Olupathage Chandani Dinesh

Dr. O Chandani Dinesh is a postdoctoral researcher at the department of Psychology, MUNL since Sep 2019. The current focus of her research is developing models for prodromal stages of Alzheimer Disorder and to explore novel less-invasive treatment targets for depression. She used rodent models for this. She performed neuroimaging techniques for this laboratory. The focus of Dr. Dinesh's research for Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and PhD has been human nutrition and nutritional biochemistry. In particular, PhD was focused on amino acids, lipids, minerals and vitamins metabolism for parenterally fed premature babies. She used neonatal piglets as a model to study detail metabolism in human premature babies. She used stable isotope labeled precursor amino acid (arginine) to measure the conversion rates of arginine to creatine in her piglet work. Postdoctoral research in Psychology at Memorial University allowed Dr. Dinesh to expand her research in Nutrition to Nutritional Neuroscience. her undergraduate studies were focused on diabetes management via diet in outpatient diabetes patients and nutritional assessment of pregnant mothers and their newborn in Sri Lanka.

Dr. Dinesh participates virtual laboratory meetings with a research groups at Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. The focus of this research is beta carotene metabolism and intestinal lipid absorption, metabolism, and placental beta carotene transfer and lipid metabolism.

Dr. Dinesh also a per course instructor to the Department of Biochemistry since 2018. Dr. Dinesh serves Trainee Leadership Committee for Canadian Nutrition Society. She represents Memorial University of Newfoundland & Labrador in this committee.   

Her long-term goal is to study normal heathy brain neurocircuitries and changes to those circuits with respect to diet and disease prevention.