Dr Imanda Jayawardena is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – Science Foundation Ireland Research Fellow at the Irish Photonics Integration Centre (IPIC). Her current research focuses on developing a bone-on-a-chip device for monitoring osteogenesis with the use of non-invasive, label-free, non-ionising spectroscopic techniques such as Raman and Diffuse Reflectance spectroscopy. This allows for longitudinal data acquisition from implants used for fracture healing, with minimal damage inflicted upon patients. It also enables gaining insight into bone formation mechanisms on hydrogel surfaces at a cellular level and surface properties of hydrogel substrates.
Imanda’s areas of research interests include, biomaterials, biophysics, physical chemistry, biomedical engineering, medical devices and the broader field of health and medicine. She has prior research experience in immunochemistry, microscopic techniques such as Cryo-Scanning Electron Microscopy (Cryo-SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Stimulated Emission Depletion Microscopy (STED), Confocal Microscopy (CLSM), conducting proteomic analyses with the aid of mass spectroscopy and working with hydroxyapatite nanoparticles.
Following her Bachelor of Science, majoring in Chemistry, she completed her PhD at the University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia, where she worked on developing and optimising a point-of-care diagnostic device for the detection of infectious diseases such as malaria. Owing to her contributions to teaching undergraduate and Master level chemistry and chemical engineering students, during her Bachelor and PhD studies, she was able to obtain fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).
