Dr. Lochana C. Menikarachchi

Dr. Lochana C. Menikarachchi

My interdisciplinary background has equipped me with the ability to apply innovative software engineering techniques to tackle complex problems in both chemical and life sciences.

After completing my undergraduate degree with a strong foundation in both chemistry and computer science, I decided to pursue a doctoral degree in computational biochemistry. My thesis work at the University of Connecticut primarily involved coding a new quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) algorithm. Shortly after graduation, I had the opportunity to design and build a machine learning product for automated chemical structure identification in metabolomics.

During my three-year tenure as a postdoctoral research fellow at the School of Pharmacy, University of Connecticut, I developed several software products, including MolFind, IIMDB, and DASI. After this experience, I returned to Sri Lanka to join WSO2 as a Senior Technical Lead. At WSO2, I led the development team responsible for creating WSO2 Machine Learner.

From there, I transitioned back to academia at the University of Peradeniya, where I have been working for the past 10 years conducting research in life sciences and machine learning. As a faculty member, I contributed to the development of our institute’s e-learning policy. During my tenure, I also served as an administrator for several Learning Management Systems (LMSs).