diff --git a/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog.tsx b/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog.tsx
index b050e172..b3594515 100644
--- a/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog.tsx
+++ b/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog.tsx
@@ -486,6 +486,16 @@ const CommonsCatalog = () => {
       return;
     }
 
+    // Authors and minirepos always use React Query (no browse endpoints)
+    if (activeTab === "authors") {
+      authorsSearch.fetchNextPage();
+      return;
+    }
+    if (activeTab === "minirepos") {
+      miniReposSearch.fetchNextPage();
+      return;
+    }
+
     // In search mode, use React Query's fetchNextPage
     if (isSearchMode) {
       switch (activeTab) {
@@ -498,12 +508,6 @@ const CommonsCatalog = () => {
         case "projects":
           if (isProjectsSearchMode) projectsSearch.fetchNextPage();
           break;
-        case "authors":
-          authorsSearch.fetchNextPage();
-          break;
-        case "minirepos":
-          miniReposSearch.fetchNextPage();
-          break;
       }
     } else {
       // In browse mode, manually load more with incremented page
diff --git a/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/CatalogCard/AuthorCardContent.tsx b/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/CatalogCard/AuthorCardContent.tsx
index 40c60832..3934e80c 100644
--- a/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/CatalogCard/AuthorCardContent.tsx
+++ b/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/CatalogCard/AuthorCardContent.tsx
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 import { Card, CardContentProps, CardHeader } from "semantic-ui-react";
-import { ConductorSearchResponseAuthor } from "../../../../types";
+import { Author } from "../../../../types";
 import { truncateString } from "../../../util/HelperFunctions";
 import { useMemo } from "react";
 import CardMetaWIcon from "../../../util/CardMetaWIcon";
 
 interface AuthorCardContentProps extends CardContentProps {
-  author: ConductorSearchResponseAuthor;
+  author: Author;
 }
 
 const AuthorCardContent: React.FC<AuthorCardContentProps> = ({
@@ -29,26 +29,6 @@ const AuthorCardContent: React.FC<AuthorCardContentProps> = ({
           <div className="line-clamp-1">{truncateString(author.companyName || author.programName || "", 50)}</div>
         </CardMetaWIcon>
       )}
-      {author.projects?.length > 0 && (
-        <CardMetaWIcon icon="wrench">
-          <div className="line-clamp-2">
-            {author.projects.map((p, idx) => (
-              <a
-                href={`/commons-project/${p.projectID}`}
-                key={p.projectID}
-                className="hover:underline cursor-pointer !text-blue-500 !hover:text-blue-500"
-              >
-                {`${p.title}${
-                  author.projects.length > 1 &&
-                  idx !== author.projects.length - 1
-                    ? ", "
-                    : ""
-                }`}
-              </a>
-            ))}
-          </div>
-        </CardMetaWIcon>
-      )}
       {author.nameURL && (
         <CardMetaWIcon icon="linkify">
           <div className="line-clamp-2">
diff --git a/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/CatalogCard/index.tsx b/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/CatalogCard/index.tsx
index 75e8fb07..65645282 100644
--- a/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/CatalogCard/index.tsx
+++ b/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/CatalogCard/index.tsx
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { Link } from "react-router-dom";
 import { Card, CardProps } from "semantic-ui-react";
 import {
   Book,
-  ConductorSearchResponseAuthor,
+  Author,
   ConductorSearchResponseFile,
   Project,
 } from "../../../../types";
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ interface CatalogCardProps extends CardProps {
     | Book
     | ConductorSearchResponseFile
     | Project
-    | ConductorSearchResponseAuthor;
+    | Author;
   onDetailClick?: () => void;
 }
 
diff --git a/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/DetailModal/index.tsx b/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/DetailModal/index.tsx
index bdf229f6..60da8f89 100644
--- a/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/DetailModal/index.tsx
+++ b/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/DetailModal/index.tsx
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { Modal } from "semantic-ui-react";
 import {
   Book,
-  ConductorSearchResponseAuthor,
+  Author,
   ConductorSearchResponseFile,
   Project,
 } from "../../../../types";
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ interface DetailModalProps {
     | Book
     | ConductorSearchResponseFile
     | Project
-    | ConductorSearchResponseAuthor;
+    | Author;
   open: boolean;
   onClose: () => void;
 }
diff --git a/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/VisualMode.tsx b/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/VisualMode.tsx
index 578a1225..36d97572 100644
--- a/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/VisualMode.tsx
+++ b/client/src/components/commons/CommonsCatalog/VisualMode.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import {
   Book,
-  ConductorSearchResponseAuthor,
+  Author,
   ConductorSearchResponseFile,
   Project,
 } from "../../../types";
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ const VisualMode = ({
     | Book
     | ConductorSearchResponseFile
     | Project
-    | ConductorSearchResponseAuthor
+    | Author
   )[];
   loading?: boolean;
   noResultsMessage?: string;
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ const VisualMode = ({
     | Book
     | ConductorSearchResponseFile
     | Project
-    | ConductorSearchResponseAuthor
+    | Author
     | undefined
   >(undefined);
 
diff --git a/client/src/context/CatalogContext.tsx b/client/src/context/CatalogContext.tsx
index 9175f42a..4fc0553a 100644
--- a/client/src/context/CatalogContext.tsx
+++ b/client/src/context/CatalogContext.tsx
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import type {
   Book,
   BookFilters,
   CommonsModule,
-  ConductorSearchResponseAuthor,
+  Author,
   ConductorSearchResponseFile,
   Project,
   ProjectFilters,
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ export interface CatalogContextValue {
   miniRepos: CatalogEntityData<Project, ProjectFilters>;
 
   // Authors entity
-  authors: CatalogEntityData<ConductorSearchResponseAuthor, AuthorFilters>;
+  authors: CatalogEntityData<Author, AuthorFilters>;
 
   // Stop loading trigger (for infinite scroll)
   triggerStopLoading: () => void;
diff --git a/client/src/types/Search.ts b/client/src/types/Search.ts
index 62b2cf42..7d5f4beb 100644
--- a/client/src/types/Search.ts
+++ b/client/src/types/Search.ts
@@ -88,9 +88,6 @@ export type UserSearchParams = {
   sort?: "first" | "last";
 } & _commonSearchParams;
 
-export type ConductorSearchResponseAuthor = Author & {
-  projects: Pick<Project, "projectID" | "title">[];
-};
 export type ConductorSearchResponseFile = ProjectFileWProjectData<
   "title" | "thumbnail" | "description" | "projectURL"
 >;
@@ -112,7 +109,7 @@ export type ConductorSearchResponse<
     : T extends "users"
     ? User[]
     : T extends "authors"
-    ? ConductorSearchResponseAuthor[]
+    ? Author[]
     : T extends "minirepos"
     ? Project[]
     : never;
diff --git a/server/api/search.ts b/server/api/search.ts
index 7237eeb3..21b01542 100644
--- a/server/api/search.ts
+++ b/server/api/search.ts
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ import Author from "../models/author.js";
 import Fuse from "fuse.js";
 import Organization from "../models/organization.js";
 import AssetTagFramework from "../models/assettagframework.js";
-import authorsAPI from "./authors.js";
 import SearchQuery, {
   SearchQueryInterface_Raw,
 } from "../models/searchquery.js";
@@ -37,7 +36,6 @@ import { _getBookPublicOrInstructorAssetsCount, buildOrganizationNamesList } fro
 import CustomCatalog, { CustomCatalogInterface } from "../models/customcatalog.js";
 import { normalizedSort } from "../util/searchutils.js";
 import SearchService from "./services/search-service.js";
-import AuthorService from "./services/author-service.js";
 
 const searchQueryCache: SearchQueryInterface_Raw[] = []; // in-memory cache for search queries
 
@@ -1892,7 +1890,6 @@ async function authorsSearch(
           nameKey: { $exists: true, $ne: null },
         },
       },
-      AuthorService.LOOKUP_AUTHOR_PROJECTS_STAGE,
       {
         $project: {
           userUUID: 0,
diff --git a/server/models/supporticketmessage.ts b/server/models/supporticketmessage.ts
index 4dda619e..ff4d5316 100644
--- a/server/models/supporticketmessage.ts
+++ b/server/models/supporticketmessage.ts
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ SupportTicketMessageSchema.virtual("sender", {
 });
 
 SupportTicketMessageSchema.index({ uuid: 1 });
+SupportTicketMessageSchema.index({ ticket: 1, type: 1, createdAt: -1 });
 SupportTicketMessageSchema.set("toObject", { virtuals: true });
 SupportTicketMessageSchema.set("toJSON", { virtuals: true });