Dr Sajeewa Maharachchikumbura Young Asian Mycologist – 2017
View(s):Dr Sajeewa Maharachchikumbura was selected Young Asian Mycologist -2017 by theAsian Mycological Association (AMA). The AMA Executive Committee will make the award in Mie, Japan in October.
The AMA congratulated Dr Maharachchikumburafor being placed on Clarivate Analytics’ Highly Cited Researchers list 2018.
“This list recognises world-class Researchers selected for their exceptional Research, demonstrated by the production of multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in Web of Science’, according to the Asian Journal of Mycology.
Dr Sajeewa Maharachchikumbura
The Journal said the recipient was the best known young Mycologist in Asia, for his significant taxonomic contributions on Sordariomycetes and Pestalotiopsis-liked taxa.
He has worked on collecting, identification, classification, molecular systematics and diversity of fungi. At present, he has authored over 115 scientific publications in support of many of the Asian fungi.
According to Google Scholar, his publications have been cited over 6300 times (h-index = 29). Over 30 of his papers (5 as a 1st author) published in the top journals (Q1). In his studies, he has introduced 2 new subclasses, 6 new orders and 16 new families, 15 new genera and 85 new species to the Science.
He has also had a hand as Editor-in-Chief, Handling Editor, Senior Associate Editor and Associate Editor in scholarly journals- Plant Pathology & Quarantine (PPQ)(Editor-in-Chief), Phytotaxa (Editor: Ascomycetes (Hyphomycetes & Coelomcetes), Fungal Diversity(Associate Editor), Mycosphere (Senior Editor), Asian Journal of Mycology (Senior Associate Editor), Studies in Fungi (Senior Editor), Current Research in Environmental & Applied Mycology (Senior Associate Editor), Cryptogamie, Mycologie (Associate Editor).
He majored in Botany at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, between 2005 and 2009, and published his 1st Paper at the graduate school on “Occurrence of Leaf blotch disease (Botryosphaeria sp.) in Ficus religiosa (Bodhi tree) in Sri Lanka” in Ceylon Journal of Biological Sciences.
In 2009, he graduated with honours and was sent to work in the National Herbarium of Sri Lanka, at the Royal Botanical Gardens of Peradeniya. Though he was there only for a short period of time, he gathered a vast knowledge about plant identification, herbarium management and curation, which was significantly useful for his late Research career.
Shortly after, in 2010, he went on to earn a Doctorate in Mycology at Mae Fah Luang University in Thailand, under the direction and guidance of Prof. Kevin Hyde.
He started his Taxonomic studies of the speciose and poorly understood chemically creative genus Pestalotiopsisboth at the inter- as well as the intraspecific level. During his PhD, he awarded Visiting Scholar from the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS) (2010 – 2011) and the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, Netherlands (2012 – 2013).
During his time in IMCAS, he earned the Outstanding Graduate Student award. He assessed suitability of the fungi molecular markers for resolving species in Pestalotiopsis, and introduced 2 new genera; Neopestalotiopsis and Pseudopestalotiopsis, with 59 novel species, and provides a backbone tree for 70 ex-type/epitypified species, which can be used in future studies.
With his knowledge of Pestalotiopsis, he also made contributions to the DNA Barcoding consortium, where they standardize ITS region as the universal barcode for fungi.
Soon after he completed his Doctorate, he accepted an appointment as Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Chiang Rai, Thailand, where he gained a taste for the higher level Taxonomy of fungi.
He has been leading molecular phylogeny research and successfully applied molecular tools coupled with classical taxonomy, to determine phylogenetic relationships among different groups of fungi, especially, which belong to the class Sordariomycetes.
He and his co-authors reviewed 107 families of this 2nd largest class of Ascomycetes, by observing type or representative taxa of each family, and provided a list of accepted genera and keys, an updated outline and a backbone tree for the class.
In 2015, he was hired by Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, as a Postdoctoral Fellow, where he developed a particular interest in the collection and identification of Plant Pathogen in the south China karst region.
He continuously sampled in Chongqing, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan provinces in China and collected numerous fungal isolates, identified several novel pathogens with new diseases records.
Presently, he is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Crop Sciences, College of Agriculture & Marine Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman.
He focuses his Research on the fungal diversity and geographic distribution of taxa, in the poorly sampled desert habits.
Another aspect of their Research is finding an answer to how the microbial diversity changes in the rhizosphere, upon different farming systems.
He is also a caring teacher, co-supervising MSc and PhD Project Students in Crop-Sciences and mentoring dozens of Mycology students in China and Thailand.
He is also a Visiting Professor at the Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Thailand. He has been involved in the development of phylogeny and systematic workshop for international participants, organised by the Mushroom Research Centre, Thailand.
Starting September 2019, he will be a Professor at the School of Life Science & Technology, University of Electronic Science & Technology, China (UESTC), P.R. China.