Mohan Jayantha Edirisinghe is a Sri Lankan bioengineer who is the Bonfield Chair of Biomaterials in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University College London. Edirisinghe studies new materials processing methodologies, with a focus on the development of new biostructures. He was appointed an Order of the British Empire in the 2021 New Year Honours for his services to Biomedical Engineering.
Early life and education
Edirisinghe is from Sri Lanka. He was educated at the St Thomas College, Mount Lavinia. He studied at the University of Moratuwa, in a joint course between the British Council and University of Leeds. He eventually moved to Leeds for his postgraduate studies, where he completed a doctorate on alloy additions and how they impact the properties of cast iron.
Research and career
Edirisinghe works on materials processing for healthcare and drug delivery. He has developed complex nanofibres that can be used to generate antimicrobial filters, and nanobubbles that facilitate new modes of drug delivery. He developed electrohydrodyanmic printing methods (e.g. electro-spinning and electro-spraying) for biomedical applications. In 2010, Edirisinghe founded AtoCap, a spin-out company who focus on the encapsulation of generic drugs (e.g. antibiotics and chemotherapeutics) into a complex capsule. He has studied the protein composition of milk, and identified that casein, which contributes 80% of the protein in dairy milk, has anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties. Edirisinghe demonstrated that it could be incorporated into biodegradable plastic bandages to accelerate wound healing.
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Edirisinghe worked with the Royal Academy of Engineering to create new respirator masks. His antiviral masks were developed with the Government of Kuwait. He also worked on air filters that could be used in care homes, schools and on public transport.
Awards and honours
2005 Royal Society Brian Mercer (Innovation) Feasibility Award
2010 Materials Science Venture Prize
2012 UK Biomaterials Society Presidents Prize
2015 Elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
2017 Royal Academy of Engineering Armourers & Brasier's Prize
2017 IOM3 Chapman Medal
2020 Elected Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences
2023 Royal Society Clifford Paterson Medal and Lecture
2023 Royal Academy of Engineering Colin Campbell Mitchell Award
Selected publications
References
Living people
Alumni of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia
Alumni of the University of Leeds
Academics of University College London
Sri Lankan emigrants to the United Kingdom
Bioengineers
Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering
21st-century British engineers
Members of the Order of the British Empire
Year of birth missing (living people)