All posts by: IT Admin

A research project funded under the University Research Grant (URG/2025/SEIT/04) and conducted by Ms. S. Sathya, Dr. S. Sivasinthujah and Ms. T. Christina, from the Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, and Dr. S. Sivarangani Faculty of Siddha Medicine University of Jaffna, titled “Ethnobotanical Study of the Medicinal Plants Used for Rheumatological Disorders among Patients Attending Rheumatology Clinic in Teaching Hospital Jaffna,” received First Place in the Poster Presentation under the Research in Natural Products session in International Research Conference in Health Sciences (IRCHS) 2026, held on 15 July 2026 at University of Sri Jeyawardanapura The study focused on documenting the medicinal plants traditionally used by patients attending the Rheumatology Clinic at Teaching Hospital Jaffna for the management of rheumatological disorders. The research contributes to the documentation of traditional..

An undergraduate research project from the Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences (FAHS), University of Jaffna, titled “Preliminary Study on Polyherbal Gel Formulation Containing Abelmoschus esculentus (Okra Pods) and Salvia hispanica L. (Chia Seeds) for Oral Candidiasis,” received Second Place in the Poster Presentationunder the Drug Discovery and Formulation session in International Research Conference in Health Sciences (IRCHS) 2026, held on 15 July 2026 at University of Sri Jeyawardanapura. The research was conducted as part of the undergraduate research programme by Ms. M. F. F. Faseeha, Ms. M. I. F. Mafrina, Mr. K. R. M. Mufees, Mrs. J. G. Thevaki, Ms. K. Dilakshana and Ms. S. Sathya The research explored the potential of Abelmoschus esculentus (okra pods) and Salvia hispanica L. (chia seeds) in the development of a polyherbal gel formulation targeting oral candidiasis. The study reflects the..

A study by Dr. Jaikrishna Balakittnen and colleagues from Griffith University, published in The Journal of the American Dental Association, has been selected as the Cover Story of the journal issue, highlighting an innovative approach for the early detection of HPV-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). Conducted at Griffith University, Australia, the study evaluated the use of salivary oral rinse samples with the GeneXpert platform, a fully automated real-time PCR system developed by Cepheid, which is widely used for the diagnosis of tuberculosis, HIV, and human papillomavirus (HPV) infections. The researchers demonstrated that the GeneXpert platform can effectively detect oral HPV using non-invasive salivary oral rinse specimens, supporting its potential as a scalable screening tool for identifying individuals at increased risk of developing HPV-associated OPSCC. The findings highlight the promise of..

A study by Mrs. Fathima Siromiya Shamil Mafras and colleagues, published in BMC Microbiology, reports important findings on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among pregnant women in Sri Lanka. Conducted at Teaching Hospital Batticaloa, the study investigated antibiotic-resistant bacterial colonization in 235 mothers admitted for delivery between May and August 2023. The researchers focused on Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase (ESBL) producing organisms, including Escherichia coli and Klebsiella species. The study found that 14% of participants were colonized with MRSA, while 4.3% carried ESBL-producing bacteria. Although all MRSA isolates remained sensitive to vancomycin, a high level of resistance to erythromycin was observed. Molecular testing identified the mecA gene as the main determinant of MRSA resistance and blaCTX-M as the most common ESBL resistance gene. Maternal..

A recent study co-first-authored by Dr P. Maheswaran of the Department of Pharmacy has been published in the prestigious journal Nucleic Acids Research, offering significant new mechanistic insights into the function of the human fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) enzyme, a key regulator of RNA modification. The research examines how FTO acts on N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A), one of the most abundant and biologically significant RNA modifications. While FTO has long been described as an RNA demethylase, the study demonstrates that its catalytic activity fundamentally differs from the prevailing view. Through the combined use of mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, the authors show that FTO primarily catalyses the hydroxylation of m⁶A to form an N⁶-hydroxymethyladenosine (hm⁶A) intermediate, rather than directly generating demethylated adenosine. This mechanism contrasts sharply with that..