Dr Kieran Mulroney

Inventor and applied microbiologist

2025 WA Australian of the Year Nominee

Dr Kieran Mulroney, a research microbiologist and CEO of Cytophenix, is on a mission to solve the problem of antibiotic resistance. 

More than 1.29 million people globally die each year from antibiotic-resistant infections. Another 4.5 million die indirectly from conditions caused by antibiotic-resistant infections. It’s a dire public health problem that’s worsening rapidly due to our overuse of antibiotics. 

Kieran led a research team to find a viable solution to the global antibiotic resistance problem. His team developed FloCAST™: sophisticated research equipment that measures hundreds of thousands of individual bacteria in seconds. This AI-driven technology then predicts which antibiotics will be most effective in treating each infection with 96.9 per cent accuracy.  

Giving the patient the right drug early can be the difference between life and death, or serious complications like amputations.   

Kieran’s work will improve lives all over the world. He’s inspiring others to keep searching for ground-breaking medical discoveries.