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
How is actomoysin contractility regulated?
How does the contractome protein network regulate actomyosin contractility? Non-muscle myosin II isoforms have a similar structure and function to their muscle equivalents. However, their interaction with actin serves to generate cellular forces rather [...]
What are Blebs?
What are Blebs? Blebs are blister-like protrusions that occur at the cell surface (reviewed in [1]). Blebs form, and function, in a series of defined steps. They typically grow to a length of around [...]
What are lamellipodia and lamella?
What are lamellipodia and lamella? The lamellipodia and lamella are plate-like extensions of the cell that play crucial roles in both cell motility and migration, and mechanosensing. These structures form and function over distinct [...]
How do filopodia move dynamically?
What causes filopodia retraction and collapse? Binding of filopodia to certain ligands or substratum may hinder filament assembly, thereby leading to changes that promote retraction, collapse or growth cone turning [1][2]. For example, substrate [...]
How do filopodia pull on a substrate?
How do filopodia pull on a substrate? Although a reterograde motion of actin filaments is intrinsic in the formation of filopodia, the forces generated by actin treadmilling are too weak to facilitate the “pulling” [...]
How do filopodia attach to the surrounding substrate?
How do filopodia attach to the surrounding substrate? A diverse array of cellular responses can result when a filopodium makes contact with a ligand or substrate. These responses are dependent on the coupling of [...]
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
Wang Yilin
Research Fellow, Kanchanawong Group
Marion Florence Marchand
Research Fellow, Viasnoff Group
Invited talk in the RIMS workshop on Biofluid Mechanics of Reproduction (Kyoto, July 2021)
Joe shares the latest work on ovarian hydraulics with expert scientists from Japan. Plenty of feedback and interactions! Looking forward to future collaborations in this exciting field!
Avery Rui Sun
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering Dept, Young Group
Vinod S/O Prabhakaran
Research Assistant, Young Group, Chan Group
MBI welcomes August 2021 intake of new graduate students
MBI is thrilled to welcome the latest intake of 13 incoming graduate students this August. Their induction marks the 1st batch of graduate students that MBI is accepting in the 2021/2022 academic year.
Lu Jung Hsuan
Research Assistant, Yan Jie Group
Lim Yong Ann Ben
Research Assistant, Han Group
Jennifer Marlena
Research Assistant, Young Group
Seah Kwi Shan
Research Fellow, Li Group
Ng Pei Ying
Research Fellow, Holle Group
Welcome aboard, Boon Heng!
The Chan Lab welcomes Boon Heng, the first PhD student to the lab. Looking forward to exciting times ahead!
Former Lab Members
Wang Yilin
Research Fellow, Kanchanawong Group
Marion Florence Marchand
Research Fellow, Viasnoff Group
Invited talk in the RIMS workshop on Biofluid Mechanics of Reproduction (Kyoto, July 2021)
Joe shares the latest work on ovarian hydraulics with expert scientists from Japan. Plenty of feedback and interactions! Looking forward to future collaborations in this exciting field!
Avery Rui Sun
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering Dept, Young Group
Vinod S/O Prabhakaran
Research Assistant, Young Group, Chan Group
MBI welcomes August 2021 intake of new graduate students
MBI is thrilled to welcome the latest intake of 13 incoming graduate students this August. Their induction marks the 1st batch of graduate students that MBI is accepting in the 2021/2022 academic year.
Lu Jung Hsuan
Research Assistant, Yan Jie Group
Lim Yong Ann Ben
Research Assistant, Han Group
Jennifer Marlena
Research Assistant, Young Group
Seah Kwi Shan
Research Fellow, Li Group
Ng Pei Ying
Research Fellow, Holle Group
Welcome aboard, Boon Heng!
The Chan Lab welcomes Boon Heng, the first PhD student to the lab. Looking forward to exciting times ahead!
