The Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Sri Lanka and the Maldives His Excellency Joern Rohde, accompanied by Ms. Vishma Wickramawardana, the Press and Cultural Affairs Officer of the embassy, visited NIFS on the 29th of January 2020 to officially handing over the equipment to NIFS.
In this event, NIFS received Leica DM3000 research microscope and a Leica M205C stereomicroscope for the study of invertebrates carried by Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity Research Program led by Professor Suresh P. Benjamin. The main focus of this program is the morphological study of spiders and the investigation of the molecular basis of endemism. Both are the only microscopes of its caliber in Sri Lanka.
The microscope was funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany of which Professor Benjamin is a fellow. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation promotes academic cooperation and exchange between excellent scientists and scholars from Germany and abroad.