Kyle Mondron,
B.S. Chemistry
M.S. Sustainable Forest Management
About
I grew up in a village in rural Illinois, before moving to DeKalb, IL to obtain my B.S.
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I was involved in research all 4 years of my undergraduate program and worked under two different
faculty members. While working with Dr. Narayan Hosmane, I had projects related to synthesis and boron-doping of magnetic nanoparticles intended for boron-neutron capture therapy (BNCT). With Dr. James Horn, my projects involved testing the potential for a pH-triggered protein activity switch based on linked equilibria and testing unique methods for improving the thermal and chemical stability of green fluorescent protein (GFP) using antibodies.
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For my master's degree program, I worked with Dr. Jared LeBoldus to find strong associations between single nucleotide polymorphism markers and disease phenotypes in a population of hybrid poplars infected with the fungal pathogen Sphaerulina musiva.
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I'm currently working for Jared as a Faculty Research Assistant, but am interested in fungal-bacterial endosymbiosis and exploring "-omics" approaches to characterizing the interactions and evolutionary history of bacterial endosymbionts and their fungal hosts.
Education
M.Sc. in Sustainable Forest Management (3.95 GPA), Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 2017-2019
• Thesis: Host and Pathogen Contributions to the Populus–Sphaerulina Pathosystem
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B.S. in Chemistry (4.00 GPA), Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, 2012-2016
Employment
Graduate Research Assistant, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 2017-2019
• Identified genetic loci related to poplar susceptibility to stem canker in a population of 1500 hybrids.
• Leveraged complex generalized linear mixed models to measure associations between disease and genetics.
Quality Assurance, Lab Analyst I, FMC Corp., Wyoming, IL, 2016-2017
• Worked individually to analyze physical and chemical properties of pesticide products in a GLP environment.
• Communicated test results to production staff and recorded test results hourly, facilitating product adjustment.
• Used and maintained: HPLC, GC, GC-MS, particulate testing equipment, pH meters.
Undergraduate Research Assistant, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, 2012-2016
• Developed and characterized boron-doped, hydrophilic magnetic nanoparticles with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR).
• Applied biochemical and thermodynamic approaches to evaluate the use of single-domain antibodies for biological and diagnostic applications.