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
Jake Matthew Turley
Schmidt AI In Science Postdoctoral Fellow, Chan Group
Nicole Ng Shu Ying
Research Assistant, Hirashima Group
Jevon Tan
PhD Student (DBS), Low Group
Chang Ye Ji
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering Dept, Holle Group
Gao Xu
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering Dept, Holle Group
Raageshwari D/O Arulselvam
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering Dept, Young Group
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
- Zhang Z, Canela A, Kurisu J, Zou P, Kawaue T, Nakazawa N, Takeda N, Saeki M, Utsunomiya M, Bilgic M, Ishidate F, Grenci G, Furuta T, Kishi Y, Sasanuma H, and Kengaku M. Confined migration induces non-lethal DNA damage in developing neurons. Nature 2026;. [PMID: 42310452]
- Gandin A, Torresan V, Panciera T, Grenci G, Vanni G, Citron A, Marchionni M, Battilana G, Pelosin M, Busetto R, Piccolo S, and Brusatin G. Flexible high-resolution ECM micropatterning. Nat Protoc 2026;. [PMID: 42129485]
- Dunsing-Eichenauer V, Hummert J, Chardès C, Schönau T, Guignard L, Galland R, Grenci G, Tillmann M, Koberling F, Nock C, Sibarita J, Viasnoff V, Antolovic IM, Erdmann R, and Lenne P. Fast volumetric fluorescence lifetime imaging of multicellular systems using single-objective light-sheet microscopy. Commun Biol 2025;. [PMID: 41315677]
- Jiang X, Xu P, Feng F, Grenci G, and Saw TB. Revealing Electromechanical Control of Tissue Homeostasis Using a Two-Layer Microfluidic Device. J Vis Exp 2025;(223). [PMID: 41052031]
- Cabillic M, Forriere H, Bettarel L, Butler C, Neuhaus A, Idrissi I, Sambrano-Lopez ME, Rossbroich J, Müller L, Ries J, Grenci G, Viasnoff V, Levet F, Sibarita J, and Galland R. In-depth single molecule localization microscopy using adaptive optics and single objective light-sheet microscopy. Nat Commun 2025; 16(1):8362. [PMID: 40993142]
- Mu B, Rutkowski DM, Grenci G, Vavylonis D, and Zhang D. Ca2+-dependent vesicular and non-vesicular lipid transfer controls hypoosmotic plasma membrane expansion. BMC Biol 2025; 23(1):207. [PMID: 40629316]
- Ong HT, Karatas E, Poquillon T, Grenci G, Furlan A, Dilasser F, Mohamad Raffi SB, Blanc D, Drimaracci E, Mikec D, Galisot G, Johnson BA, Liu AZ, Thiel C, Ullrich O, , Racine V, and Beghin A. Digitalized organoids: integrated pipeline for high-speed 3D analysis of organoid structures using multilevel segmentation and cellular topology. Nat Methods 2025;. [PMID: 40369245]
- Arora A, Rizvi MS, Grenci G, Dilasser F, Fu C, Ganguly M, Vaishnavi S, Paramsivam K, Budnar S, Noordstra I, Yap AS, and Viasnoff V. Viscous dissipation in the rupture of cell-cell contacts. Nat Mater 2025;. [PMID: 40355570]
- Nakazawa N, Grenci G, Kameo Y, Takeda N, Sawada T, Kurisu J, Zhang Z, Toma K, Adachi T, Nonomura K, and Kengaku M. PIEZO1-dependent mode switch of neuronal migration in heterogeneous microenvironments in the developing brain. Cell Rep 2025; 44(3):115405. [PMID: 40053456]
- Suryana M, Produit T, Yang H, Birarda G, Shanmugar JV, Krivitsky L, Paterova A, and Grenci G. Infrared imaging with visible light in microfluidic devices: the water absorption barrier. Analyst 2024;. [PMID: 39692693]
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
Kosei Tomida
PhD Student, Class of August 2023, Chan Group
MBI Welcomes New Ph.D. Students for The Class of August 2023
MBI greets the latest batch of Ph.D. students in the Graduate Programme in Mechanobiology, here to hone their crafts through a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to become full-fledged mechanobiologists.
MBI Opens Its Doors for The 2023 MUST Programme
A dozen students joined the MBI Undergraduate Summer Training Programme, a 2-month internship developing theoretical understanding, practical techniques and presentation skills in mechanobiology.
An Afternoon Visit to MBI by JC Students across Singapore
MBI hosted 19 students from various Junior Colleges across Singapore, taking them on an enthralling educational journey that ventures into the crossovers of biology, physics and engineering.
Lee Chin Hao
FYP Student, Chan Group
Titouan Etienne Poquillon
Research Associate, Beghin Group
Academic exchange at the Academia Sinica and National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan
Joe was invited to speak at the Institute of Physics (Academia Sinica) and the International Center for Wound Repair and Regeneration (NCKU). Great feedback on our ongoing work with exciting potential for future collaborations. Hope to be back soon!
Ong Huan Ting
Research Fellow, Young Group
Joe invited to speak at various conferences and universities in Apr and May
Joe was recently invited to speak at British Society for Cell Biology Annual Conference (UK), Hubrecht Institute (Netherlands), Paris Cite ́University (France), Collège de France (France), Reproductive Ageing Conference (USA) and MBI-Weizmann Institute joint symposium (Israel). It was also great catching up with old friends, mentors and collaborators!
Wu Yue
Research Fellow, Yu Group
MBI Director Rong Li elected as ASCB Fellow
Congratulations to MBI Director Prof. Rong Li on her election as a Fellow of the American Society for Cell Biology.
Kevin Nicholas
Research Associate, Grenci Group
Former Lab Members
Kosei Tomida
PhD Student, Class of August 2023, Chan Group
MBI Welcomes New Ph.D. Students for The Class of August 2023
MBI greets the latest batch of Ph.D. students in the Graduate Programme in Mechanobiology, here to hone their crafts through a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to become full-fledged mechanobiologists.
MBI Opens Its Doors for The 2023 MUST Programme
A dozen students joined the MBI Undergraduate Summer Training Programme, a 2-month internship developing theoretical understanding, practical techniques and presentation skills in mechanobiology.
An Afternoon Visit to MBI by JC Students across Singapore
MBI hosted 19 students from various Junior Colleges across Singapore, taking them on an enthralling educational journey that ventures into the crossovers of biology, physics and engineering.
Lee Chin Hao
FYP Student, Chan Group
Titouan Etienne Poquillon
Research Associate, Beghin Group
Academic exchange at the Academia Sinica and National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan
Joe was invited to speak at the Institute of Physics (Academia Sinica) and the International Center for Wound Repair and Regeneration (NCKU). Great feedback on our ongoing work with exciting potential for future collaborations. Hope to be back soon!
Ong Huan Ting
Research Fellow, Young Group
Joe invited to speak at various conferences and universities in Apr and May
Joe was recently invited to speak at British Society for Cell Biology Annual Conference (UK), Hubrecht Institute (Netherlands), Paris Cite ́University (France), Collège de France (France), Reproductive Ageing Conference (USA) and MBI-Weizmann Institute joint symposium (Israel). It was also great catching up with old friends, mentors and collaborators!
Wu Yue
Research Fellow, Yu Group
MBI Director Rong Li elected as ASCB Fellow
Congratulations to MBI Director Prof. Rong Li on her election as a Fellow of the American Society for Cell Biology.
Kevin Nicholas
Research Associate, Grenci Group
