Dr. Devi Atukorallaya

Biography

Dr. Devi Atukorallaya is a foreign trained dentist and developmental biology researcher in the Department of Oral Biology at the Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry, University of Manitoba. She earned her Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka and obtained her doctoral degree from Tokyo Medical Dental University in Japan. Dr. Atukorallaya continued her research as a postdoctoral fellow at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. With over ten years of experience in teaching and research across academic settings in Sri Lanka, Japan, and Canada, she is actively involved in disseminating scientific knowledge and serves as a role model by delivering lectures on oral health research topics for primary health care workers and the general public. Her research interests focus on morphogenetic mechanisms of craniofacial development, particularly in identifying the etiology of human structural birth defects. Dr. Atukorallaya uses model animals, such as zebrafish and Mexican tetra fish, to understand conserved developmental mechanisms of sensory systems and the craniofacial skeleton. She aims to characterize the molecular mechanisms of taste receptors in Mexican tetra fish, providing novel insights into the taste sensory systems of vertebrates, highlighting the relative importance of taste sensation over vision.

Research Interests

Experience