Dr. Yasith Mathangasinghe

Dr. Yasith Mathangasinghe graduated with Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (Honours) in 2016 from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo. After completing his clinical placement at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Dr. Mathangasinghe joined the Department of Anatomy, Genetics, and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Colombo as a lecturer in anatomy in 2018. In 2019, he attended the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, where he conducted pioneering research on ER stress markers in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/frontotemporal lobar degeneration transgenic mouse models. In 2024, Dr. Mathangasinghe completed his PhD at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University, Clayton, Australia. During his PhD, he discovered a novel protein disaggregation activation pathway in primates that helps mitigate cell death induced by stress, ageing, and neurodegenerative conditions. He is currently working as a Research Fellow in the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at Monash University, where he investigates oligodendroglial plasticity and mechanisms of myelin repair.

Dr. Mathangasinghe has over 60 peer-reviewed publications and has contributed to publications in journals such as The Lancet, Lancet Neurology, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Haematologica, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. He is a reviewer for approximately 30 international journals. His work has gained acclaim, including Best Paper awards at numerous esteemed conferences and symposiums, notably the Proteostasis and Disease Symposium in Wollongong, Australia, in 2022. Dr. Mathangasinghe’s contributions have been further recognised through prestigious awards, including the President’s Award for Scientific Research in 2020, the National Research Council Merit Award for Scientific Research in 2017, and the Senate Award for Research Excellence (Early Career Category) in 2018, 2019, and 2020. In 2020, his outstanding mentoring skills were acknowledged by students at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, with an award for excellence in student mentoring. Dr. Mathangasinghe’s research interests encompass neurosciences, cell biology, and clinical anatomy.