Prof. Pradeepa Bandaranayake is currently serving as the Director of Agricultural Biotechnology Centre, and a Senior Lecturer attached to the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya. She has four postgraduate degrees; PhD from the University of California Davis with Designated Emphasis and Biotechnology, MSc in Horticulture and Agronomy from the University of California Davis and a MSc in Biotechnology and an MPhil Degree in Crop Science from the University of Peradeniya.
Winning the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship from the Government of the USA was the turning point in her life. As a Fulbright Fellow, she joined the University of California, Davis and followed two degrees in parallel, MSc and a PhD. During her graduate studies, she secured several prestigious fellowships and awards offered to outstanding students and researchers including, University of California- Davis Plant Science Graduate Student Researcher Fellowship, Monsanto Scholarship, John and Terry Kubota Scholarship for Plant Sciences for two consecutive years, UC Davis Graduate Fellowship, Jastro-Shields Research Award for three consecutive years, Margosa Foundation Fellowship and IAPB Fellowship. She still has collaborative projects with UC Davis and visits every year to pursue collaborative work.
Currently, Pradeepa conducts her research in molecular biology, biochemistry and genomics, leading several foreign and locally funded projects. She has co-authored over 15 SCI journal publications, over 10 local journal publications, 5 book chapters, over 40 abstracts and extended abstracts and many conference presentations. Currently she supervises nine PhD students and seven MPhil students. She serves in several national level committees in biotechnology and related areas.
She won the Presidential Awards for Scientific Publications for year 2010, 2012, 2103 and 2105 and the NRC Merit Award for 2011.  She has recently secured several other prestigious fellowships and awards including the Cochran Fellowship from the US Department of Agriculture, Endeavour Research Fellowship from the Australian Government, Annual Research Excellence Award Faculty of Agriculture University of Peradeniya, the Early Career Fellowship from the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World, an UN organization and the SL-CARP awards for Excellence in Agriculture Research 2019.

Agricultural Biotechnology Centre, Faculty of Agriculture

Conducts her research in molecular biology, biochemistry and genomics, leading several foreign and locally funded projects.

B.Sc. Sp in Agriculture

University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

M.Sc. in Biotechnology, MPhil in Crop Science, MSc. in Hort and Agronomy

University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Ph.D. in Plant Biology with Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology

University of California, Davis

Endeavour Research Fellow, Plant Genomics Centre, Department of Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Australia, October 2018-February 2019

Visiting Researcher/Scientist, Department of Plant Sciences- UC Davis- October-December, 2012, June-September 2014, October-December 2015, October-December 2016, June-July, 2017

Consultant, Scientist, Lankem PLC, R &D, Special project on development of a P-fertilizer from Epplawala Rock Phosphaste, July 2015-July 2016

Chandrasekara, C. H. W. M. R. B., Sumanarathne, R. A. P. I., & Bandaranayake, P. C. G. Centellaasiatica Morphotypes Differ Genetically as well as Macronutrients Content, Total Phenolic Content and Chemical Fingerprints of Leaves, (2020)  Journal  of  Agricultural  Sciences-Sri  Lanka, 15(1).

Suriyagoda, L., Sirisena, D., Kekulandara, D., Bandaranayake, P., Samarasinghe, G., & Wissuwa, M. Biomass and nutrient accumulation rates of rice cultivars differing in their growth duration when grown in fertile and low-fertile soils, (2020) Journal of Plant Nutrition, 43(2), 251-269.

Kanchanamala, R. W. M. K., & Bandaranayake, P. C. G. An efficient and rapid Rhizobium rhizogenes root transformation protocol for Lemna minor. (2019) Plant Biotechnology Reports, 1-9. 4. Attanayake, R., Rajapaksha, R., Weerakkody, P. Bandaranayake, P.C.G. The Effect of Maturity Status on Biochemical Composition, Antioxidant Activity, and Anthocyanin Biosynthesis Gene Expression in a Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) Cultivar with Red Flowers, Yellow Peel, and Pinkish Arils. (2019)Journal of Plant Growth Regulation, pp.1-15.

Presidential awards for scientific publications in molecular biology for several years

SL-CARP National Research Excellence Award

Fulbright award

Member of the working committee on Biotechnology- 2019 June to date

Member of the national committee on Agricultural Biotechnology of Sri Lanka 2013 - to date

Member of the steering committee of Young Scientists Forum (YSF) of Sri Lanka, 2015, 2016

Member of the scientific committee of 14th World Congress  of  Parasitic  Plants,  16th  to  29th  June 2017, in Asilomar, California, USA

Chair of the ceremonial committee of One Health International conference organized by University of Peradeniya and University of California, Davis, 5th and 6th September 2014, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka