Associate Chemist, Department of Medicine
Brigham and Women's Hospital

chitra.amarasiriwardena@channing.harvard.edu

Dr. Amarasiriwardena is an analytical chemist who has worked with the metals epidemiology group since 1992. She is the director of the trace-metal laboratory at the Channing Laboratory and co-director (with Dr. Jim Shine) of the trace-metal laboratory at the Harvard School of Public Health. Her areas of expertise include trace-metal analysis in various matrices using spectroscopic methods such as atomic absorption spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. She also has expertise in the speciation of metal-bound proteins and other molecules in biological matrices with the aim of understanding the effects of heavy-metal toxicity at the molecular level. Study of stable isotope tracers, with the goal of better understanding metal metabolism and metal toxicity, and analysis of stable isotope ratios, with the purpose of identifying sources of contamination. Dr. Amarasiriwardena is responsible for developing and validating methods for trace-metal (arsenic, mercury, lead, and cadmium) analysis in biological samples (urine, toenails, cord blood, bones and breast milk), implementing quality control, for supervising sample analysis and data input, and for designing sample collection protocols. In addition, Dr. Amarasiriwardena is also responsible for presenting her work at scientific conferences and in written manuscripts. She has been working with Dr. Howard Hu and Dr. Susan Korrick on projects funded by Superfund grants that involved measurement of various potentially toxic metals in samples taken from different population groups.

Amarasiriwardena CJ, Gercken B, Argentine MD, Barnes RM. Semi-quantitative analysis by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry. 1990;5:457-462.

Amarasiriwardena CJ, Krushevska A, Foner H, Argentine MD, Barnes RM. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric determination of 70Zn to 68Zn isotope ratioin biological samples from pre-term human babies. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry. 1992;7:915-921.

Aro AC, Todd AC, Amarasiriwardena CJ, Hu H. Improvements in the calibration of 109Cd K X-ray fluoresence systems for measuring bone lead in vivo. Physics in Medicine and Biology. 1994;39:2263-2271. [abstract]

Amarasiriwardena CJ, Barnes RM. Detection of orange juice adulteration by means of inductively coupled plasma mass spectometry. In: Methods to Detect Adulteration of Fruit Juice Beverages, Volume 1. Nagy S, Wade RL, eds. Auburndale, Florida: Agscience, Inc. 1995:66-83.

Amarasiriwardena CJ, Lupoli N, Potula V, Korrick S, Hu H. Determination of the total arsenic concentration in human urine by inductively coupled plasma mass spectometry (ICP-MS): a comparison of the accuracy of three analytical methods. The Analyst, 1998;123:441-446. [abstract]

Chen BK, Amarasiriwardena CJ, Christiani DC. Determination of total arsenic concentration in nails by inductively coupled plasma mass spectometry. Biol Trace Elem Res 1999;67:109-125. [abstract]