Faculty Member
Associate Clinical Professor
Department of Neurology
David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles
Reed Neurological Research Center, Room A-135
BOX 951769
710 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Faculty Member
Faculty Member
Assistant Professor
Department of Neurology
David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles
Biography
Dr. Ranmal Samarasinghe received his MD and PhD degrees from the University of Pittsburgh in 2013. He completed his residency in adult neurology at UCLA in 2017 and then completed an NIH funded post-doctoral research and clinical fellowship at UCLA from 2017-2020. During this period, Dr. Samarasinghe obtained clinical training in epilepsy and neurophysiologic intraoperative monitoring. He also performed research developing stem cell-based models of epilepsy and autism, which is the foundation of his own laboratory.
Dr. Samarasinghe’s laboratory seeks to understand the mechanisms of neural network formation and dysfunction in epilepsy and autism. His efforts are focused on 3D brain-like structures called human brain organoids that are grown in a laboratory dish and that are derived from stem cells. Brain organoids can be generated from the stem cells of individual patients and may provide unique insights into the causes of human neurological diseases such as epilepsy and autism. His laboratory is developing and utilizing multiple methodologies including whole-organoid multiphoton based calcium indicator imaging, voltage sensors, traditional extracellular recordings, high throughput genomic screens, and super-resolution synaptic imaging to interrogate the developmental trajectory of nascent neural networks in organoid models. Dr. Samarasinghe will also continue to manage patients with epilepsy and autism in his clinic and perform neurophysiologic intraoperative monitoring for surgical cases performed at UCLA and affiliated hospitals.
Faculty Member
Assistant Professor
Department of Neurology
David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles
UCLA Neurology
P.O. Box 951769, GONDA 2309
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1769
Research Interests
New therapeutic targets are needed for neurodegenerative disease including Alzheimer’s and related dementias. The immune system includes many of the most successful therapeutic targets in medicine. My research lab seeks to uncover mechanism by which glia and immune factors influence disease pathology in dementia to inform novel therapeutic strategies. We integrate single cell and tissue transcriptomics, epigenetic profiling, human genetics, and stem cell-based experimental models to identify neuroimmune regulators of dementia. A major focus of our current work is the interplay of glial immune signaling and neuronal dysfunction in dementia, including the role of interferon-mediated immune suppression in disease pathology.
In addition to this basic research, I am an attending at the UCLA Neurogenetics clinic where we apply advanced genomics technologies to the molecular diagnosis of adult-onset genetic diseases, including inherited neurodegenerative disorders.