1135 42nd Ave. W,
West Fargo, ND 58078
monika.michalak@ndsu.edu
MONIKA K MICHALAK DE JIMÉNEZ, Ph D
HIGHLIGHTS OF QUALIFICATIONS
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Experience in training and supervising undergraduate as well as graduate students
Multiple Teaching Assistant experiences in the Department of Plant Sciences at 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
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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
Lab training and development of a STEM student
Training and supervising an international visiting scientist in laboratory techniques
as well as greenhouse work connected to crossing wheat
Assisting in teaching graduate level Cytogenetics Lab PLSC741
Lab training and development of five STEM students
2004-present
Summer 2012
Summer 2011
Fall 2010
Summer 2009 and 2010
Vice-President of Plant Sciences Graduate Students Association
March 2008
 Responsible for organizing a trip to Canada for the 24 th Annual Plant Science Graduate Student
Symposium
 Organized a picnic for the PLSC Graduate Students Association
Genetics Lab PLSC315, Department of Plant Sciences, NDSU,
 Introducing basic molecular techniques to undergraduate students
Genomic Techniques PLSC796, Department of Plant Sciences, NDSU,
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Spring 2008
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,
 Giving lectures on different aspects of genetics
Spring 2005
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
Student Symposium, University of Saskachewan
March 2008
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, Poster Presentation, 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.
23rd Annual Plant Science Graduate Student Symposium, Participant, North Dakota State University, ND, USA,
April 2007
22nd Annual 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 discovered in 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 "ITMINWGC 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 Genome XIX 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 Genome XVIII 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 (Triticum aestivum 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, and S. 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.