Aruni Malalasekera, Ph.D.

Position

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Email Address

Aruni.Malalasekera@sckans.edu

Phone

(620) 229-6237

Bio

Education

Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry 2016 - Kansas State University

B.Sc. Pharmacy Special (Honors) 2009 - University of Colombo, Sri Lanka

Research Interests

Developing novel nanoplatforms for the detection of cancer-related proteases, arginase and other posttranslational enzymes

Targeted drug delivery
Organic Synthesis of small molecule drugs and drug candidates

Selected Publications

Malalasekera, A. P.; Bossmann, S. H.; Zhu, G., Magnetic Nanoformulations for Enhanced Drug  Delivery and Retention. In Magnetic Nanomaterials: Applications in Catalysis and Life Sciences, Bossmann, S. H.; Wang, H., Eds. The Royal Society of Chemistry: London, 2017, in print.

Malalasekera, A. P.; Wang, H.; Samarakoon, T. N.; Udukala, D. N.; Yapa, A. S.; Ortega, R.; Shrestha, T. B.; Alshetaiwi, H.; McLaurin, E. J.; Troyer, D. L. A nanobiosensor for the detection of arginase activity. Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine. 2016.                                                                

Udukala, D. N.; Wang, H.; Wendel, S. O.; Malalasekera, A. P.; Samarakoon, T. N.; Yapa, A. S.; Abayaweer, G.; Basel, M. T.; Maynez, P.; Ortega, R.; Toledo, Y.; Bossmann, L.; Robinson, C.; Janik, K. E.; Koper, O. B.; Li, P.; Motamedi, M.; Higgins, D. A.; Gadbury, G.; Zhu, G.; Troyer, D. L.; Bossmann, S. H., Early Breast Cancer Screening Using Iron/Iron Oxide-Based Nanoplatforms with Sub-Femtomolar Limits of Detection. Beilstein J. Nanotechnol 2016, 7, 364-373.

Dalecki, A. G.; Malalasekera, A. P.; Schaaf, L.; Bossmann, S. H.; Kutsch, O.; Wolschendorf, F., A Copper-biased Combinatorial High Throughput Screen for Staphylococcal Inhibitors for Reinvigorating Exhausted Chemical Libraries. Metallomix 2016, 8, 412--421.

Fernando, A.; Malalasekera, A. P.; Yu, J.; Shrestha, T. B.; McLaurin, E. J.; Bossmann, S. H.; Aikens, C. M., Refined Insights in the Photochromic spiro-Dihydroindolizine/Betaine System. J. Phys. Chem. A 2015,119 (37), 9621-9629                                                          Office: Beech 201