Ishara Paranawithana

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia

CSIRO Early Career Fellow - Neuroimaging Team | Biomedical Informatics Group (full-time) [Aug 2024–Present]
- Developing AI‑enabled clinically deployable imaging biomarkers for early detection & treatment monitoring in Alzheimer’s disease, in collaboration with Austin Health, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, Edith Cowan University (ECU), Perth, University of Pittsburgh and Eli Lilly & Company, USA.

Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), Singapore

Research Assistant - Sensing, Actuation, and Mechanism (SAM) Design Group | Robotics Innovation Laboratory (full-time) [Jun 2016–Dec 2019]
- Developed an uncalibrated, self-initializing robotic vision-guided cell micromanipulation system for versatile deployment and easy operation, in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA & National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore.
- Developed an ultrasound-guided visual servoing system to compensate involuntary movements of the surgeon and the patient in kidney stone removal surgery, in collaboration with Changi General Hospital (CGH), Singapore - patent licensed to Creative Medtech Solutions Pte Ltd, Singapore.
- Prototyped and delivered an augmented reality-based smart human-machine interface for maintenance, repair and overhaul tasks of jet engines, a joint project with A*STAR & Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.
Research Intern – SUTD-MIT International Design Centre (full-time) [Oct 2014–Mar 2015]
- Designed and developed a vision-based workflow to facilitate automatic detection and tracking of the blastomere and the micropipette in Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedure.

Undergraduate Projects

University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

Final-year project: Implementation of SSVEP-based brain-computer interface for emergency healthcare (Semester 7 and 8: June 2015 – March 2016)

Developed a brain-computer interface by decoding visually-evoked potentials to assist people suffering from “locked-in syndromes” to communicate their basic daily needs to a caretaker more easily and effectively.

FPGA-based vehicle collision avoidance system [Semester 5: July 2014 – October 2014]

Implemented a system on an FPGA to sense obstacles in blind spots of a vehicle simultaneously (both left and right sides) and assist the driver with intuitive audio-visual feedback.

FPGA-based temperature control system [Semester 5: July 2014 – September 2014]

Developed an FPGA-based system to detect room temperature using analog temperature sensors, give visual feedback on the current temperature level and intelligent control of the temperature as a closed-loop system.

Taxi dispatching system [Semester 4: January 2014 – July 2014]

Developed a website to place taxi orders as a desktop application. Multiple interfaces were designed with the integration of backend databases to retrieve information for managing customer profiles and order histories.

PCB prototyping machine [Semester 4: March 2014 – May 2014]

Built a printed circuit board (PCB) prototyping machine with pre-heating, printing and post-heating stages. This prototype used the inkjet printing mechanism to print the PCB schematic.

Digital stethoscope [Semester 3: September 2013 – January 2014]

Designed and developed a proof-of-concept device to acquire and visualise heart sounds in real-time. Employed signal processing techniques to denoise signals and stored data in a PC for offline analysis.

Robot design and competition [Semester 3: June 2013 – December 2013]

Built a line-following robot capable of carrying out several specified tasks. The tasks included grid searching and solving, object detection, avoidance of obstacles, picking and throwing an object.

GSM-enabled fire alarm system [Semester 2: February 2013 – May 2013]

Built a system composed of multiple smoke sensors placed at different locations and central communication unit to detect and notify in case of a fire by sending audible-visual alarms and a text message to a pre-assigned mobile number informing the location of the fire.

Analysing Wi-Fi coverage of the department premises [Semester 2: March 2013 – May 2013]

Mapped the connectivity strength of Wi-Fi networks in the UoM ENTC premises and surrounding to improve the overall Wi-Fi coverage in the building by identifying areas with weak connectivity.

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