Kian H. Kelly

Hi, I’m Kian. I earned my BS in Biology in 2022 from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. During my time there, I worked on various projects in synthetic organic chemistry, ecology, and molecular virology. I also participated in the National Science Foundation REU program at Cornell Unviersity, where I obtained the first cryo-electron micrographs of the plant membrane protein NPF3. These experiences allowed me to develop skills in molecular cloning, membrane protein expression and purification, and bacterial artificial chromosome recombineering.

In 2023, I joined the Jason Stajich lab at the University of California, Riverside, as a Plant Pathology PhD student. My research focuses on understanding the ecology of biological soil crust fungi. I have demonstrated that biocrust-fungal associations are an excellent model for studying interactions between ancient organisms such as bryophytes and early divergent fungi. Additionally, my work has illuminated the effects of climate change on dryland microbial diversity. Currently, I am developing a tool called MATPredict, which uses machine learning to identify the genomic coordinates of fungal MAT loci. I am proficient in R, Python, Bash scripting, as well as genomic and metagenomic analyses.

Outside the lab, I am an avid nature enthusiast, spending much of my free time hiking and reading. My favorite authors include Fyodor Dostoevsky, Jack London, and James Baldwin. My career interests lie primarily in bioinformatics. If you think I would be a good fit for your organization, please contact me using the link below. Cheers!