Menake Piyasena

Dr. Menake Piyasena is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, where he leads the Bio-analytical and Microfluidics research group. His work focuses on developing novel analytical methods for environmental, biological, and chemical applications, including disease diagnostics and pollutant detection.

Education:

• Postdoctoral Researcher, University of New Mexico, 2009
• Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Maryland, 2007
• Postdoctoral Fellow, California State University-Los Angeles, 2005
• Ph.D., Analytical Chemistry, University of New Mexico, 2005
• B.Sc., Chemistry, University of Kelaniya, 1997

Research Interests: Dr. Piyasena's research explores microsphere and polymer monolith-based bio-assemblies for disease diagnostics, acoustic focusing systems for biological particle separation, and microfluidic techniques for environmental contaminant removal. His group specializes in biosensors, acoustofluidic devices, and microfabrication techniques for analytical applications.

Publication Trends: Recent work demonstrates a strong focus on environmental applications of microfluidics, particularly microplastic separation and pharmaceutical degradation analysis. His 15 most recent publications emphasize acoustofluidic particle manipulation, lipobead-based biosensors, and innovative microdevice fabrication for biological and environmental monitoring.

Research Group: Leads the Bio-analytical and Microfluidics laboratory developing portable detection systems for environmental toxins and disease biomarkers.