Thesis title: Exploring the genetics of precocious flowering for breeding improved Australian mango cultivars Principal Supervisor: Dr. Stephanie Kerr Expected final thesis submission date: Before 31 December 2027 CAB Research program: Genetics and Molecular Biology
Sihini Waidyaratne is a PhD student in horticultural tree genomics at QUT.
She completed her bachelors in Plant Biotechnology at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJP), Sri Lanka. Afterwards, she worked as a teaching assistant at USJP and a volunteer research intern with the Department of Agriculture, Sri Lanka, gaining both field and lab experience in plant propagation. Before moving to Australia, she was also a lecturer at the University of Colombo. Her teaching and research background in fruit crop breeding sparked her interest to join the Tree Genomics Group to pursue her doctoral research.
Her project explores different functional genomics approaches such as genome resequencing, RNA sequencing analysis, Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping, and RNA interference to uncover genes and pathways to accelerate flowering in Australian mango. Apart from research, Sihini enjoys nature walks, music, and capturing moments through photography.