1135 42nd Ave. W,

West Fargo, ND 58078

MONIKA K MICHALAK DE JIMÉNEZ, Ph D

HIGHLIGHTS OF QUALIFICATIONS

  • Experience in training and supervising undergraduate as well as graduate students
  • Multiple Teaching Assistant experiences in the Department of Plant Sciencesat NDSU
  • Several years involved in summer STEM students training program
  • Extensive (9 years) hands-on experience in molecular genetics laboratory combined with knowledge of genetics,genomics, breeding, cytogenetics, and plant physiology.
  • Working experience in a large group of scientists requiring the ability to work on both individual as well as a team member

EDUCATION

Ph. D.Plant Sciences, Genomics Program,North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND

M. Sc. and B. Sc.- joined studies, Biotechnology, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, University of Agriculture, Szczecin, Poland

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota October 2009-present

Department of Plant Sciences; Postdoctoral Fellow

Radiation Hybrid Mapping of AB genome of Wheat using DH Lines

  • Development of wheat double haploid population of ~ 2,000 lines – within a period of last 6 months
  • Experience in wheat interspecific crosses – developed successful hybrids with rye, Ae. tauschii, Ae. longissima, Ae. cylindrica
  • Extensive experience in tissue culture – embryo rescue of over 2,000 embryos and sterile techniques – seed sterilization, embryo culture under sterile conditions
  • Optimizing embryo rescue protocols - to increase germination and plantlets survival
  • Chromosome doubling using colchicine treatment – subsample of the population
  • Working in a large and diverse group of 12+ scientists – collaborating with team members to generate and publish data (5 publications in progress), including collaboration on a $3.5 mln – mapping project
  • Training and supervising four undergraduate students and one visiting scientist in the greenhouse as well in laboratory activities
  • Collaboration with breeders – development of a mutant population for a HRSW cultivar from which a breeder selected multiple lines for further trials

North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota August 2004-October 2009

Department of Plant Sciences; Ph.D. Degree

Radiation Hybrid Mapping of 1D Chromosome of Wheat– Advisor: Dr. Shahryar F. Kianian

  • Extensive greenhouse experience (10+ seasons) and in making crosses to develop multiple mapping populations
  • High-throughput DNA isolation, PCR-based marker design, PAGE and agarose gel separation
  • Saturation mapping using different marker systems (ESTs, SNPs, SSRs, ISBPs, RJMs), physical mapping, chromosome walking
  • Bioinformatic tools: BLAST, Multalign, ClustalW, Primer3, Oligo5, Mitopred and CarthaGene v. 1.2.0 - mapping software

University of Agriculture,Szczecin, Poland November 1998-June 2003

Department of Plant Genetics and Breeding, joint B. Sc. and M.Sc. Degree

QTL analysis of agronomically important traits in rye- Advisor:Dr. Piotr Masojc

  • Phenotyping and QTL analysis of agronomically important traits in rye
  • Computer analysis: MAPMAKER, MAPMAKER/QTL3.0

Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding,Szczecin, Poland March 2004 -May 2004

University of Agriculture, Internship

  • Improving lab techniques related to molecular genetics,such as DNA isolation, PCR, electrophoresis denaturing PAGE, silver staining

Queens University, Belfast, UK June 2003 – July 2003

Department of Food Microbiology,Internship

  • Improving lab techniques connected to microbiology and bacteria cultivation – culturing in liquid and surface media

TEACHING AND MANAGING EXPERIENCE

Training and supervising multiple undergraduate students to assist in past and ongoing projects 2004-present

Lab training and development of a STEM student Summer 2012

Training and supervising an international visiting scientist in laboratory techniques Summer 2011

as well as greenhouse work connected to crossing wheat

Assisting in teaching graduate level Cytogenetics Lab PLSC741 Fall 2010

Lab training and development of five STEM students Summer 2009 and 2010

Vice-President of Plant Sciences Graduate Students Association March 2008

  • Responsible for organizing a trip to Canada for the 24th Annual Plant Science Graduate Student Symposium
  • Organized a picnic for the PLSC Graduate Students Association

Genetics Lab PLSC315, Department of Plant Sciences, NDSU, Spring 2008

  • Introducing basic molecular techniques to undergraduate students

Genomic Techniques PLSC796, Department of Plant Sciences, NDSU, Spring 2007

  • Designing a project for the class and training graduate students in lab techniques so they could perform their assigned tasks and write their project reports; it also required planning the experiment, organizing equipment as well as necessary reagents

Teaching Assistant, Genetics and You PLSC111, Department of Plant Sciences, NDSU, Spring 2005

  • Giving lectures on different aspects of genetics

AWARDS

Research Award ($1000) from NDSU Graduate School 2009

Fargo, ND

ND EPSCoR Doctoral Dissertation Assistantship (~$30,000) June 2008

Fargo, ND

Presidential travel award, 2008, North Dakota State University January 2008

Fargo, ND

1st prize for presentation at 24th Annual Plant Science Graduate March 2008

Student Symposium, University of Saskachewan Saskatoon, Canada

Student scholarship for GPA 4.79/5 at University of Agriculture, Szczecin, Poland 2002-2003

ADDITIONAL SKILLS

COMPUTER PROFICIENCY: Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Office Applications (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), HTML

LANGUAGES: English – fluent; Polish – native speaker; Spanish - basic

POSTERS/ORAL PRESENTATIONS

22nd International Triticeae Mapping Initiative Workshop "ITMI-NWGC 2012",Poster Presentation, Fargo, ND, USA, June 2012

XVII International Plant and Animal Genome Conference, PosterPresentation, San Diego, CA, USA, January 2009

ND EPSCoR Conference, Poster Presentation, Grand Forks, MN, USA, 2008

24th Annual Plant Science Graduate Student Symposium, Presenter,University of Saskachewan, Canada, Saskatoon, March 2008

XVI International Plant and Animal Genomes Conference,Invited Presenter,San Diego, CA, USA, January 2008.

23rdAnnual Plant Science Graduate Student Symposium, Participant, North Dakota State University, ND, USA, April 2007

22ndAnnual Plant Science Graduate Student Symposium, Presenter,University of Manitoba, Canada, March 2006

PUBLICATIONS

Kumar, A., F. M. Bassi, E. Paux, O. Al-Azzam,M. K. Michalak de Jimenez et al. 2012. DNA repair and crossing over favor similar chromosome regions as discoveredin radiation hybrid of Triticum. BMC Genomics 13: 339.

Kumar,A., V. K. Tiwari, K. Simons,M. K.Michalak de Jiménez, O. Al-Azzam, F. Bassi, M. J. Iqbal, F. Ghavami, A. Denton, M. C. Luo, Y. Gu, G. Lazo, J. M. Leonard, O. Riera-Lizarazu, S. S. Maan, S. F. Kianian. 2012. Development of advanced resources for wheat D-genome: Radiation hybrids for Aegilops tauschii accession AL8/78. (submitted to BMC Genomics).

Paux, E., P. Sourdille,J. Salse, C. Saintenac, F. Choulet, P. Leroy, A. Korol, M. Michalak, S. Kianian,W. Spielmeyer, E. Lagudah,D. Somers, A. Kilian, M. Alaux, S. Vautrin, H. Bergès,K. Eversole, R. Appels, J. Safar, H. Simkova, J. Dolezel, M. Bernard, C. Feuillet. 2008. A Physical Map of the 1-Gigabase Bread Wheat Chromosome 3B. Science 3: p. 101 – 104.

Michalak, M. K., F. Ghavami, G. R. Lazo, Y. Q. Gu, S. F. Kianian. 2009. Evolutionary relationship of nuclear genes encoding mitochondrial proteins across four grass species and Arabidopsis thaliana.Maydica 54: 471-483.

Michalak, M. K., A. A. Kumar, O. Riera-Lizarazu, Y. Gu, E. Paux, F. Choulet, C. Feuillet, S. Kumar, A. Goyal, V. Tiwari, M. Dogramaci, J. Hegstad, S. S. Maan, S. F. and Kianian. 2008. High-resolution radiation hybrid mapping in wheat: an essential tool for the construction of the wheat physical maps. In proceedings of 11th International Wheat Genetics Symposium (IWGS), August 24-29, 2008, Brisbane Australia, pp1-3.

Michalak, M. K.. 2003. QTL analysis of agronomically important traits in rye (Secale cereale). M. Sc. Thesis.University of Agriculture, Szczecin, Poland.

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

M. K. Michalak de Jimènez, F. Ghavami, K. Seth, F. M. Bassi, M. Doğramacı, Y. Q. Gu, and S. F. Kianian. 2012. Homoeoallelic relationship of two speciation genes involved in the evolution of allopolyploid wheat. The 22nd International Triticeae Mapping Initiative Workshop "ITMI-NWGC 2012", Fargo, ND, USA.

F. M Bassi, Y. Wang, M. K. Michalak de Jimenez,K. Simons, K. Forrest, S. Kong, R. Saetan, L.Al-Nilmer, R. Dizon, H. Simkova, J. Doelzel, F. Ghavami, A. Denton, J. Dvorak, M.-Ch. Luo, Y. Gu, M. Hayden, and S. F Kianian. Wheat Zapper, Illumina BSA and radiation hybrids for synteny analysis of the scs region. The 22nd International Triticeae Mapping Initiative Workshop "ITMI-NWGC 2012", Fargo, ND, USA.

A. Kumar,V. K. Tiwari, T Drader, O. Al-Azzam, K. Simons, M. J. Iqbal, M. Michalak de Jimenez, F. M. Bassi, F. Ghavami, L. Dong, Y. Wang, M.-Ch.Luo, Y. Q. Gu, A. Denton, G. Lazo, J. M. Leonard, O. Riera-Lizarazu, and S. F. Kianian. 2012. Physical mappingr for large plant genomes: radiation hybrids for D-genome of Chinese Spring and Aegilops tauschii accession AL8/78. The 22nd International Triticeae Mapping Initiative Workshop "ITMI-NWGC 2012", Fargo, ND, USA.

Bassi, F. M. Michalak, F. Ghavami, J. Zurn, H. Simkova, J. Dolezel, Y. Q. Gu, J. Dvorak, S. S. Maan, and S. F. Kianian. 2011. Radiation hybrid mapping in wheat and its utilization in detailed comparative analysis of grass genomics. Plant and Animal GenomeXIX Conference, Sandiego, California, USA

Ghavami, F.,M. K. Michalak de Jimenez, F. Bassi, J. Zurn, Y. Q. Gu, R. Thilmony, and S. F. Kianian. 2011. High resolution radiation hybrid mapping in a centromic region of wheat. Plant Biology 2011. Minneapolis, MN.

Kumar, A., V. Tiwari, M. K.Michalak de Jimenez, K. Simons, F. Bassi, M. Iqbal, F. Ghavami, M.-Ch.Luo, Y.Q. Gu, A. Denton, G. Lazo, J. Leonard, O. Riera-Lizarazu, S. F. Kianian. 2011. Radiation hybrid mapping: Towards a complete physical map of the wheat genome. P275. Plant & Animal Genomes XIX Conference, January 15-19, San Diego, CA, USA.

Ghavami, F., M. K. Michalak, O. Riera-Lizarazu, Y. Q. Gu, R. Thilmony, S. S. Maan, and S. F. Kianian. 2010. A new strategy to map scs genes: Combining radiation hybrid mapping with high resolution genetic mapping. Plant and Animal GenomeXVIII Conference, Sandiego, California, USA.

M. K. Michalak, A. Kumar, S. Kumar, V. Tiwari, M. Dogramaci, and S. Kianian. PAG-XVII conference 2009. High-resolution radiation hybrid mapping in wheat: An essential tool for the construction of the wheat physical maps.

F. Ghavami, M. K. Michalak, O. Riera-Lizarazu, Y. Q. Gu, R. Thilmony, S. S. Maan, S. F. Kianian. PAG-XVIII conference. 2010. A new strategy to map scs genes: combining radiation hybrid mapping with high resolution genetic mapping.

V. Kumar Tiwari, A. Kumar, M. K. Michalak, F. Ghavami, H. Gunn, J. M. Leonard, A. Denton, Y. Q. Gu, M.-Ch. Luo, G. Lazo, Shahryar F. Kianian, Oscar Riera-Lizarazu. PAG-XVIII conference 2010. Development and characterization of D-genome radiation hybrids of wheat (Triticumaestivum L.).

M. K. Michalak and S. Kianian. High-resolution radiation hybrid mapping of common wheat chromosome 1D. ND EPSCoR Conference 2009.

M. K. Michalak, O. Riera-Lizarazu, Y.Gu, E. Paux, C. Feuillet, V.Kalavacharla, K.Hossain, A. Kumar, S.Kumar, A. Goyal, V.Tiwari, H. S.Balyan, P. K. Gupta, H. S. Dhaliwal, S.S. Maan, andS. F. Kianian. 2008. High-resolution radiation hybrid mapping in wheat: an essential tool for the construction of the wheat physical maps.Plant and Animal Genome XVI Conference January 12-16, 2008 Town & Country Convention Center San Diego, CA.