Christopher D. Radka, Ph.D.

Dr. Christopher Radka leads a laboratory studying bacterial lipid metabolism and signaling in the microbiome. During his Postdoctoral Fellowship at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Dr. Radka discovered hydroxy fatty acids play a key role in Staphylococcus aureus pathogenesis and was awarded an NIAID MOSAIC K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award to study the mechanism(s) of how bacterial hydroxy fatty acids suppress the host immune system. S. aureus is a resident of the skin microbiome and is both pathogen and commensal. Bacteria in other microbiomes (i.e., intestinal, vaginal) also produce hydroxy fatty acids, suggesting these molecules may be a unifying strategy to promote bacterial survival in the host. Dr. Radka joined the University of Kentucky in 2023 and is a member of the Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty. The Radka laboratory uses a reductionist, mechanistic approach to address fundamental questions related to lipid metabolism and host-microbe interactions: (1) microbial biosynthetic pathways to produce lipid mediators; (2) relationships between microbial lipid structures and host target receptors; (3) host signaling pathways impacted by lipid-receptor interactions; (4) host metabolic pathways to degrade microbial lipid mediators.