Former chemistry collaboration in Sri Lanka
Ceylon Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research (CISIR)
The collaboration with Ceylon Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research (CISIR), which was ISP’s initial contact with Sri Lanka in 1972, stayed at the fellowship stage. This was due to the fact that the institute came under a new ministry in 1990, with changed policies and chief executives, which lead to the end of the collaboration in the following years.
Ceylon Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research (CISIR) is today called Industrial Technology Institute (ITI), organised under the Ministry of Technology and Research.
- IPICS SRI01/1 - Application of essential oils and aromatic products (supported 1972-1992)
- IPICS SRI01/2 - Studies of medicinal plants of Sri Lanka (supported 1973- 1992)
- IPICS SRI01/3 - Food science and technology (supported 1979-1988)
- IPICS SRI01/4 - Carbohydrate chemistry (supported 1982-1988)
- IPICS SRI01/4 - Corrosion chemistry (supported 1988-1989)
IPICS SRI02 - Biochemistry, molecular biology and gene technology
The research group at University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, received ISP support between 1979 and 2002. The group also recevied Sida/SAREC funding between 1987 and 2010.
Objectives
The collaboration initially aimed to strengthen scientific capacity in Sri Lanka by training MSc and PhD students and establishing biochemistry research programmes relevant to national development. Early research focused on medicinal plants with antidiabetic properties, enzymology, and drug metabolism.
During the 1980s, the project expanded into molecular biology, gene technology, and research on tropical parasitic diseases, including the development of DNA-based diagnostic methods for genetic disorders.
With this expansion, the objectives broadened to develop the laboratory into a regional center of excellence for training scientists from Sri Lanka and neighbouring countries, while also promoting regular workshops and seminars in collaboration with Swedish and international researchers.
Achievements
The ISP support has over the period, 1979–2002, resulted in 10 PhD graduations and 44 MSc/MPhil graduations. The group published 21 papers in international journals, 9 publications in local and regional journals and made 32 conference contributions.
The main collaborating host institution for staff and students has been Uppsala University, Sweden. Students have also received training at Stockholm University and at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, both in Sweden, and at the Bangladesh Institute of Research & Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM), Bangladesh.
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ISP’s monetary contributions were relatively small in scale compared to the Sida/SAREC funding. In total, Sida/ SAREC invested close to SEK 26 million while ISP invested SEK 2.5 million. ISP coordinated major parts of the Sida/SAREC contributions. Other sources of funding of the group during the collaboration period include grants from University of Colombo, IFS, NARESA and TWAS.
A follow-up study from 2017 showed that the research group was still active at that time. Since the inauguration of the institute in 2004, 75 MSc students and 17 PhD students have graduated. In 2014, 34 MSc students and 22 PhD students were pursuing their studies at IBMBB. Since the establishment of the institute, the group has had 43 publications in international journals and 7 publications in national journals.
IPICS SRI03 - Bioactive compound in the control of plant diseases
The research group at University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, received ISP support between 1993 and 2002. ISP support was phased-out when sustainability was reached.
IPICS SRI03/1 - Isolation and structural studies of polysaccharides from plant and microbial sources
The research group at University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, received ISP support between 1981 and 1991.
Professor Nimal Savitri Kumar, group leader of IPICS SRI03/1 and SRI03, was in the beginning of the 1980s, working on seaweed polysaccharides at University of Peradeniya. She had a PhD and Postdoc from University of London, UK, but in Sri Lanka her research field was an unfamiliar and unexplored topic. The lack of facilities for research in polysaccharides chemistry at University of Peradeniya posed a problem for the progress of her research. The first active group in polysaccharide chemistry at the university could, however, be established after one of her students returned from an ISP fellowship at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), combined with small equipment support.
Before the start of the ISP support organic chemists at the department only worked with natural product chemistry. All spectroscopic data, however, needed measurements abroad, which usually took between three and six months to accomplish. The facilities available at the department were only suitable for students at the MSc level. However, many of the staff members at the department did have a PhD degree obtained from universities abroad, and had research grants from the National Science Foundation and the International Foundation for Science. Research was going on to the extent possible with the available facilities.
IPICS SRI03/2 - Essential oils and insect related chemistry
The research group at University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, received ISP supportbetween 1981 and 1992.
IPICS SRI03/3 - Mineral chemistry
The research group at University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, received ISP support between 1984 and 1991.
IPICS SRI03/4 - Sri Lankan plants for anti-tumour agents
The research group at University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, received ISP support between 1983 and 1989.
IPICS SRI03 - Bioactive compound in the control of plant diseases
The research group at Department of chemistry at University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, received ISP support between 1993-2002. The ISP support ended due to the fact that the group came to received substantial support from Sida/SAREC.
IPICS SRI03 was created through a merge of IPICS SRI03/1 and SRI03/2.
Background
In 1981, Professor Vijaya Kumar, group leader of the research groups IPICS SRI03/2 and SRI03, was awarded the first ever regional fellowship from the ISP Chemistry Programme to Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. During the following years, two of his students were granted ISP fellowships and went for research training in Sweden, as there was an identified need to train students in this area and to access mass spectrometers to study essential oils. Upon their return to Sri Lanka, a group started to form in Essential oils and insect related chemistry (IPICS SRI03/2).
In the beginning of the 1990s, the Coconut Research Institute and the Tea Research Institute in Sri Lanka recognised the expertise of the chemistry groups at the University of Peradeniya and began collaborative research on some of the insects attacking coconut and tea. A project on the Shot-hole borer beetle of tea, involving the study of an associated fungus and its polysaccharides, gave the two Peradeniya groups (SRI03/1 and SRI03/2) an opportunity to work together.
The joint research worked well, and the two groups were therefore merged into one group in 1993, named Bioactive compound in the control of plant diseases (SRI:03).
Group leader was Prof Vijaya Kumar, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. The group was supported from early 1980s to 2002, when Sida/Sarec started to support research in Sri Lanka.
The group continued after ISP support ended, but activities faded out when the group leaders retired.
Acheivements for all chemistry groups at University of Peradeniya
The ISP collaboration with all research groups at the Department of Chemistry between 1981 and 2002 resulted in 13 PhD graduations and 14 MSc/MPhil graduations. The groups have together published 68 papers in international journals, 5 articles in local and regional journals, and have produced 113 conference contributions.
Students from the groups were sent to several host institutions in Sweden, i.e. Karolinska Institutet, the Mid-Sweden University, KTH - Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and Uppsala University. In addition, students have also been trained at the City of Westminster College, UK, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India, and the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology, Kenya.
IPICS SRI04 - Biotechnology of starch and sucrose (palmyrah) based products
The research group at University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, received ISP support between 1985 and 2004. ISP support was phased-out when sustainability was reached.
The group leader and a graduate from the group together started a biotechnology company for the production of glucose in Sri Lanka.
A follow-up study from 2016, showed that the research group was still active at that time. The original group leader retired in 1997 and was succeeded by the first PhD graduate from the group. She was also the Vice-Chancellor of the university, but still actively conducting research at the department. Both PhD and MPhil students were enrolled.
ISP Chemistry facilitated an application to Sida in 2000, which resulted in a Sida/SAREC grant for the project “Thermostable depolymerase from thermophiles”, continuing until 2010. After the end of Sida support, funding has come from Fonterra-Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan National Research council. The group established collaboration with Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, India, and with the Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. The group has maintained the collaboration with their host group at Lund University, where MPhil- and PhD students are sent for training.
As Jaffna was severely affected by the civil war in Sri Lanka, which lasted during the whole period of the collaboration, most of the students who graduated from the group left Sri Lanka to seek opportunities abroad. A follow-up study from 2017 showed that Professor Vasanthy Arasaratnam and Dr S. Balakumar were the only ISP-associated staff members left at the university.
Achievements
During the period of collaboration, 5 PhD students graduated and 8 MSc/MPhil students. The group had 30 publications in international journals and 12 in national and regional ones. In addition, the group made 130 conference contributions.
IPICS SRI05 - Improvement of low-cost weaning food with a view to combating nutritional anaemia
The research group at University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, received ISP pilot support between 1986 and 1989, but did not receive any further funding after this since it never evolved to research groups.
IPICS SRI06 - Chemical education
A person at University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, received ISP fellowship support and travel assistance between 1975 and 1991 for the purpose of studying aspects of chemical education on the high school-level in Sweden and to write general chemistry books in Sinhala.
IPICS SRI:07 - Nutritional Biochemistry
The research group at Department of Biochemistry at University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, received support between 1995 and 2009.
Group leader Professor Errol Jansz retired in 2007 and was succeeded by Professor Sagarika Ekanayake who received her PhD training through ISP Chemistry.
Background
The initiation of the research group in nutritional biochemistry at University of Sri Jayewardenepura started through links established in the early 1970s with the Ceylon Institute of Scientific Industrial Research (CISIR). ISP had a good relationship and collaboration with the Director of the Institute, Professor Errol Jansz, but as the institute came under another ministry in the 1990s the executive directors were replaced and the collaboration could not continue as before. Professor Jansz subsequently left the institute and joined the newly established Faculty of Medical Sciences at University of Sri Jayewardenepura, as the Head of Department of Biochemistry.
The cooperation with CISIR was viewed as successful from ISP’s side and great potential was therefore seen in continuing the collaboration from University of Sri Jayewardenepura. The Medical Faculty and the Department of Biochemistry at University of Sri Jayawardenepura was established in 1993. The group had to start from scratch with limited resources. They lacked basic instruments such as analytical balances for measuring quantities of chemicals, and facilities to keep animals involved in project trials. No MSc programme was available at the time and the first MPhil student at the department was registered in 1997.
After a visit by the ISP Chemistry Director, Professor Rune Liminga, and a proposal from Professor Jansz, it was concluded that the department was in great need of training staff members and students. Professor Jansz was given a small pilot grant for the academic years 1994/95 to 1995/96. The pilot support was viewed as successful and long-term funding continued.
Objectives
The research group in nutritional biochemistry mainly aimed at solving specific research problems in the field. The work of the group was divided into different sub-projects.
- The major focus of the group from the inception was on nutritional and bioactivity studies of indigenous plant foods and food materials some of which were underutilized; sword bean, the velvet bean, Palmyrah fruit pulp and shoot flour.
- Research on carotenoids of Sri Lankan fruits and vegetables was another aspect which was studied in detail.
- On the bioactivity front the activities and the fractions or active ingredients responsible for hypoglycaemic, hypocholesterolaemic, cytotoxic and neurotoxic activities from a variety of plant sources were researched. From 2005 the major focus was on to study the glycemic indices (GI) of typical Sri Lankan foods with the intention of providing the GI data to physicians, dieticians and nutritionists.
Acheivements
During the years of collaboration the group has graduated 6 PhD students out of which all is still in the country and employed in academic institutions. 12 MPhil students have graduated over the years of support, all except two are still in Sri Lanka today. The first ever MPhil of the faculty graduated through ISP support. The group has published 16 papers in international journals and 28 papers in regional and national journals; in addition they have produced 31 conference reports. The first ever paper in an international (SCI) journal of the faculty came through ISP support. The research work was mainly conducted on foods or raw materials specific to Sri Lanka, and as a consequence the group faced difficulties in publishing in international journals.
The main collaborating host institutions for training of sandwich students and staff members have been Lund University, KTH - Royal Institute of Technology, and Chalmers University of Technology. In addition, training has also taken place at Mahidol University, Thailand, the Bangladesh Institute of Research & Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM), and the H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, Karachi University, Pakistan.
A database with glycaemic indices values of the foods was established by members of the supported research group in biochemistry at University of Sri Jayewardenepura and was in 2009 made available to the doctors practicing at the Family Practice Centre, University of Sri Jayewardenepura to use in the advising of diet plans of patients. The data was distributed via TV and at a national exhibition. In addition, the group has contributed to the development of food based dietary guidelines that has been developed by the Nutrition Division of the Health Ministry.
More information
ISP support helped to build up a laboratory in nutritional biochemistry at the university.
During the period 1995–2009, ISP supported the group with aprox SEK 3.4 million. Other sources of funding have been University of Sri Jayewardenapura, IFS, NRC, NSF and the Sri Lankan Government initi-ative “Improving Relevance and Quality of Undergraduate Education”, adding up to approximately SEK 0.3 million.
A follow-up study from 2017 showed that the group continued its activities at that time. All the ISP graduates had their own research groups, mainly supported by grants from the university and the Sri Lankan National Science Foundation. Both PhD and MPhil students were enrolled. The Department of Biochemistry was the most productive department at the faculty publication-wise (SCI journals) and in terms of number of MPhil-and PhD students. Since the phase-out of ISP support in 2009, the group has published 35 papers in international and regional journals, had 7 publications in national journals and made 120 national and international conference contributions.
Most of the equipment obtained through ISP funding is working, and additional equipment has been bought through Sri Lankan grants after the end of ISP support. Beside PhD- and MPhil students from the department, undergraduate students and staff from other faculties are utilising the laboratory.
Read the interview with Professor Sagarika Ekanayake.
Learn more about ISP-Sri Lankan collaboration in The International Science Programme in Sri Lanka and Thailand: Three decades of research cooperation. pdf, 3 MB.