Prof. Sisira Siribaddana

Executive Committee Member

Qualifications

MBBS, MD, FCCP

Professor of Medicine, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka

National Institute of Fundamental Studies

Introduction

The National Institute of Fundamental Studies (NIFS) is a government multidisciplinary research institute in Sri Lanka, established in 1981. The NIFS is the only Institute in Sri Lanka which exists for the sole purpose of conducting research in natural and social sciences and philosophy for national development and scientific advancement.

The NIFS is engaged in basic, high caliber research focusing on 16 different thematic research areas under 6 research departments. The research carried out at the NIFS is also initiated as a response to burning national problems in Sri Lanka.

Besides engaging in basic research, the NIFS popularizes science, especially among school children, trains postgraduate researchers in the country to prevent brain drain and disseminates scientific knowledge to the wider public.

University of Colombo

Introduction

Rajarata University of Sri Lanka is a public university located in the historic city of Mihintale, near Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. The Rajarata University of Sri Lanka was established as the eleventh University in Sri Lanka and was opened on 31 January 1996 by President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Over the years, the University has developed to become a centre of excellence in higher education in the North Central Province as well as in Sri Lanka. The academic programs of the RUSL are offered by six faculties namely; Technology, Agriculture, Applied Sciences, Management Studies, Medicine and Allied Sciences and Social Sciences and Humanities. The main administrative complex, the Faculties of Applied Sciences, Technology, Management Studies and Social Sciences and Humanities are located at Mihintale while the Faculty of Agriculture and Faculty of Medicine Allied Sciences are located at Puliyankulama and Saliyapura, respectively.^[2]

Rajarata University of Sri Lanka

Introduction

Medical Research Council

Introduction

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is responsible for co-coordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is part of United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI), which came into operation 1 April 2018, and brings together the UK’s seven research councils, Innovate UK and Research England. UK Research and Innovation is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The MRC focuses on high-impact research and has provided the financial support and scientific expertise behind a number of medical breakthroughs, including the development of penicillin and the discovery of the structure of DNA. Research funded by the MRC has produced 32 Nobel Prize winners to date.

University of Sydney

Introduction

The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country’s six sandstone universities. It was one of the first universities in the world to admit students solely on academic merit and opened their doors to women on the same basis as men. The university comprises eight academic faculties and university schools, through which it offers bachelor, master and doctoral degrees.

The University of Sydney is a member of the Group of Eight, CEMS, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities and the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

National Health and Medical Research Council

Introduction

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is the main statutory authority of the Australian Government responsible for medical research. It was the eighth largest research funding body in the world in 2016, and NHMRC-funded research is globally recognized for its high quality. Around 45% of all Australian medical research from 2008–12 was funded by the federal government, through the NHMRC.

As an independent arm of the Department of Health, the NHMRC funds high quality health and medical research, builds research capability in Australia, support the translation of health and medical research into better health outcomes, and promote the ethics and integrity in research. Non-health research is funded by the Australian Research Council.

King’s College London

Introduction

King’s College London (informally King’s or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King’s was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington.^[7][8] In 1836, King’s became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London.^[9] It is one of the oldest university-level institutions in England. In the late 20th century, King’s grew through a series of mergers, including with Queen Elizabeth College and Chelsea College of Science and Technology (in 1985), the Institute of Psychiatry (in 1997), the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery (in 1998).

Wellcome Trust

Introduction

The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of GlaxoSmithKline) to fund research to improve human and animal health. The aim of the Trust is to “support science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone.” It had a financial endowment of £29.1 billion in 2020,^[4] making it the fourth wealthiest charitable foundation in the world.

Colombo Twin and Singleton Study – Development Project (CoTaSS 3)

Categories:

Ongoing, Project

Tags:

CoTaSS 3

Introduction

Examined Causal mechanisms behind intergenerational transmission of nutritional choices and their association with metabolic risk indicators

Participants

152 Female Twins
152 Offspring from COTASS-2 were followed up

Collaborators

Funders

Medical Research Council

Objectives

Establishing new collaborations between research institutions in
Sri Lanka
Development of a Sri Lankan specific food composition database
Developing skills in Macro and Micro element analysis in Food and Biological samples
Statistical genetics skills development
Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE)
Conducting a pilot study

Description

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) globally have undergone rapid urbanisation, and changes in demography and health behaviours. Whilst life expectancy at birth for many LMICs has improved, disease burden from non-communicable diseases, and years lived with disability have risen.

In Sri Lanka, the setting for this proposed work, cardio-vascular disease is the leading cause of mortality (one in ten Sri Lankans has diabetes), and an exponential increase in hospitalisations is seen for these diseases. High prevalence estimates of cardio-vascular risk factors, including hypertension (18-20%), dysglycaemia (14-20%) and obesity (9-36%) have been reported.

Nutritional and dietary choices are key modifiable risk factors for both cardio-vascular disease and diabetes as well as their risk factors. However, looking at genetically sensitive study data, we know that they are heritable influenced behaviours but also that the genes associated with nutritional/dietary preferences are also correlated with the genes that influence metabolic risk. We also know that dietary choices are transmitted across generations: poor diet in parents causes poor eating behaviours in children which then lead to cardio vascular disease in the next generation. However, it is not clear what the mechanism of this effect might be: is it due to a direct behavioral impact or due to transmitted genetic factors and other family level variable like SES that can cause the association, and can we disentangle these effects?

There are different routes through which transmission may occur. First, the association may be environmental, due to the child growing up in a family who provide nutritional diet (and even earlier taste development, in utero and during breastfeeding). Second, the association may be due to passive gene-environment correlation whereby the child inherits a disposition for a nutritional preference (e.g. a high fat diet) and a disposition for cardio-vascular disease but also the parent’s provided unhealthy dietary environment during childhood and adolescence.

The ‘Children-of-Twins’ design estimates the causal effects of parental on offspring traits while control for possible confounding familial effects. Using this design will help us understand the mechanisms underpinning intergenerational transmission of diet on cardio-vascular disease. This is of crucial importance given the increases in poor nutrition and metabolic risk factors in Sri Lanka and other South-Asian populations.

The current proposal will develop an interdisciplinary project which will use advanced structural equation modelling methods of data from twins and their children to help us understand the mechanisms underlying intergenerational transmission of diet and nutrition within families and how these impact on cardio-vascular disease.

The project represents a collaborative effort across KCL, UCL, Keele and the Institute for Research Development in Sri Lanka.

We seek to build on an existing resource based in Sri Lanka – the Colombo Twin and Singleton Study (CoTaSS), a well-phenotyped, epidemiological sample. This resource will be expanded by following up our current participants and extending the sample to include their children.