CV

Qualifications

2012 - 2016: Doctor of Philosophy, University of Wollongong, Australia

2008 - 2011: Bachelor of Biotechnology (Adv. with Class I Honours), University of Wollongong, Australia

Positions

2025 - present: Senior Lecturer in Cell and Molecular Bioscience, School of Science, University of Wollongong, Australia

2024 - present: Discovery Early Career Research Award Fellow, Australian Research Council, University of Wollongong, Australia

2024 - present: Investigator Emerging Leadership Fellow, National Health and Medical Research Council, University of Wollongong, Australia

2024 - 2025: Lecturer in Cell and Molecular Bioscience, School of Science, University of Wollongong, Australia

2024 - present: Founder & Facilitator, Bench2Bytes Intro2Python & Prepare2Publish courses, University of Wollongong, Australia

2022 - 2024: Instructor, Introduction to Python for Biologists, Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, UK

2021 - 2023: Lady Edith Wolfson Junior Non-clinical Research Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, UK. Supervisor: Prof. Sir David Klenerman F.R.S.

2021 - 2023: Supervisor, Part IB Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, UK

2017 - 2020: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne. Supervisor: Prof. Danny Hatters

2016: Lecturer, BIOL321: Infection and Immunity Spring Session, University of Wollongong

2016: Research Assistant, Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, University of Wollongong. Supervisor: Prof. Heath Ecroyd

2014: Visiting Graduate Research Student, University of Cambridge

Publications

  1. Böken D, Huang M, Wu Y, Fertan E, Cotton MW, Meisl G, Lam JYL, Baig S, Rowe JB, Smith C, Quaegebeur A, Cox D, McEwan WA, Klenerman D (2026) Nanoscopic tau aggregates are not shared intermediates but disease-specific entities across tauopathies. Cell Reports, doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2026.116934
  2. McMahon S, Cox D, Cheng F, Lee A, Yerbury JJ, Ecroyd H (2025) Differential inclusion formation of an aggregation-prone protein reveals differences in the proteostasis capacity of neuronal cell lines. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Cell Research, doi: 10.1016/j.bbamcr.2026.120124
  3. ₸ Cox D, Burke M, Milani S, White MA, Waldron FM, Böken D, Lobanova E, Sreedharan J, Gregory JM, Klenerman D. (2025) Quantitative Profiling of Nanoscopic Protein Aggregates Reveals Specific Fingerprint of TDP-43-Positive Assemblies in Motor Neuron Disease. Advanced Science, doi: 10.1002/advs.202505484. ₸ Corresponding
  4. Rice L, Marzano N, Cox D, van Oijen AM, Ecroyd H. (2025) Single-Molecule Observations of Human Small Heat Shock Proteins in Complex with Aggregation-Prone Client Proteins. Biochemical Journal, doi: 10.1042/bcj20240473
  5. Marzano NR, Skewes B, McMahon S, Rice L, Cox D, van Oijen AM, Ecroyd H (2025) Direct Single-Molecule Visualization of Hsp90-Mediated Relief of a Hsp70-Folding Block. bioRxiv, doi: 10.1101/2025.08.25.672245
  6. Böken D, Cox D, Burke M, Lam JYL, Katsinelos T, Danial JSH, Fertan E, McEwan WA, Rowe JB, and Klenerman D (2024) Single-molecule characterization and super-resolution imaging of Alzheimer’s disease-relevant Tau aggregates in human samples. Angewandte Chemie, doi: 10.1002/anie.202317756.
  7. ₸ *Cox D, and *Hatters DM. (2024) “PERCEPT: Replacing binary p-value thresholding with scaling for more nuanced identification of sample differences.” iScience, doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109891. ₸ Corresponding
  8. *Mathangasinghe Y, *Alberts N, Rosado CJ, Cox D, Payne NL, Ormsby AR, Alp KM, Sakson R, Uthishtran S, Ruppert T, Arumugam S, Hatters DM, Kampinga HH, Nillegoda NB (2023) Replicative Aging Impedes Stress-Induced Assembly of a Key Human Protein Disaggregase. bioRxiv, doi: 10.1101/2022.06.25.497591 * Equal contributions
  9. ₸ Cox D, Ormsby AR, Reid GE, ₸Hatters DM (2022) Protein painting reveals pervasive remodeling of conserved proteostasis machinery in response to pharmacological stimuli. NPJ Systems Biology and Applications, doi: 10.1038/s41540-022-00256-3 ₸ Corresponding authors
  10. Carmo OMS, Shami GJ, Cox D, Liu B, Blanch AJ, Tiash S, Tilley L, Dixon MWA. (2022) Deletion of the Plasmodium falciparum exported protein PTP7 leads to Maurer’s clefts vesiculation, host cell remodeling defects, and loss of surface presentation of EMP1. PLoS Pathogens, doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009882.
  11. *Raeburn CB, *Ormsby AR, * Cox, D, Gerak CA, Makhoul C, Moily NS, Ebbinghaus S, Dickson A, McColl G, Hatters DM. (2022) A biosensor of protein foldedness identifies increased “holdase” activity of chaperones in the nucleus following increased cytosolic protein aggregation. Journal of Biological Chemistry, doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2022.102158 *Equal contributions
  12. Ruff KM, Choi YH, Cox D, Ormsby AR, Myung Y, Ascher DB, Radford SE, Pappu RV, Hatters DM. (2022) Sequence grammar underlying the unfolding and phase separation of globular proteins. Molecular Cell doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2022.06.024. *Equal contributions
  13. Cox D, Ang C, Nillegoda NB, Reid GE, and Hatters DM (2022) Hidden Information on Protein Function in Censuses of Proteome Foldedness. Nature Communications, doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29661-2.
  14. Ѣ Sui, X., Cox, D., Nie, S., Reid, G. E., & Hatters, D. M. (2022). A Census of Hsp70-Mediated Proteome Solubility Changes upon Recovery from Heat Stress. Journal of Proteome Research, doi: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.1c00920.
  15. Sui, X., Radwan, M., Cox, D., & Hatters, D. M. (2022). Probing Protein Solubility Patterns with Proteomics for Insight into Network Dynamics. Methods in Molecular Biology 2428: 261–75, doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1975-9_16
  16. Whiten D.R., Cox D., Sue C.M. (2021) PINK1 signalling in neurodegenerative disease. Essays in Biochemistry 65: 913–23, doi: 10.1042/EBC20210036.
  17. Ormsby, A.R., Cox, D., Daly, J., Priest, D., Hinde, E., Hatters, D. M. (2020) Mutant Huntingtin exon 1 does not stall ribosomes during translation but does recruit machinery involved in ribosome quality control into inclusions. PLOS One. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233583
  18. Selig, E. E., Zlatic, C. O., Cox, D., Mok, Y. F., Gooley, P. R., Ecroyd, H., & Griffin, M. D. (2020). N-and C-terminal regions of αB-crystallin and Hsp27 mediate inhibition of amyloid nucleation, fibril binding, and fibril disaggregation. Journal of Biological Chemistry, doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA120.012748
  19. San Gil, R., Cox, D., McAlary, L., Berg, T., Walker, A.K., Yerbury, J. J., Ooi, L., Ecroyd H. (2020) Neurodegenerative disease-associated protein aggregates are poor inducers of the heat shock response in neuronal-like cells. Journal of Cell Science doi: 10.1242/jcs.243709
  20. Sui, X., Pires, D.E.V., Ormsby, A.R., Cox, D., Nie, S., Vecchi, G., Vendruscolo, M., Ascher, D.B., Reid, G.E., Hatters, D.M. (2019) Widespread remodeling of proteome solubility in response to different protein homeostasis stresses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1912897117
  21. Radwan, M., Ang, C., Ormsby, A. R., Cox, D., Daly, J.C., Reid, G. E., Hatters, D. M. (2019) Arginine valency in C9ORF72 dipolypeptides mediates promiscuous proteome binding that stalls ribosomes, disable actin cytoskeleton assembly and impairs arginine methylation of endogenous proteins. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics doi: 10.1074/mcp.RA119.001888
  22. Cox, D., Raeburn, C., Sui, X. & Hatters, D. M. (2018) Protein aggregation in cell biology: An aggregomics perspective of health and disease. Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology. doi:10.1016/j.semcdb.2018.05.003
  23. Whiten, D. R., Cox, D., Horrocks, M.H., Taylor, C.G., De, S., Flagmeier, P., Tosatto, L., Kumita, J.R., Ecroyd, H., Dobson, C.M., Klenerman, D., Wilson, M.R. (2018) Single-Molecule Characterization of the Interactions between Extracellular Chaperones and Toxic α-Synuclein Oligomers. Cell Reports, doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.05.074
  24. ϕ Cox, D., Whiten, D.R., Brown, J., Horrocks, M.H., San Gil, R., Dobson, C.M., Klenerman, D., van Oijen, A.M., Ecroyd, H. (2018) The small heat shock protein Hsp27 binds α-synuclein fibrils, preventing elongation and cytotoxicity. Journal of Biological Chemistry, doi: 10.1074/JBC.M117.813865.
  25. ψ Wood, R., Ormsby, A., Radwan, M., Cox, D., Sharma, A., Vöpel, T., Ebbinghaus, E., Oliveberg, M., Reid, G.E., Dickson, A., & Hatters, D.M. (2018) A biosensor-based framework to measure latent proteostasis capacity. Nature Communications, doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02562-5
  26. Cox, D., & Ecroyd, H. (2017). The small heat shock proteins αB-crystallin (HSPB5) and Hsp27 (HSPB1) inhibit the intracellular aggregation of α-synuclein. Cell Stress and Chaperones, doi:10.1007/s12192-017-0785-x
  27. ξ Cox, D., Selig, E., Griffin, M. D., Carver, J. A., & Ecroyd, H. (2016). Small Heat-shock proteins prevent α-synuclein aggregation via transient interactions and their efficacy is affected by the rate of aggregation. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 291(43), 22618-22629, doi: 10.1074/jbc.M116.739250
  28. Cox, D., Carver, J. A., & Ecroyd, H. (2014). Preventing α-synuclein aggregation: the role of the small heat-shock molecular chaperone proteins. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Basis of Disease, doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2014.06.024
  29. Hochberg, G. K., Ecroyd, H., Liu, C., Cox, D., Cascio, D., Sawaya, M. R., Collier, M.P., Stroud, J., Carver, J.A., Baldwin, A.J., Robinson, C. V., & Laganowsky, A. (2014). The structured core domain of αB-crystallin can prevent amyloid fibrillation and associated toxicity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, doi:10.1073/pnas.1322673111

Ѣ ACS Editor’s Choice Publication

ϕ Recommended in F1000Prime as being of special significance in its field by F1000 Faculty Member Robert Petersen.

ψ Featured on the Nature Communications Editors’ Highlights Webpage as a particularly interesting or important new research article.

ξ Featured in Focus on Australasia. Journal of Biological Chemistry, Virtual Issue 2018 for outstanding contribution to Australian protein science.

Editorials

Cox, D. (2023) Terrific TDP-43 Talks in Trieste MND Association Research Blog October 10th 2023

Cox, D. (2020) Emerging researchers face uphill struggle at NHMRC Research Professional Funding News September 18th 2020

Cox, D., San Gil, R., Rote, A., Ecroyd, H. (2016) Molecular Chaperones: Guardians of the proteome. Australian Biochemist Showcase on Research

Awards and Grants

2026 – 2028 FightMND IMPACT Grant “Seeking single SODs: Single molecule methods to characterise pathogenic SOD1 aggregates”, University of Wollongong, Australia

2026 – 2028 NSW RNA Research & Training Network Post-graduate Training Scholarship Program “Sequence-specific targeting of endogenous retroviral RNAs”, University of Wollongong, Australia

2024 - 2029 NHMRC Investigator Emerging Leadership I Grant “A molecular map of human endogenous retroviruses in neurodegenerative disease”, University of Wollongong, Australia

2024 - 2027 ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award Fellowship “Towards a molecular fingerprint for human-specific endogenous retroviruses”, University of Wollongong, Australia

2024 – 2025 Interdisciplinary Grant, Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, Australia

2021 - 2023 MND Association Lady Edith Wolfson Junior Non-clinical Fellowship “MND’s next top model: evaluating iPSC models according to protein aggregation pathology”, University of Cambridge, UK

2022 Travel Grant, The Biochemical Society, supported attendance at Proteostasis & Disease Symposium (Wollongong, Australia) and Australasian Neuroscience Society Conference (Melbourne, Australia)

2021 Post-doctoral Bye-Fellowship, Churchill College, University of Cambridge (declined)

2019 CHOOSEMATHS Travel Award, for attendance at AMSI BioInfoSummer Australia

2019 Early Career Researcher Project Grant “Phasing in a new paradigm: rethinking aggregation in neurodegenerative disease”, University of Melbourne, Australia

2019 Early Career Researcher Travel Grant, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne

2019 Postdoctoral Fellows Travel Grant, Bio21 Institute

2019 EMBL Travel Fellowship, EMBL Corporate Partnership Programme

2014 International Travel Grant, Faculty of Science, University of Wollongong

2012 – 2016 Australian Postgraduate Award, Department of Education, Australian Government, administered by University of Wollongong

2015 The PhD Series Academic Prize - Second Place, University of Wollongong

2015 Bruker Travel Award, East Coast Protein Meeting, Australia

2015 Thompson Prize, Sydney Protein Group

Selected Conference & Seminar Participation

2026: Invited Oral Presentation, Single-molecule Discussion Club, UNSW, Australia

2025: Invited Oral Presentation, Sydney Biomolecular Condensates Symposium, Australia

2025: Invited Oral Presentation, Arturo Falaschi Conference “2nd biennial conference on TDP-43 function and dysfunction in disease”, Trieste, Italy

2024: Invited Oral Presentation, Biomolecular Horizons Conference (declined due to travel restrictions)

2024: Invited Session Chair, International Mass Spectrometry Conference, Melbourne, Australia

2024: Invited Oral Presentation, Data & Decision Science Network Seminar Series, Wollongong, Australia

2023: Invited Oral Presentation, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, King’s College London

2023: Invited Oral Presentation, The UK-Japan Neuroscience Symposium, UK

2023: Oral Presentation, MND EnCouRage, UK

2023: Invited Oral Presentation, CAMAND (Cellular and Molecular Advances in NeuroDegeneration), Brisbane, Australia

2023: Invited Oral Presentation, Asian-Pacific Society for Neurochemistry Meeting (declined)

2022: Oral Presentation, Making Futures Seminar Series, Canberra Protein Group, Australia

2022: Oral Presentation, Proteostasis and Disease Symposium, Wollongong, Australia

2022: Oral Presentation, UK Dementia Research Institute Informatics-Synapse Joint ECR meeting, Bristol, UK

2021: Invited Oral Presentation, Asian-Pacific Society for Neurochemistry Meeting (postponed for COVID-19)

2020: Invited speaker, Sydney Protein Group Seminar Series

2019: Invited speaker, Victorian Mass Spectrometry Symposium, Proteomics and Metabolomics Victoria

2019: Invited speaker, Molecular Horizons Seminar Series, University of Wollongong, Australia

2019: Invited Panel Chair, Career Development Workshop, FASEB Protein Aggregation Conference, Snowmass, USA

2019: Oral presentation, FASEB Protein Aggregation: From in vitro to in vivo sequelae, Snowmass, USA

2019: Invited speaker, Advanced Biochemistry Winter School, Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne, Australia

2019: Oral presentation, EMBL in Cell Biology and Disease Mechanisms, EMBL-Wellcome Genome Campus Conference, Germany

2019: Invited Panelist, Graduate Researcher Wellbeing Seminar, University of Melbourne

2018: Oral presentation, Asian Biophysics Association Symposium and Annual Meeting of the Australian Society for Biophysics

2018: Oral presentation, Postdoctoral Methods Symposium, Walter & Eliza Hall Institute, Australia

2018: Invited speaker, Advanced Biochemistry Winter School, University of Melbourne, Australia

2018: Oral presentation, Lorne Conference on Protein Structure and Function, Australia

2018: Oral presentation, Lorne Proteomics Conference, Australia

2018: Selected participant, Advanced Scientific Programming in Python (ASPP), Melbourne Bioinformatics, Australia

2017: Invited Panel Chair, Early-Mid Career Research Association Award Symposium: Supporting Collaboration & Interdisciplinary Research, University of Melbourne

2017: Student mentor, High School Student Engagement Initiative, Bio21 Institute, Australia

2017: Selected participant, Research Bazaar Conference, University of Melbourne, Australia

Community Engagement

2025: Facilitator, University of Wollongong Year 12 Discovery Day, Biology Outbreak! activity

2024: Faculty Representative, University of Wollongong Open Day

2023: Facilitator, Darwin Biological Sciences Taster Series, Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, UK

2023: Facilitator, Enigma Summer School, Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge, UK

2022: Facilitator, Low Participation Neighbourhoods Program, Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, UK

2022: Research Ambassador, MND Association Hertfordshire Walk to D’Feet MND

2022: Mentor, Software Sustainability Institute Next Steps in Coding program promoting sustainable research

2021 - 2022: In2Research Mentor Program – career mentor for prospective postgraduate students from low-income and disadvantaged backgrounds

2021: International Women’s Day Research Ambassador, MND Association, via twitter

2020: Investigating the Investigators – development of a web-based application for data-driven exploration of Australian NHMRC Investigator Grant research fellowship scheme outcomes

2019: Open House Melbourne – Public guide for Bio21 Institute tours

2018 - 2019: University of Melbourne Open Day – liaison for Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health

2018: Magnified: A science art exhibition – Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, University of Wollongong. Two pieces I contributed were selected for the exhibition, which was open to the general public and all proceeds from the sale of these pieces used to establish an ECR travel grant in support of Motor Neuron Disease (MND) research and in honor of Prof. Justin Yerbury.

2017 - 2019: Bio21 High-School Engagement Initiative – student mentor for group of year 10 students from local high schools, demonstrated scientific research techniques and discussed academic background, research jobs and career pathways

Media & Communication

2026: Invited Interview, Radio National Science Show, ABC

2025: Ambassador, National Science Week ABC Illawarra live radio interview

2020: Geeky Girl Reality #STEMStories profile

2020: CHOOSEMATHS Grant recipient profile