Hasegawa Lab

Lab members

Where are we?


Our lab is based at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK (https://mrclmb.ac.uk/research-leaders/molecular-immunity-unit/).

What do we do?

3D imaging of the synovium defines an intricate immunological defence system at the blood-joint barrier (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-024-02011-8) 

We established a protocol to stereotactically dissect the entire synovium in a mouse knee joint, and optimised whole mount 3D imaging of this tissue. This enabled a global assessment of the spatial arrangement of synovial immune cells relative to the neurovascular structures, providing a substantial upgrade on previous efforts that have used sagittal joint sections. 

Tetsuo Hasegawa (Principal Investigator)

I am an academic rheumatologist and received my medical degree from Keio University, Japan, in 2011. I went on to complete a Ph.D at Keio and Osaka University, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge through Human Frontier Science Program long-term fellowship.

In 2024, I was awarded the Kennedy Trust Senior Research Fellowship to start my own group
(https://www.kennedytrust.org/the-kennedy-trust-welcomes-its-sixth-senior-research-fellow/).

Tammie Sow (PhD Student & Research Assistant

Tammie is a PhD student under the Hasegawa Lab who joined in 2025. She graduated from Imperial College London with a BSc degree in Medical Biosciences and has experience doing various immunology research project since university. Her PhD project is on studying neuroimmune interactions in the joint, specifically how pain sensitisation and immune responses can communicate with each other.

Yvswenne Liew (Research Assistant)


Joe Hutton (Postdoc)

Joe is the NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Rheumatology at the University of Cambridge, UK and a rheumatology / general internal medicine trainee in the East of England Deanery. He completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge across the McGovern and Summers groups, with a focus on the factors that govern tissue homing, differentiation into disease-associated subsets, and network communication with other joint-resident populations. He is furthering his postdoctoral scientific training in the Hasegawa lab.

Wenrui Sun （Visiting researcher）

I am a Rheumatology trainee within the East of England region, after completing Internal Medicine Training in Cambridge and foundation training in the Oxford deanery. I received both my medical degree and intercalated BSc in immunology at Imperial College London.

Selected Publications

  • Hasegawa T*, Lee. C, Hotchen A, Fleming A, Singh R, et al. Macrophages and nociceptor neurons form a sentinel unit around fenestrated capillaries to defend the synovium from circulating immune challenge. Nature Immunol. 2024 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-024-02011-8
  • Hasegawa T, Kikuta J, Sudo T, Matsuura Y, Matsui T, et al. Identification of a novel arthritis-associated osteoclast precursor macrophage regulated by FoxM1. Nature Immunol. 2019 Dec;20(12):1631-1643

 

  • Kaneko T, Yari S, Kikuta J, Omatsu Y, Seno S, Kikuchi S, Sato K, Fujii K, Sudo T, Hasegawa T, et al. The RANK/RANKL axis controls vascular dynamics in the bone marrow. PNAS. 2025 122 (45) e2425366122
  • Sow TTM, Hasegawa T*. Neuroimmune interactions in arthritis: linking pain sensitisation and inflammation. J Bone Miner Metab. 2025 Dec 27. doi: 10.1007/s00774-025-01678-9. 
  • Hutton J*, Sun W and Hasegawa T*. The ontogeny of synovial tissue macrophages. Front. Immunol, 2025, 16:1603473. 
  • Miyamoto Y, Kikuta J, Matsui T, Hasegawa T, Fujii K, et al. Periportal macrophages protect against commensal-driven liver inflammation. Nature, 2024. 629, 901–909 (2024)
  • Lee. C, Kennedy. B, Richoz. N, Dean. I, Tuong. Z, Gaspal. F, Li. Z, Willis. C, Hasegawa T, Whiteside S, et al. Tumour-retained activated CCR7+ dendritic cells are heterogeneous and regulate local anti-tumour cytolytic activity. Nat Commun, 2024, 15:682 
  • Uenaka M, Yamashita E, Kikuta J, Morimoto A, Ao T, Mizuno H, Furuya M, Hasegawa T, Tsukazaki H, et al. Osteoblast-derived vesicles induce a switch from bone-formation to bone-resorption in vivo. Nat Commun. 2022 Feb 24;13(1):1066
  • Hasegawa T, Ishii M. Pathological Osteoclasts and Precursor Macrophages in Inflammatory Arthritis. Front Immunol, 2022 Apr 8;13:867368 
  • Morimoto A, Kikuta J, Nishikawa K, Sudo T, Uenaka M, Furuya M, Hasegawa T, Hashimoto K, et al. SLPI is a critical mediator that controls PTH-induced bone formation. Nat Commun, 2021 Apr 9;12(1):213
  • Sudo T, Motomura Y, Okuzaki D, Hasegawa T, Yokota T, et al. Group 2 innate lymphoid cells support hematopoietic recovery under stress conditions. J Exp Med. 2021 May 3;218(5) 
  •  Hasegawa T, Harada S, Uchiyama S, Imai Y, Osone Y, Taguchi H. Coexistence of large- and small-vessel vasculitides in a patient with ulcerative colitis. Rheumatology (Oxford), 2021 Jun 18;60(6):e207-e209 
  • Hasegawa T, Kikuta J, Sudo T, Yamashita E, Seno S, Takeuchi T, Ishii M. ​Development of an intravital imaging system for the synovial tissue reveals the dynamics of CTLA-4 Ig in vivo.    Sci Rep. 2020 Aug 10;10(1):13480
  • Matsuura Y, Kikuta J, Kishi Y, Hasegawa T, Okuzaki D, Hirano T, Minoshima M, Kikuchi K, Kumanogoh A, Ishii M. In vivo visualisation of different modes of action of biological DMARDs inhibiting osteoclastic bone resorption. Ann Rheum Dis. 2018 Aug;77(8):1219-1225 
  • Hasegawa T, Kaneko Y, Izumi K, Takeuchi T. Efficacy of denosumab combined with bDMARDs on radiographic progression in rheumatoid arthritis. Joint Bone Spine. 2017 May;84(3):379-380