Short biography
Karl Kadler obtained his PhD in 1984 with Dr. John Chapman, University of Manchester, for developing computer-based methods of using protein sequence information to interpret electron microscope images of collagen fibrils. In 1984 he moved to the USA to take up a postdoctoral position with Dr. Darwin J. Prockop (UMDNJ, Rutgers Medical School, New Jersey) where he developed a cell-free system for studying collagen fibrillogenesis by cleavage of procollagen (the biosynthetic precursor of collagen) with the procollagen metalloproteinases. He moved back to the University of Manchester in1989 as a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow in Basic Biomedical Sciences, to study the consequences of structural mutations in collagen genes on collagen fibrillogenesis. In 2000 he was appointed Professor of Biochemistry, University of Manchester. His laboratory is focused on understanding how cells orchestrate the long-range order of collagen fibrils that can be ~hundreds of microns in length and can span entire populations of cells. In recent work, Kadler’s lab has developed 3D cell culture models for studying fibrous tissue assembly incorporating real-time force measurements, gene knockdown, electron tomography, electron serial section microscopy, and live cell imaging. His seminar will focus on new experiments showing how embryonic stem-progenitor cells use non-muscle myosin II, cadherin-containing junctions, MT1-MMP, and in vivo focal adhesions to establish the long range order of collagen fibrils and mechanical properties of tissues.