PhD Student Biophysics of Cellular Immunity

We offer a position for an ambitious PhD student who is interested in research on the interface of biophysics and cellular immunology.

Mechanical forces have emerged as key regulators of immune functions. In the Vorselen Lab, we develop new technologies to tune the physical information that cells receive and to measure cellular forces. We combine this approach with high-resolution microscopy and molecular biology approaches. Together, this combination provides a very detailed readout of immune cell behavior and helps us understand the regulation of immune processes by physical forces in health and disease.

In this project, you will focus especially on developing new analysis pipelines to allow increased throughput analysis of cellular forces during phagocytosis and by therapeutic cytotoxic T cells. You will conduct experiments combining immune assays and high-resolution fluorescence imaging to obtain the required data. The balance of experiments and analysis is expected to be 25% and 75% respectively. Together, this approach is expected to reveal new insights into the regulation and functional role of biophysical forces by immune cells.

The new tools and insights from this research will be a step towards assessing the potential of biophysical parameters as biomarkers.

You will work in the laboratory of Dr. Daan Vorselen which is focused on biophyiscs and quantitative innate immunity. We are hosted in the computational immunology cluster within the Center for Translational Immunology (CTI) at the UMC Utrecht. The Vorselen group  is composed of a small group with diverse academic backgrounds. The CTI is a well facilitated department with experts in all fields of immunology.

We are structured to facilitate bench-to-bed side research. The CTI, or withing the UMCU/UU, we have state-of-the-art research facilities, including flow cytometry and imaging.

We're looking for a motivated, enthusiastic candidate who is excited by quantitative approaches to cellular immunology research. You bring:

• A master’s degree (or equivalent) in biophysics, bionanoscience or bioinformatics (and biocomplexity), or a degree in life sciences combined with clear evidence of quantitative skills.
• Experience with programming and image analysis and excitement to build new image analysis pipelines
• Hands-on wet lab experience, including cell culture and fluorescent imaging.
• A meticulous, proactive, and flexible working style, with a strong sense of responsibility.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills, and the ability to work independently and as part of a team.