A person with curly brown hair, clear-framed glasses, and a light purple blazer poses against a plain gray backdrop. They wear a white blouse with a bow at the collar and look directly at the camera with a neutral, professional expression.

FACULTY

Micquel Downs

Assistant Professor - Research

LSUNO Genetics

Office:

LSUHSC School of Medicine 
533 Bolivar Street
New Orleans, LA 70112

 

Bio

As an undergraduate, Dr. Micquel Downs studied the question how rate acceleration of ATP hydrolysis is achieved in proteins with funding from the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF REU). She continues to study her model system, kinesins, during her graduate work at LSUHSC. She expanded her skillset to how the protein works at a cellular level in the context for Zika Virus infection. 

After completing her PhD, Dr. Downs worked on another ATPase, intestinal alkaline phosphatase, specializing in mammalian protein expression and purification.

As an Assistant Professor, Dr. Downs is a member of the NSF CREST Center for Adaptive Nanomotor Development where she leads a research program focused on the role of water networks in allosteric communication.

Education

PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans

Teaching

Lecturer, Inter 111

Publications

Liu L, Downs M, Guidry J, and Wojcik EJ. Inter-organelle interactions between the ER and mitotic apparatus facilitates Zika protease cleavage of human Kinesin-5 and contributes to distinct mitotic defects. iScience. 2021; 24(5): 102385. PMCID: PMC8100630.