Robert Mitchell Email & Phone Number

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

Kerrville, Texas

• Cattle fever tick control and eradication (R. microplus and R. annulatus)
• Genomics of livestock pests, including hard and soft ticks
• Management of flies associated with livestock, especially New World Screwworm (C. hominivorax)
• Mentoring graduate students from Schreiner University (TX) and NC State (NC)

Raleigh, NC

• Developing a non-insecticidal trapping bed net to kill insecticide-resistant malaria mosquitoes.
• Developing insect bite-resistant clothing for military applications over a wide range of conditions.
• Utilizing transcriptomics (Illumina NextSeq) to characterize molecular differences between Bt-susceptible and Bt-resistant cotton bollworms (Helicoverpa zea).
• Studying the impact of the gut microbiome of the cotton bollworm on Bt susceptibility.
• Generating manuscripts for submission in high tier scientific journals.
• Writing grants and quarterly or annual progress reports to funding agencies.

Raleigh, NC

• Used transcriptomics to explore the impact of common urban chemistries on total gene expression in primary human hepatocytes to understandtheir potential human health effects.
• Developed novel diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets by evaluating microRNA and long non-coding RNA levels related to differentially expressed protein-coding genes.
• Teaching assistant for multiple undergraduate and graduate-level entomology courses.
• Invited speaker for ENT503 (graduate class) discussing next-gen sequencing and microbiomics
• Annotated all of the key enzymes in the juvenile hormone (JH) biosynthesis pathway and a vitellogenin receptor (VgR) in the dampwood termite Zootermopsis nevadensis for a Nature paper.
• Annotated mevalonate-farnesal biosynthesis pathway in both hard and soft tick species.

Raleigh, NC

• Developed a model for prioritizing high-consequence exotic pests that could enter the U.S.
• Performed extensive literature reviews to acquire the most up-to-date information on potentially invasive pest (arthropod) species that can harbor destructive plant pathogens.
• Worked with minimal supervision to develop high-quality written analyses.
• Met regularly with co-workers and supervisors to finalize analyses and discuss improvements.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Entomology

• Dissertation: Impact of Environmental Chemicals on the Transcriptome of Primary Human Hepatocytes: Potential for Health Effects.

Master’S Degree, Biological And Biomedical Sciences

• Research: Determining the role of Tax protein from HTLV-1 (Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1) in development of adult T-cell.

Biology/Biological Sciences, General

• Thesis: Molecular Characterization, Tissue-specific Expression, and RNAi Knockdown of the First Vitellogenin Receptor from a Tick.

Bachelor’S Degree, Biology/Biological Sciences, General

• Core Courses: Genetics, Microbiology, General Chemistry I & II, Cell Biology, Neurobiology, Vertebrate Anatomy, Cellular Immunology.