Les KORDYLEWSKI Ph.D.
Cell Biologist, Forensic Scientist, and Microscopist
Bio:
Les Kordylewski Ph.D. is a Biologist who works as a Forensic Scientist. He is a former faculty member of the University of Chicago. He received his degrees from Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland. Les is the youngest son of a Polish astronomer, Kazimierz Kordylewski (1903-1981), who became famous for his discovery of Dust Moons in the Lagrangean Points of The Earth-Moon system.
While working at the Department of Medicine of the University of Chicago as Assistant Professor, Les developed a unique method of quantification of cell membrane ultrastructural characteristics using three-dimensional imaging and image processing. He developed an original quantitative method of evaluating autoradiographic signal from sliced tissues to study gene expression by in situ hybridization of DNA.
Long before the mechanisms of heritage of mitochondrial DNA were known, Dr. Kordylewski discovered and explained similar cytoplasmic inheritance mechanism of pigmentation in amphibian development (1969). This topic was presented as his dissertation for habilitation (D.Sc.) in 1986.
Les has nearly 40 years of experience with teaching and research in the fields of Light and Electron Microscopy, Histology, Embryology, Comparative Anatomy, General Biology, Cell Biology, and Cell Ultrastructure. He taught in Poland and in US, at Jagiellonian, UofC, Winthrop University in SC, and Barat College of DePaul University in Lake Forest IL. Les authored or coauthored more than 100 original papers and articles published in the leading US, international, and Polish scientific journals, which are cited by various authors worldwide. The work of Les and his coworkers was featured on the cover of March 1994 Journal of Microscopy. In 1996 Les wrote a book “Problems of Bioethics,” which was the first textbook of its kind published in his native Polish language.
After many years of service in academia, Dr. Kordylewski began to work for the State of Illinois Forensic Science Services in 1996. His current responsibilities as a Forensic Microscopist consist in examination of trace evidence using Polarized Light Microscopy, Fluorescence, Microspectrophotometry, and Infrared Microscopy. His duties include testifying in Court as an expert witness. He issued more than 800 reports on his examinations. He is a member of American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Midwestern Association of Forensic Scientists, State of Illinois Microscopical Society, and American Association for Cell Biology.
His hobbies include family life, travel, languages, and photography. He is fluent in English and his native Polish, he also speaks Russian, some German, French, and Latin, and he has mastered the International Language Esperanto. He has visited more than 40 countries worldwide.
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