Gianluca GRENCI
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore
Facility Manager, Nano and Microfabrication Core
mbigg@nus.edu.sg
Level 10 T-Lab
National University of Singapore
5A Engineering Drive 1
Singapore 117411
Lab Meeting with the Chan Lab – the Node
The Chan Lab sits down with the Node for to chat about lab life (read here)!
Defining the pattern of cell death and replacement
Researchers from the Toyama Lab at MBI reveal how mechanical factors control apoptosis and cell replacement. https://www.mbi.nus.edu.sg/featured-research/defining-the-pattern-of-cell-death-and-replacement
The Chan lab celebrates two new papers!
Congratulations to the teams! (Read the publication here and the preprint here)
Seeking Research Associate in Molecular and Cell Biology in the Kanchanawong Lab at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS
We are seeking a Research Associate in Molecular and Cell Biology to join the Kanchanawong at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS
Teh Zhi Jing
Research Assistant, Low Group
Congratulations to Kim Whye Leong for presenting excellent work at the Imaging Mouse Development Workshop held at EMBL Heidelberg!
Congratulations to Kim Whye Leong for presenting excellent work at the Imaging Mouse Development Workshop held at EMBL Heidelberg from 2 to 5 Sept 2024. Thanks for all the feedback from the expert audience!
Gianluca Grenci
Research Assistant Professor, Facility Manager
Research Interests
Microfluidics, Micro-optical systems for live cell imaging
Our laboratory is primarily interested in the application of micro/nano fabrication technology to biological science. We exploit standard and advanced micro-fabrication tools in order to design and produce systems and devices for cell culturing and imaging. Examples of such devices are: topographically and/or chemically micro-textured environments, microfluidic devices, micro-optical systems and more.
We are also interested in developing microfluidic devices for FTIR spectromicroscopy of living cells. FTIR is an imaging technique that is intrinsically label-free and requires minimal sample preparation; when coupled with microscopy and high brilliance IR sources it allows the acquisition of chemical maps at a resolution which is diffraction limited. Absorption of IR photons induces very low or no damage at all, therefore it is in principle possible to observe for prolonged time the behaviour of living cells. Our research activity is intended to develope microfludic platforms suitable for FTIR (key parameters are optical transparency and low IR absorption) while keeping cells alive and healthy; a beneficial feature provided by micro-fabrication approach is the possibility to control of the chemical environment at the micro-scale.
Research Areas
Micro/nano engineering, microfluidic, FTIR
Biography
Dr Gianluca Grenci joined MBI in 2012 as a research fellow and head of the Micro Fabrication Core facility. Previously he was employed at the LILIT micro/nano fabrication group (IOM-CNR, Trieste, IT) for a total of 6 years, during which he was mainly involved in the design and fabrication of microfluidic devices for synchrotron-light related spectroscopic techniques, such as SAXS and FTIR. He thus developed extensive practical knowledge on all the major lithographic technologies (UV and EB lithography, wet/dry etching, soft-lithography, thin films deposition), plus some less usual and/or more advanced technique, such as X-ray Lithography and LIGA.
He did his PhD in the field of applied superconductivity, in a project aimed to develop a current cryo-comparator (CCC) using high critical temperature superconductors of the cuprate family (YBCO) in the form of a thick film deposited onto a large area, complex shaped silver substrate.
Education
PhD Polytechnic of Torino, DISPEA
Recent Publications
Selected Publications
- Mona Suryana, Jegan V. Shanmugarajah, Sivakumar M. Maniam, Gianluca Grenci. Soft Lithographic Procedure for Producing Plastic Microfluidic Devices with View-ports Transparent to Visible and Infrared Light
- Mohammed Ashraf, Sree V. Sundararajan, Gianluca Grenci. Low-power, low-pressure reactive-ion etching process for silicon etching with vertical and smooth walls for mechanobiology application
Lab Members
What are actin pedestals?
What are actin pedestals? Actin pedestals are raised actin structures formed by the dynamic polymerization of host actin, induced by effector proteins secreted by extracellular pathogens like Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia [...]
What are actin comet tails?
What are actin comet tails? Actin comet tails are actin structures formed by the dynamic polymerization of actin beneath some species of intracellular bacteria belonging to the genus Listeria, Shigella, Ricketssia, Mycobacterium and Burkholderia. [...]
Mechanobiology of bacterial pathogenesis
Bacterial Pathogenesis Pathogenesis is defined as the origination and development of a disease. Insights into disease etiology and progression, the two major aspects of pathogenesis, are paramount in the prevention, management and treatment of [...]
How does the heart form?
How does the heart form? The heart is derived from the splanchnic lateral mesoderm and initially forms as two crescent-shaped endocardial plates inside the evolving pericardial cavity. As the embryo undergoes lateral and cranial [...]
What processes occur during cardiac development?
What processes occur during cardiac development? The heart is the first functional organ to form during the development of an embryo, which, in humans, occurs during the third week post-fertilization. It primarily involves the [...]
How do cardiomyocytes differentiate?
How do cardiomyocytes differentiate? Cardiomyocytes are the chief cell type in the heart and their coordinated contraction as a mass is responsible for the pumping of blood around the developing embryo. Cardiac specification occurs [...]
How does the vascular system form?
How does the vascular system form? What is vasculogenesis? Vasculogenesis refers to the morphogenetic process occurring during the earliest stages of embryonic development by which a de novo vascular system, consisting of the heart [...]
What is dorsal closure?
What is dorsal closure? The shaping of the embryo during development is driven by large-scale movements of epithelial cell sheets as they bend, spread, and fuse with each other. One such major, well-defined morphogenetic [...]
How is dorsal closure controlled by mechanics?
How is dorsal closure controlled by mechanics? A number of studies, which describe the cellular mechanisms and signaling pathways underlying dorsal closure, have pointed towards a mechanical basis for the morphogenetic changes associated with [...]
What are epithelial tubes?
What are epithelial tubes? Tubulogenesis, or the formation of tubes, is one of the fundamental morphogenetic events taking place during development. Several major organs, such as the respiratory, circulatory, and secretory systems, are constituted [...]
What is cell migration?
What is cell migration? Cell migration is the directed movement of a single cell or a group of cells in response to chemical and/or mechanical signals. It is a fundamental cellular process that occurs [...]
What is cell polarity?
What is cell polarity? Cell polarity refers to the intrinsic asymmetry observed in cells, either in their shape, structure, or organization of cellular components. Most epithelial cells, migrating cells and developing cells require some [...]
Former Lab Members
What are actin pedestals?
What are actin pedestals? Actin pedestals are raised actin structures formed by the dynamic polymerization of host actin, induced by effector proteins secreted by extracellular pathogens like Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia [...]
What are actin comet tails?
What are actin comet tails? Actin comet tails are actin structures formed by the dynamic polymerization of actin beneath some species of intracellular bacteria belonging to the genus Listeria, Shigella, Ricketssia, Mycobacterium and Burkholderia. [...]
Mechanobiology of bacterial pathogenesis
Bacterial Pathogenesis Pathogenesis is defined as the origination and development of a disease. Insights into disease etiology and progression, the two major aspects of pathogenesis, are paramount in the prevention, management and treatment of [...]
How does the heart form?
How does the heart form? The heart is derived from the splanchnic lateral mesoderm and initially forms as two crescent-shaped endocardial plates inside the evolving pericardial cavity. As the embryo undergoes lateral and cranial [...]
What processes occur during cardiac development?
What processes occur during cardiac development? The heart is the first functional organ to form during the development of an embryo, which, in humans, occurs during the third week post-fertilization. It primarily involves the [...]
How do cardiomyocytes differentiate?
How do cardiomyocytes differentiate? Cardiomyocytes are the chief cell type in the heart and their coordinated contraction as a mass is responsible for the pumping of blood around the developing embryo. Cardiac specification occurs [...]
How does the vascular system form?
How does the vascular system form? What is vasculogenesis? Vasculogenesis refers to the morphogenetic process occurring during the earliest stages of embryonic development by which a de novo vascular system, consisting of the heart [...]
What is dorsal closure?
What is dorsal closure? The shaping of the embryo during development is driven by large-scale movements of epithelial cell sheets as they bend, spread, and fuse with each other. One such major, well-defined morphogenetic [...]
How is dorsal closure controlled by mechanics?
How is dorsal closure controlled by mechanics? A number of studies, which describe the cellular mechanisms and signaling pathways underlying dorsal closure, have pointed towards a mechanical basis for the morphogenetic changes associated with [...]
What are epithelial tubes?
What are epithelial tubes? Tubulogenesis, or the formation of tubes, is one of the fundamental morphogenetic events taking place during development. Several major organs, such as the respiratory, circulatory, and secretory systems, are constituted [...]
What is cell migration?
What is cell migration? Cell migration is the directed movement of a single cell or a group of cells in response to chemical and/or mechanical signals. It is a fundamental cellular process that occurs [...]
What is cell polarity?
What is cell polarity? Cell polarity refers to the intrinsic asymmetry observed in cells, either in their shape, structure, or organization of cellular components. Most epithelial cells, migrating cells and developing cells require some [...]
