Jayangika Niroshani; Gautam, Devaki N.; Verma, Rajni; Mitchell-Koch, Katie., Mol. Sim., 2016, 42 (12), 1001-1013.
2. Rajapaksha, H., Pandithavidana, D. R., & Dahanayake, J. N. (2021). Demystifying Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology (CKDu): Computational Interaction Analysis of Pesticides and Metabolites with Vital Renal Enzymes. Biomolecules, 11(2), 261.
3. Jayangika N. Dahanayake, Elaheh Shahryari, Kirsten M. Roberts, Micah Heikes, Chandana Kasireddy, Katie R. Mitchell-Koch; “Protein Solvent Shell Structure Provides Rapid Analysis of Hydration Dynamics”; J. Chem. Inf. Model., 2019, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.9b00009
4. “How does solvation layer mobility affect protein structural dynamics?”; Jayangika N. Dahanayake, Katie R. Mitchell-Koch, Front. Mol. Biosci., 2018, 5:65, DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2018.00065
5. “Entropy connects water structure and dynamics in protein hydration layer”; Jayangika N. Dahanayake, Katie R. Mitchell-Koch, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 14765-14777.
6. “Evaluating electronic structure methods for accurate calculation of 19F chemical shifts in fluorinated amino acids”; Jayangika N. Dahanayke, Chandana Kasireddy, Jonathan M. Ellis, Olivia A. Hull, Dylan Morlan, Katie R. Mitchell-Koch, J. Comp. Chem., 2017, 38, 2605-2617.
7. “To keep or not to keep? The question of crystallographic waters for enzyme simulations in organic solvent”; Dahanayake, Jayangika Niroshani; Gautam, Devaki N.; Verma, Rajni; Mitchell-Koch, Katie., Mol. Sim., 2016, 42 (12), 1001-1013.
Proteins, Gordon Research Conference
2025
Holderness, NH, USA
Effects of Temperature and Hydration Shell Structure on Protein Hydration dynamics
Proteins, Gordon Research Conference
2025
Holderness, NH, United States