CANCELLED - DNA the building blocks of my career : translating novel technology into a successful diagnostic company

Elisa Mokany (PhD) is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of the Australian molecular diagnostics company SpeeDx (www.plexpcr.com). She is the co-inventor of the company’s core intellectual property for genetic analysis. In 2008, Elisa was instrumental in obtaining initial Venture Capital to set up SpeeDx as a “start-up” with 4 founding employees & a small laboratory at the Australian Technology Park, Sydney. Over the last 10 years, her leadership has helped grow the company to a “scale-up” with headquarters in Sydney, a subsidiary in London, incorporation in the USA. With a diverse team of over 40 employees, their activities span technology invention, clinical test optimization & validation, clinical studies leading to regulatory approval, marketing, sales & distribution. Elisa is a strong advocate of SpeeDx’s goal of pioneering solutions to address the global problem of antibiotic resistance. In 2017, Elisa was award the Outstanding Achievement award from MTAA in acknowledgement of this work. Elisa has 18 years’ experience in medical research, she has previously worked for St Vincent’s Hospital developing tests for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer and later at Johnson & Johnson Research (JJR) where she developed diagnostic tests for leukemia and was involved in the commercialisation of proprietary DNA technologies. At JJR Elisa undertook studies towards her PhD, which involved invention of novel DNA technology. Elisa is an inventor on 8 patents/patent applications. Elisa studied at UNSW, obtaining a BSc (Hons 1st Class) and later completed her PhD at JJR in conjunction with UNSW.