Women in BioCop - Biographies

Dr Nancy W. Downer

Position: Administrative Technical Assistant for Projects
Organisation: Universit� di Roma Tor Vergata
Country: Italy

* AB. in Chemistry - Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley MA, USA

* PhD in Biochemistry - University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, USA  

* Postdocs:  Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene OR
Dept. of Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

* Assistant Prof. of Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ, Visiting Professor, National Magnet Lab, MIT, Cambridge, MA

Research experience includes:

* Studies on the mechanism of visual transduction

* Protein structure and structure/function relationships in proteins

* Solid State NMR studies of bacteriorhodopsin structure

* Development of optical and electrochemical biosensors based on natural   receptor proteins
 
Dr. Downers' role within BioCop is to oversee the budget and the preparation of financial reports, participate in research activities, and to assist with the preparation of scientific reports and intra-project communication, especially related to work packages 3,4 and 9.

Areas of interest:
Protein structure and function
Biochemical/ biophysical issues in biosensor design
Sample preparation for practical biosensor application

Languages:

English, Italian, German