Hatice Zohra Michèle HOLUIGUE

Research Fellow, Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore

hatice.h@nus.edu.sg
Level 9 T-Lab
National University of Singapore
5A Engineering Drive 1
Singapore 117411

Hatice Zohra Michèle Holuigue

Research Fellow

Principal Investigator

Jennifer Young

Qualifications

Applied Physics, PhD | Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
MSc. Advanced Spectroscopy for Chemistry | Université de Lille, France & Jagellonian University, Poland
BSc. Physics and Chemistry | Université de Lille, France & Université de Moncton, Canada

Research Interests

Hatice Holuigue joins Dr. Jennifer Young’s Soft Nano-Biomaterials Lab at the MBI where will she investigate ECM-mediated endoplasmic reticulum (ER) dysfunction in aging as part of a project co-supervised by Dr. Guillaume Thibault. Her work will focus on elucidating ECM-ER-plasma membrane crosstalk in aging tissues. By leveraging high-throughput tools, including genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 knockout screens, she aims to identify novel ECM-ER signaling pathways and uncover how ECM stiffness and composition affect cellular mechanisms, paving the way for improved understanding of metabolic diseases.

Biography

Hatice Holuigue completed her Bachelor’s degrees in Physics and Chemistry at Université de Lille, France, and Université de Moncton, Canada. She then pursued an Erasmus Mundus MSc in Advanced Spectroscopy for Chemistry at Université de Lille, France, and Jagiellonian University, Poland, focusing on the degradation products of Ipomoea flowers using LC-MS under Dr. Michal Wozniakiewicz. Her doctoral work at Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy, as part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN Phys2BioMed project, explored the microenvironment of healthy and tumoral cells using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) under Prof. Alessandro Podestà. During her PhD, she conducted international collaborations in Germany, Japan, and France to advance AFM techniques for biological interests. As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Hatice continued to investigate cell-microenvironment interactions, focusing on cancer. Collaborating with Dr. Ioanna Mela at the University of Cambridge, UK, she integrated AFM and Light Sheet Microscopy to study the cellular microbiome in breast cancer, with the aim of translating her findings to clinical applications.

Recent Publications

  1. H. Holuigue, L. Nacci, P. Di Chiaro, M. Chighizola, I. Locatelli, C. Schulte, M. Alfano, G.R. Diaferia, A. Podestà, “Native extracellular matrix probes to target patient- and tissue-specific cell–microenvironment interactions by force spectroscopy” Nanoscale, 2023, 15, 15382-15395, DOI: 10.1039/D3NR01568H
  2. M. Lekka, S.G. Kulkarni, S. Perez-Domingez, K. Gnanachandran, E. Lorenc, H. Holuigue, M. Berardi, N. Antonovaite, M. Eroles Navarro, M. L. Marini, J. Lopez Alonso, S. Janel, S. Acharya, J. Otero, D. Navajas, K. Bielawski, H. Schillers, F. Lafont, F. Rico, A. Podestà, M. Radmacher, “Reliable, standardized measurements for cell mechanical properties”, Nanoscale, 2023, 15, 16371-16380. DOI: 10.1039/D3NR02034G
  3. H. Holuigue, E. Lorenc, M. Chighizola, C. Schulte, L. Varinelli, M. Deraco, M. Guaglio, M. Gariboldi, and A. Podestà. 2022. “Force Sensing on Cells and Tissues by Atomic Force Microscopy” Sensors 22, no. 6: 2197. DOI: 10.3390/s22062197
  4. Contribution in the book: Mechanics of cells and tissues in diseases, A. Podestà, D. Navajas, M. Lekka, M. Radmacher Editors, De Gruyter (2022). Chapter title: “Cantilevers and tips”, by Ewelina Lorenc, Hatice Holuigue, Felix Rico, Alessandro Podestà. ISBN: 9783111009049