Rate My Professor Gerald Koudelka

Gerald Koudelka is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University at Buffalo. He received his PhD from the University at Buffalo in 1984 and conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University. Koudelka joined the faculty at the University at Buffalo as an Assistant Professor in 1988, advanced to Associate Professor in 1994, and held subsequent positions including Professor, Director of Graduate Studies, Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences, and Senior Associate Dean for Research and Sponsored Programs in the College of Arts and Sciences from 2021 to 2023. His research centers on DNA-protein interactions, DNA structure, and bacterial pathogenesis, with two primary themes: the mechanisms by which regulatory proteins recognize specific DNA sequences amid numerous non-specific sites, and the evolution of bacteriophage-encoded exotoxins. In the latter area, Koudelka investigates how these exotoxins, such as Shiga toxin in enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, contribute to bacterial persistence and defense against predators like the protist Acanthamoeba castellanii and Tetrahymena. His laboratory has examined biochemical, cell biological, and population-based factors influencing Shiga toxin-encoding bacteria and phages in freshwater ecosystems and phagocytic vesicles.

Koudelka's scholarship includes key publications such as 'O-Polysaccharides of LPS Modulate E. coli Uptake by Acanthamoeba castellanii' (Microorganisms, 2023), 'The oligosaccharide region of LPS governs predation of E. coli by the bacterivorous protist, Acanthamoeba castellanii' (Microbiology Spectrum, 2022), 'A Robust One-Step Recombineering System for Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli' (Microorganisms, 2022), 'Transcriptional and Translational Inhibitors Block SOS Response and Shiga Toxin Expression in Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli' (Scientific Reports, 2019), and 'DNA twisting and the effects of non-contacted bases on the affinity of 434 operator for 434 repressor' (Nature, 1992). He has earned the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2021 for his contributions to microbiology. Koudelka's work elucidates fundamental principles of protein-DNA recognition and the ecological roles of bacterial exotoxins.