B.Sc Honours in Zoology (1994); University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka 

Ph.D. (2005); University of Colombo, Sri Lanka 

Visiting Scholar in Medical Entomology (2012); University of Manchester, UK 

Visiting Scholar in Insect Transformation (2014); University of Maryland-College Park, USA 

Positions and Employment 

01/2020 to Present: Senior Professor & Chair of Zoology, Department of Zoology, University of Jaffna

2012-2020 Professor in Zoology 

2005- 2011 Senior Lecturer in Zoology

1998- 2004 Lecturer in Zoology, University of Jaffna 

1997-1998 Research Assistant, Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka 

1996-1997 Assistant Lecturer in Zoology, University of Jaffna 

1994-1995 Demonstrator in Zoology, University of Jaffna 

Professional Qualification 

Chartered Biologist (Sri Lanka) 

Fellowship 

Asian Development Bank Training Fellowship at Liverpool School of Tropical (June-July,2004)

Swiss NSF Scientific Exchange Program at the University of Zurich (Dec, 2024-May, 2025)

Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society (FRES) 

Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka

Honors 

• National Science Foundation (Sri Lanka) Research Award -2013

• President’s Research Award for Scientific Publications -2000, 2006, 2007, 2010 – 2015, 2017, 2018.

2019 NSF (Sri Lanka) awards: (i) Certificate of Commendation for the research project titled ‘Development of DNA based techniques to differentiate Anopheles culicifacies species B from species E and An.subpictus from An. sundaicus’ and  (ii) SUSRED award 

2019 – Prof Kandiah Balasubramanium Gold Medal. Awarded by the Jaffna Science Association 

2003 Postgraduate Research Award – 2003 awarded by Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS)

2026

Pettersureskumar, P., Eswaramohan, T., Sivabalakrishnana^, K., Raveendran^, S., Surendran^, S.N. (2026). Preimaginal development of Anopheles stephensi in brackish water habitats and its co-occurrence with dengue vectors in coastal habitats of northern Sri Lanka. Ceylon Journal of Science, 55 (3): 737-744. DOI:https://doi.org/10.4038/cjs.v55i3.8972

Balcazar, D., Adams, E., Surendran, S.N. et al. (2026).  Investigating genetic differentiation between brackish and fresh water collections of the arboviral vector Aedes aegypti. Parasites and Vectors https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-025-07239-3

2025

Crawford, J.E., Balcazar, D., Redmond, S., …., Surendran, S.N et al. (2025). 1206 genomes reveal origin and movement of Aedes aegypti driving increased dengue risk. Science. 389: 6766. DOI: 10.1126/science.ads3732

Sivabalakrishnan, K., Hemphill, A., Karunaratne, S.H.P.P., Naguleswaran, A., Roditi, I., Surendran, S.N. & Ramasamy, R. (2025). Preimaginal development of Aedes aegypti L. (Diptera: Culicidae) in brackish water gives rise to adult mosquitoes with thicker cuticles and greater insecticide resistance. Medical and Veterinary Entomology. 1–15.  https:/doi.org/10.1111/mve.12799.

Ramasamy, R., Chen, X., Zhang, J., Sivabalakrishnan, K., Arthiyan, S. & Surendran, S.N. (2025). Lectin Microarray Analysis of Salivary Gland Glycoproteins from the Arboviral Vector Aedes aegypti and the Malaria Vector Anopheles stephensi. Journal of Vector Borne Diseases. 62326–331. DOI: 10.4103/JVBD.JVBD_147_24.

Corley, M.K., Cosme, L.V., Armbruster, P.A., ….., Surendran, S.N. et al. (2025). Population structure of the invasive Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, in Europe. Ecology and Evolution. 15:e71009. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71009.

2024

Sudarshani, K.A.M., Eswaramohan, T. T., Murugananthan, A., Wegiriya, H.C.E., de Silva, V.N.H., Liyanage, P.L.A.N. & Surendran, S.N. (2024). Distribution changes of cutaneous leishmaniasis: A postulated risk of disease transmission in Hambantota, Sri Lanka. Journal of Vector Borne Diseases, 61(2), 275-280. DOI: 10.4103/jvbd.jvbd_117_23.

Surendran, S.N. & Karunaratne, S.H.P.P. (2024). Taxonomy, bio-ecology and insecticide resistance of anopheline vectors of malaria in Sri Lanka. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21, 814. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21070814.

Bharathy, P., Suthakar, K., Wijeyamohan, S. & Surendran, S.N. (2024). Geospatial Analysis of Land Use/ Cover Changes in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. International Journal of Geoinformatics, 20(5), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.52939/ijg.v20i5.3223.

Gomez-Palacio, A., Morinaga, G., Turner, P., Micieli, M.V., Elnour, M., Salim, B., Surendran, S.N., Ramasamy, R., Powell, J., Soghigian, J. & Gloria-Soria, A. (2024). Robustness in population-structure and demographic-inference results derived from the Aedes aegypti SNP chip and whole-genome sequencing data. G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics, jkae082. https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkae082.

Cosme, L.V., Corley, M., Johnson, T., Severson, D.W., Yan, G., Wang, X., Beebe, N., Maynard, A., Bonizzoni, M., Khorramnejad, A., Martins, A.J., Lima, J.B., Munsterman, L.E., Surendran, S.N. et al. (2024). A genotyping array for the globally invasive vector mosquito, Aedes albopictus. Parasites and Vectors, 17, 106. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-024-06158-z.

2023

Tharsan, A., Sivabalakrishnan, K., Arthiyan, S., Eswaramohan, T., Raveendran, S., Ramasamy, R. & Surendran, S.N. (2023). Wolbachia infection is widespread in brackish and fresh water Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in the coastal Jaffna peninsula of northern Sri Lanka. Journal of Vector Borne Diseases, 60, 172-178.

Sivasingham, A., Tharsan, A., Eswaramohan, T., Raveendran, S. & Surendran, S.N. (2023). Detection of preimaginal forms of dengue vectors from environmental samples in Jaffna city, northern Sri Lanka: an eDNA-based approach. Ceylon Journal of Science, 52(2), 127–131.

Sivabalakrishnan, K., Thanihaichelvan, M., Tharsan, A., Eswaramohan, T., Ravirajan, P., Hemphill, A., Ramasamy, R. & Surendran, S.N. (2023). Resistance to the larvicide temephos and altered egg and larval surfaces characterize salinity-tolerant Aedes aegypti. Scientific Reports, 13, Article number: 8160.

Marasinghe, J.P., Karunaratne, S.H.P.P., Surendran, S.N., Hemachandra, K.S. & Nugaliadde, L. (2023). Insecticide resistance, resistance mechanisms and phylogeny of three Myzus persicae populations in cabbage from three agroclimatic zones of Sri Lanka. Tropical Agriculture Research, 34(2), 80-93.

Jayadas,T.T.P., Bharathy, P., Gajapathy, K., Suthakar, K., Arasaratnam, V., Kumanan, T., Surendran, S.N. (2023). A spatial dengue risk map for the Jaffna District of Northern Sri Lanka. Vingnanam – Journal of  Science. 18(1), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.4038/vingnanam.v18i1.4224

2022

Karunaratne, S.H.P.P. & Surendran, S.N. (2022). Mosquito control: A review on the past, present and future strategies. Journal of the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka, 50(Sp), 105–120. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/jnsfsr.v50i0.11244.

Surendran, S.N., Nagulan, R., Tharsan, A., Sivabalakrishnan, K. & Ramasamy, R. (2022). Dengue incidence and Aedes vector collections in relation to COVID-19 population mobility restrictions. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases, 7(10), 287. doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed7100287.

Sharmintha, P., Gajapathy, K., Amarasinghe, A.A.K.P. & Surendran, S.N. (2022). Genetic diversity of Phlebotomus (Euphlebotomus) argentipes species complex in Sri Lanka. Ceylon Journal of Science, 51(3), 319–323. DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/cjs.v51i3.8039.

Surendran, S.N., Kesavan, L., Jayadas, T.T.P., Sivabalakrishnan, K., Tharsan, A., Liyanagedara, N., Eswaramohan, T., Raveendran, S., Singh, O.P. & Ramasamy, R. (2022). Morphological and odorant-binding protein 1 gene intron 1 sequence variations in Anopheles stephensi from Jaffna city in northern Sri Lanka. Medical and Veterinary Entomology. DOI:10.1111/mve.12595.

Surendran, S.N., Nagulan, R., Sivabalakirshnan, K. et al. (2022). Reduced dengue incidence during COVID-19 movement restrictions in Sri Lanka from March 2020 to April 2021. BMC Public Health, 22, 388.

Bharathy, P., Wijeyamohan, S., Suthakar, K. & Surendran, S.N. (2022). Vulnerability of land use/cover associated with human-wildlife conflicts in Mullaitivu District, Sri Lanka. Geocarto International. DOI: 10.1080/10106049.2022.2097480.

I have a broad background in Zoology, with specific training and expertise in medical and molecular entomology. My research includes developing diagnostic assays to distinguish vectors of human diseases and screening vectors for pathogens (malaria, dengue and leishmaniasis), control of vectors and detecting invasive mosquitoes. My recent focus is on biological and molecular characterization of dengue vectors adapting to salt environment employing NGS approaches. I also serve in the national expert committee on dengue vector control. I have successfully administered and completed several research projects (staffing, budget etc), collaborated with other researchers and produced several peer-reviewed publications. I have also served as advisor/supervisor of graduate students worked for M.Sc, M.Phil and Ph.D programs.