Dr Dharmica Mistry is an Australian scientist and entrepreneur. Mistry is Director Diagnostics Industry Engagement at MTPConnect and co-founder and ex-Chief Scientist of BCAL Diagnostics, a biotechnology company developing a revolutionary blood test for early detection of breast cancer.

Early life and education

Mistry was born in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n parents. She moved to Australia when she was six years old and lived with her family in

Sutherland Shire Sutherland Shire is a local government area in the southern region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sutherland Shire comprises an area of and as at the had an estimated population of . Sutherland Shire is colloquially ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. Mistry attended Oyster Bay Primary School, followed by

Gymea Technology High School Gymea Technology High School (abbreviated as GTHS) is a technology oriented, public and co-educational high school, located on the Princes Highway in the suburb of Gymea, in the Sutherland Shire, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, next to Gym ...

. Mistry initially felt she would pursue a career in

dietetics A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy, for example designing an enteral tube feeding regimen or mitigating the effects of ca ...

, but later discovered an interest in

microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, prot ...

. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Microbiology in 2007 at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. She then went on to complete a PhD in Medicine at

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...

, focusing her research on novel

biomarkers In biomedical contexts, a biomarker, or biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated using blood, urine, or soft tissues to examine normal biological processes, p ...

in blood and hair that can be used as the basis for blood tests for

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

Career and research

From 2008, Mistry worked as a lab technician for a small Australian

start-up company A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

investigating the association between hair and

, using her own hair as a

negative control A scientific control is an experiment or observation designed to minimize the effects of variables other than the independent variable (i.e. confounding variables). This increases the reliability of the results, often through a comparison betwe ...

. After graduating from the

, Mistry and Peter French, a cell and

molecular biologist Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

, co-founded Breast Cancer-Associated Lipid (BCAL) Diagnostics. The company aims to commercialise their groundbreaking breast cancer screening test, which has proven 90 percent accurate in detecting the presence of the most common form of invasive cancer.

Awards

* Peoples Choice Award, Australian Technologies Competition, 2017 * InStyle Women Of Style, Science category, 2017 * Harvey Norman NSW Young Women of the Year, 2016 * Australian Financial Review BOSS Young Executive of the Year, 2016 * Young Sutherland Shire Scientist, 2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mistry, Dharmica Living people University of Sydney alumni Macquarie University alumni Cancer researchers Year of birth missing (living people)