Prior to taking up her current position at the University of Cape Town, Mizrahi was based in the School of Pathology of the University of the Witwatersrand and National Health Laboratory Service in Johannesburg from 1989, where she led a tuberculosis research group, and became a Research Professor in 2001.


Mizrahi’s research has focused on studying aspects of the physiology and metabolism of Mycobacterium tuberculosis of relevance to TB drug resistance, mycobacterial persistence and TB drug discovery. In collaboration with colleagues at the NIAID, Mizrahi discovered a novel system for DNA damage tolerance and SOS mutagenesis in mycobacteria, which involves the translesion polymerase, DnaE2. Her team subsequently showed that DnaE2 acts as part of a larger mutagenic complex, which is widely distributed in nature. In other work, he group elucidated the role of the family of five resuscitation-promoting factors in growth, culturability and resuscitation in M. tuberculosis. In other work, her group characterised the aerobic respiratory chain in mycobacteria which has emerged as an important target for TB drug discovery. Her group characterised the pathway for the biosynthesis of molybdenum cofactor and demonstrated a role for this cofactor in persistence, and also made important contributions in understanding the biosynthesis, transport and function of vitamin B12 and enzymes that depend on this cofactor in M. tuberculosis. Recently, Mizrahi has pioneered the use of target-based whole-cell screening for identifying small molecule inhibitors that act prioritised targets or pathways in M. tuberculosis and is applying this approach in international TB drug discovery programs.

Recognitions: membership in national and other academies, Prizes, Awards, etc.

Mizrahi is a Senior International Research Scholar of the HHMI. As an internationally recognised leader in her field, Mizrahi holds an “A1” rating from the National Research Foundation. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and Royal Society of South Africa, an Associate Fellow of The World Academy of Science, and a Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa. Her major awards include the 2013 Christophe Mérieux Prize from the Mérieux Foundation and Institut de France, the Order of the Mapungubwe from the State President of South Africa (Silver, 2007), the 2006 Gold Medal of the SA Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the 2000 Unesco-L’Oréal For Women in Science Award (Africa & Middle East).