cv

This page is a work in progress.

General Information

Full Name Kian Kelly
Date of Birth 7th April 2000

Education

  • 2022-2026
    PhD, Plant Pathology
    University of California Riverside
    • Using metabarcoding and genomics approaches to characterize the ecology, distribution, and genomic features of plant symbiotic extremophilic fungi in Southern California deserts.
    • Mentor for undergraduate students in the lab, teaching them how to culture fungi, use bioinformatics tools, analyze data.
    • Dry lab kills developed include R, Python, Bash scripting, as well as genomic and metagenomic analyses.
    • Wet lab skills developed include fungal culturing, DNA extraction, PCR, illumina library preperation, and nanopore sequencing.
    • Achieved a 3.89 GPA overall in my courses.
  • 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
    • Helped construct a Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) mutant library using bacterial artificial chromosome recombineering.
  • 2021-2022
    Research assistant
    Fort Lewis College
    • Helped construct a CRISPR knockout library of the allopolyploid Arabidopsis suecica using golden gate cloning.

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.