Rate My Professor Chann De Silva

Channa R. De Silva serves as Department Head and Professor of Bioinorganic Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Physics within the College of Arts and Sciences at Western Carolina University. He obtained his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Arizona in 2007 and his BS in Chemistry from a foreign institution in 2001. Before joining Western Carolina University in 2010, De Silva held post-doctoral research associate positions from 2008 to 2010 at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington, the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the University of Arizona, and the Bio5 Institute at the University of Arizona. As a chemistry professor, he has contributed to the department's research and teaching efforts, including receiving the Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2024.

De Silva's research specializes in bioinorganic chemistry, with a focus on the synthesis, characterization, and surface modification of novel lanthanide-based complexes and nanomaterials to improve their optical and magnetic properties. His work develops synthetic methods for advanced materials used in display technologies and biomedical imaging applications. He designs biocompatible and selective cancer-targeting agents utilizing lanthanide metals and performs computational modeling studies to guide experimental design of lanthanide-based materials. Additional research interests include nanotechnology, inorganic materials, lanthanide and actinide chemistry, computational chemistry, antimicrobial activity and cell toxicity studies of nanomaterials, in vitro imaging of human cells including cancer cells using luminescent probes, and solid phase peptide synthesis for developing peptide probes targeted to G-protein coupled receptors. Current projects explore lanthanide-based nanomaterials for cellular assays and biomedical imaging, as well as nanoparticles equipped with peptides and magnetic particles to target and detect cancer cells such as melanoma at early stages.