Upulie Divisekera

Divisekera wanted to be a scientist since she was a child.[1] She is of Sri Lankan descent.[2] After finishing high school she worked for biochemist Mary-Jane Gething from 1995 through 1997. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Melbourne in 2001.[3] Here she worked on molecular parasitology with Malcolm McConville. Between 2002 and 2004 she worked as a research assistant at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research on apoptosis and antibody production. She joined Australian National University for her postgraduate studies, graduating in 2007.[3] Divisekera worked on the epithelial to mesenchymal transition in fruit fly embryos in Canberra.[2] She worked as a research assistant at the University of Melbourne in 2007. Divisekera worked as a research assistant at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre from 2008 to 2012.[3][4][5] During this time, she worked in developmental biology and cancer research with Mark Smyth.[2] She studied CD73 as a potential immunotherapy for breast cancer.[6] She is a doctoral student in the department of chemical engineering at Monash University working on nanoparticles and drug delivery.[7][8]

In 2011 Divisekera participated in and won the online science communication competition, "I'm a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here".[3] Divisekera spoke at TEDx Canberra in 2012 on dinosaurs, curiosity and change in science.[9] She has written for The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, Crikey, and ABC TV's panel show Q and A, while also regularly contributing to ABC Radio National.[1][10][11] In 2013, she was one of three co-founders of the Real Scientists project, a rotating-curator Twitter account where a different scientist is responsible for a week of science communication.[12] Real Scientists looks to democratise access to science through live diarising of a scientists' day on Twitter, as well as demonstrating the diversity in the sector.[12] She appears regularly on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's radio channels.[13][14][15] Divisekera provides training for academics, postgrads, clinicians and humanities students in science communication.

Alongside science communication, Divisekera is involved with arts programming, including events at the Wheeler Centre.[16][17][18] She took part in a discussion with Cory Doctorow and Maggie Ryan Sandford about the prospect of inhabiting Mars in 2015.[19] Since 2016 she has been a speaker at the Melbourne Writers Festival, and has spoken at The Writer's Bloc, the New South Wales Writers' Centre and the Emerging Writers' Festival.[20][21]

Divisekera was included in the Government of Australia Chief Scientist "Five Scientist Pledge".[22] She has spoken on Australian Broadcasting Corporation about what can be done to support more women into science.[23][24] She gave a keynote talk at the March for Science in Melbourne.[25] In May 2018 Upulie took on Elon Musk in a Twitter feud after he referred to nanotechnology as "bs".[26][27][28][29][30] She is a contributor to the literary magazine The Lifted Brow.[31]

• Upulie Divisekera on Twitter
• Real Scientists