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Center for Plant Materials and Herbal Products Research

Working on the Exploration of Plants and Phytochemicals

Products

Drug Discovery

Biochemistry

Lab Analysis

Objectives of the Centre

To strengthen research to enhance the quality of the intellectual property pool through high-quality publications, intellectual properties and technology transfer.

To facilitate the move of important findings and innovations from the bench to the market to contribute to the economic development of the country.

To facilitate collaborations with national and international research institutes/organizations to achieve global research standards. To increase the postgraduate output efficiency to strengthen post-graduate studies on herbal products.

To offer consultancy services to public and private sector institutions at the national and international levels.

To facilitate the development of cosmeceuticals, nutraceuticals, functional foods and herbal medicines.

To disseminate knowledge on plant and herbal materials.

Vision

To introduce novel knowledge on plant materials and herbal products.

Mission

Facilitate ethically, socially and environmentally acceptable research and development programs on plant materials and herbal products.

What We Do

This Centre provides a platform for various aspects of research related to plant materials and herbal products through national and international multidisciplinary and collaborative research, opening up opportunities for academic researchers enabling them and the University of Sri Jayewardenepura to play a dynamic and more meaningful role in national development.

Sri Lankan Fauna & Flora

Sri Lanka is a tropical island with a rich diversity in flora and fauna and thus is considered a biodiversity hotspot. In addition, Sri Lanka has its own rich traditions of indigenous medicinal systems, which have been practised for many centuries based on knowledge handed down from generation to generation. This provides a rich ethnomedical and ethnopharmacological basis for multidisciplinary and collaborative research in plant materials and herbal products.

Research Focus

  • Chemistry and biological activity studies of medicinal plants.
  • Development of cosmeceuticals, nutraceuticals, functional foods and herbal medicines.
  • Taxonomy and identification of unexploited medicinal plants and herbs.
  • Scientific validation of herbal preparations.
  • Chemotaxonomic studies of plant materials.
  • Collection of ethnopharmacological knowledge on medicinal plants.

Research Fields

  • Natural products
  • Plant secondary metabolites
  • Drug discovery
  • Biochemistry
  • Caenorhabditis elegans animal models
  • Mycology and Mushrooms
  • Bioinformatics in drug targets
  • Genetics and Molecular Biology

Our Centre

The field of plant materials and herbal products related research has been recognized by the Sri Lankan government as an area for future investment and growth. The University of Sri Jayewardenepura, identifying the need for enhanced attention in harnessing the potential of readily available indigenous knowledge and herbal resources towards research and development on plant material and herbal products, has established the Centre for Plant Materials and Herbal Products Research in October 2017 by Prof. Chayanika Padumadasa as the founding director under the patronage of the Vice-chancellor Prof. Sampath Amaratunge and the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Professor Sudantha Liyanage at the Faculty of Applied Sciences.