Welcome to the website of the Vorselen Lab of mechanobiology and quantitative immune cell biology!


What we do

In the Vorselen Lab, we are fascinated by regulation of cell functions by physical forces. We focus on our immune system, where immune cells use forces to guide target selection and enhance target killing. Many immune responses, such as eating (macrophage phagocytosis) and chemical killing (T cell cytotoxicity), are more efficient for stiff than soft targets. Cancer cells are generally softer than healthy tissue cells, raising the possibility that they use their low rigidity as a means to evade immune responses. We focus both on the fundamental mechanisms of regulation by physical forces in immune cells, as well as the consequences of immune mechanobiology in the context of disease (e.g. cancer).

A special focus of our lab is macrophage mechanobiology. Macrophage are most classically known for responses against bacteria pathogens, but are increasingly recognized for their role in some of the most pressing health issues, including neurodegeration, atherosclerosis and cancer. Targeting macrophages to induce cancer cell killing is an attractive new therapeutic strategy because of the abundance of macrophages in tumors. Revealing how macrophage responses are affected by physical cues may facilitate the design of novel therapeutics targeting new pathways in macrophages. Since the molecular machinery in many immune effector functions is shared, understanding macrophage phagocytotis may give further insight into other immune cell responses.

Our mechanistic studies focus on how immune cells sense and generate forces, and how they integrate these signals with chemical signals they receive. We develop new biophysical approaches to tune the physical input that cells receive and new methods to measure cellular forces. A key contribution is our development (during my time with Prof. Julie Theriot) of a “stress ball for the cell”: soft hydrogel microspheres that can be functionalized to trigger a variety of immune responses. They are tunable, uniquely model key physical characteristics of cancer cells (other models are up to 10 million-fold(!) more rigid), and can be kneaded and squeezed by cells, rendering them as cellular force sensors. We combine these techniques with quantitative microscopy and cellular perturbations (genetic, pharmaceutical) to interrogate immune pathways. Together, this provides a detailed quantitative readout of immune cell behavior and helps us understand the regulation of immune processes by physical forces.

To study the consequences of macrophage mechanobiology in disease, we study how the broader macrophage response (signaling, cross-talk with adaptive immunity) is affected by mechanical input, and the role of macrophage mechanobiology in complex cell systems and (tumor) disease models.

–> For more information see research. Interested in joining, see join!


News

2024

28/11 We got a NWO-M1 awarded to study immune cell dynamics in native tissue! Huge thanks to Maria Forlenza, Kaylee van Dijk and Yifan Wang for help collecting and analyzing preliminary data. We will soon advertise a PhD position!

05/11 Our joined proposal with Uddalok Sen (website) was selected by VLAG (research school from WUR)! We will soon advertise a PhD position! We will be looking for a candidate interested in combining theory and quantitative experimental measurements to gain better understanding of phagocytosis.

01/11 Registration is open for the EMBO Immunobiophysics meeting. Check it out here!

18/09 Another new paper from our collaboration with the lab of Morgan Huse! In 2002, Beningo & Wang revealed that phagocytosis is depends on target stiffness. The involved signaling pathways remained mysterious, until now! Read it here.

01/09 Two new MSc students joined the lab for their thesis. Welcome to Timo van Veghel and Mingzhu Zhao.

28/06 New paper out in Science Immunology! This great work is the result of a long collaboration with Miguel de Jesus and Morgan Huse (and many others), and uses our hydrogel force sensors to investigate force generation by diverse T cell populations. Read it here.

23/04 New paper out! We are excited to have been able to contribute to the fantastic work of Sonal Joshi and Federica Benvenuti (and others) on the role of phospatidylserine-receptor TIM4 on macrophage cross-presentation during tumorigenesis. Read it here.

07/02 Happy to have been able to make a small contribute to the work of Fabrizio Pennachio and others from the Paolo Maiuri lab on a new method to measure cytoplasmic and nuclear volume. Read it here.

01/02 Two new MSc students started. Welcome to Niels van Ingen en Prasith Thandiakal Prakash!

2023

02/12 Daan is co-organizing the subgroup “The Mechanoimmunology of Movement and Manipulation” with Morgan Huse at the ASCB meeting in Boston! Join this interesting session!

04/09 Yakun and Natalia are starting their MSc thesis projects on the role of RAGE in phagocytosis and NK cell activation!

04/09 Cresci-Anne will be starting a project on the role of RAGE in phagocytosis as part of a collaboration with Gosia Teodorowicz.

12/07 Daan is giving a seminar at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RUG).

06/07 Time flies! Stijn is the first student to finish his MSc thesis and leave the lab. Thanks Stijn!

08/05 Youri joined! He is starting a research practice together with the lab of Siddharth Desphande.

02-05 Daan joined the organizing committee of the 2025 EMBO ImmunoBiophysics conference. Grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this fantastic conference!

09/04 – 14/04 Daan is speaking at the EMBO ImmunoBiophysics conference in les Houches, France.

20/02 Niek Frijlink and Anne Josten started their MSc thesis projects in the lab!

09/01 Stijn Hanssen is the first MSc thesis student to join the lab!

2022

25/10 New review article out! Read all about the involved receptors and engulfment dynamics during uptake of apoptotic (dying) cells.

21/09 New article online! Part of a great ongoing collaboration with Mira Krendel, Nils Gauthier and Sarah Barger. This one shows how different classes of motor proteins keep each other in balance, and has perhaps the best phagocytosis movie (I may be biased)! See for yourself here

15/09 Daan is speaking at the EMBO meeting: Phagocytosis of dying cells in Ghent.

01/08 We’ve started! Grateful and excited for this opportunity.

31/07 New preprint online! Part of a fantastic collaboration with Michael Bassik and Roarke Kamber. We reveal unexpected and strange dynamics of phagocytosis, and we performed a CRISPR screen that establishes new regulators of phagocytosis!