CV

General Information

Full Name Kian Kelly
Date of Birth 7th April 2000

Education

  • 2022-2025
    PhD, Plant Pathology
    University of California Riverside
    • Generated genomic and metagenomic nanopore and illumina sequence data, resulting in 8 novel fungal genomes and 10,000 taxa identified through metagenomic analysis
    • Performed comparative genomic analysis of extremophilic fungi resulting in the identification of potentially horizontally acquired genes conferring extreme resistance phenotypes.
    • Analyzed NGS data using R, and Python, utilizing custom built pipelines resulting in three publications (in preparation)
    • Mentoring undergraduate students by teaching fungal culturing techniques and bioinformatics methods, including data analysis using custom pipelines.
    • Lead developer for sequence classification software using machine learning (Python).
    • Expertise in fungal culturing, DNA extraction, PCR, Illumina library preparation, and nanopore sequencing techniques.
    • Obtained first cultures of 15+ undescribed fungal species. Developed strain library of 100+ extreme adapted microbes for bioprospecting use in the National Science Foundation ExFAB Biofoundry.
    • Achieved a 3.89 overall GPA.
  • 2018-2022
    Bachelors of Science, Biology
    Fort Lewis College
    • Graduated Magana cum Laude
    • Conducted research spanning molecular virology, organic chemistry, and mycology.
    • Developed skills in molecular cloning and PCR.

Work experience

  • 2021-2021
    NSF REU student
    Cornell University
    • Identified suitable conditions for preparation of plant membrane hormone transporter NPF3 for cryo electron microscopy using lipid nanodisc reconstitution and detergent solubilization.
    • Obtained 2D classes of detergent solubilized NPF3.
    • Generated recombinant baculoviruses possessing three orthologs of pannexin 2.
  • 2020-2021
    Research assistant
    Fort Lewis College
    • Participated in bacterial artificial chromosome recombineering to generate a Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) mutant library.
    • Used Golden Gate cloning to create CRISPR plasmids for gene knockout in Arabidopsis suecicia

Teaching

  • 2022-2023
    Microbiology TA
    University of California Riverside
    • Served as the discussion instructor for over 100 introductory microbiology students.
    • Developed weekly lectures and helped administer exams.
  • 2019-2022
    Lead peer educator
    Fort Lewis College
    • Tutored students in all writing subjects.
    • Delivered presentations on scientific writing to peer educators and ran meetings.