Rate My Professor Archa Fox

Professor Archa Fox is Professor in the School of Human Sciences and the School of Molecular Sciences at the University of Western Australia, with honorary research fellowships in the UWA Medical School and UWA Centre for Medical Research affiliated with the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, and as an affiliate investigator at the Harry Perkins Institute. She directs the Australian Centre for RNA Therapeutics in Cancer and the RNA Innovation Foundry. Fox obtained her Bachelor of Science majoring in molecular genetics from the University of New South Wales and her PhD from the University of Sydney in 2000, followed by postdoctoral research in Dundee, Scotland. She established her research group in 2006 at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (now Harry Perkins Institute) and took up an academic position at UWA in 2015.

Her research in molecular cell biology centers on her 2002 discovery of paraspeckles, nuclear bodies that regulate gene expression via long noncoding RNAs such as NEAT1, with implications for cancer and disease. Interests include RNA therapeutics, paraspeckles, lncRNAs, RNA-binding proteins, genome engineering, liquid phase separation, membraneless organelles, and nuclear architecture. Key publications encompass 'Paraspeckles: nuclear bodies built on long noncoding RNA' (2009), 'NEAT1 long noncoding RNA regulates transcription via protein sequestration within subnuclear bodies' (2014), 'NONO, SFPQ, and PSPC1 promote telomerase recruitment to the telomere' (2025, Nature Communications), and 'Structural and mechanistic analysis of covalent ligands targeting the RNA-binding protein NONO' (2026, Cell Chemical Biology). Awards include the Marshall Medal (Harry Perkins Institute, 2012), Emerging Leader Award (Australian/New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology, 2017), School of Human Sciences Senior Research Award (2023), and Vice Chancellor's Senior Research Award (2023). She has chaired the RNA Network of Australia since 2015 and served as Director of the International RNA Society (2020-2021), with over 13,000 citations reflecting her impact on RNA biology and nuclear organization.