Dr. Deepani Fernando

Senior Research Officer

Scabies

About

Dr Deepani Fernando is a Senior Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute working on the molecular aspects of scabies mite towards the development of new therapeutics and diagnostics for scabies. She is a Veterinarian graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. She completed her PhD in molecular biology of Sarcoptes scabiei at the QIMR Berghofer and the University of Queensland, Australia. She was a Lecturer and then a Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Parasitology at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka before she joined as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Scabies laboratory at the QIMR Berghofer. She is also an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Queensland University of Technology.

Research Skills

Her expertise include, medical and veterinary infectious diseases, molecular biology, enzyme engineering and pre-clinical drug testing. Dr. Fernando is the first to establish the RNAi technology in scabies mites, Sarcoptes scabiei. She characterised a group of mite proteins that interfere with host coagulation system which was later discovered as a potential diagnostic target for scabies. The scabies group at QIMR Berghofer, headed by A/Prof Katja Fischer, is one of the few research groups working towards solutions to alleviate scabies and associated sequelae and has provided substantial knowledge in biological, molecular and clinical aspects. Dr. Fernando is currently working towards development of a highly sensitive, specific and affordable point-of-care diagnostics for scabies, characterising scabies itch and proposing itch targeted therapies to prevent scabies associated life-threatening sequelae and improve patients’ quality of life, and investigating the pharmaceutical potential of novel drug candidates for scabies.