Eranga Wettewa
Postdoctoral Fellow
Visitors: SERC will be open to the public Saturday and Sunday (June 25 and 26) for the Smithsonian's Amateur Radio Group Field Day. The SERC campus will be closed on Wednesday, June 29, starting at 11am for a special event. All visitors should do a self-health check before arriving, and stay home if feeling sick. See our COVID-19 Visitor Guide for where to park, updated maps and hours, and other safety info.
Education
PhD in Biological Sciences (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology), Mississippi State University (2020)
BS in Agriculture (Biotechnology) (Hons.), Wayamba University of Sri Lanka (2012)
Research Interests
Born and bred in a tropical island, Sri Lanka, "Biodiversity" has interested and inspired me throughout my research career. As a research apprentice, I studied the allelic diversity of Sri Lankan traditional aromatic rice varieties. Thereafter, my focus for several years was on the genetic diversity of Orchids. For my dissertation research, I studied the taxonomy, biogeography and floral morphology of Platanthera subgenus Limnorchis (Orchidaceae) using molecular phylogenomics approaches.
With the Smithsonian Biodiversity Genomics Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, my current research at SERC is focused on one of the most important and an enigmatic biotic interactions of Orchids: Orchid Mycorrhizal Associations. I am aiming to understand the signaling between these two groups of species using novel genomic and transcriptomic methods and datasets.
Additionally, I enjoy participating in STEM outreach programs and mentoring future biodiversity scientist.