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
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. [...]
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 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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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
MBI Women in Science at the Gender Summit 2018, London
Dr. Vandana Ramachandran (A*STAR; SgWIS) and Dr. Lakshmi Ramachandran (STEM Advocacy Institute; MBI-WIS) will present a talk on ‘ Singapore as host of the next Gender Summit – Asia Pacific, GS-AP 2019’ at the Gender Summit 15 EU 2018 plenary session on 19th June, London.
EMBO Workshop on Nuclear Mechanogenomics: Post-event report
The EMBO Workshop on Nuclear Mechanogenomics was held on April 17-20 at the Shaw Foundation Alumni House, National University of Singapore. The workshop brought together pioneering academics, early career scientists and post-doctoral and graduate scholars to discuss the latest advancements and challenges facing the rapidly emerging field of nuclear mechanogenomics.
Physically rewiring the genome
Researchers turn mature cells into stem cells using mechanical cues alone
Teng Xiang
Research Associate, Toyama Group
Thiagarajan Visalatchi
Research Associate, Bershadsky Group
Interdisciplinary short course for new graduate students: A case study
Interdisciplinary short course for new graduate students: A case study
Professor Lim Chwee Teck and team awarded the Human Frontier Science Program Research Grant
MBInsights Home Science Features News Awards Outreach Events Awards Professor Lim Chwee Teck and team awarded the Human Frontier Science Program Research Grant MBI SCI COMS [...]
Determining genomic architecture
Network analysis reveals 3D chromosome organization
Modeling nuclear dynamics
How fluctuations in the cell cortex influence nuclear shape
Prof Benoit Ladoux visiting from Institut Jacques-Monod
Prof Benoit Ladoux will be visiting MBI from 29 June-24 August, 2018.
Liu Shuhan
Intern, Kenney Group
Controlling how bacteria respond to stress
Bacterial self-protection by self-acidification
Former Lab Members
MBI Women in Science at the Gender Summit 2018, London
Dr. Vandana Ramachandran (A*STAR; SgWIS) and Dr. Lakshmi Ramachandran (STEM Advocacy Institute; MBI-WIS) will present a talk on ‘ Singapore as host of the next Gender Summit – Asia Pacific, GS-AP 2019’ at the Gender Summit 15 EU 2018 plenary session on 19th June, London.
EMBO Workshop on Nuclear Mechanogenomics: Post-event report
The EMBO Workshop on Nuclear Mechanogenomics was held on April 17-20 at the Shaw Foundation Alumni House, National University of Singapore. The workshop brought together pioneering academics, early career scientists and post-doctoral and graduate scholars to discuss the latest advancements and challenges facing the rapidly emerging field of nuclear mechanogenomics.
Physically rewiring the genome
Researchers turn mature cells into stem cells using mechanical cues alone
Teng Xiang
Research Associate, Toyama Group
Thiagarajan Visalatchi
Research Associate, Bershadsky Group
Interdisciplinary short course for new graduate students: A case study
Interdisciplinary short course for new graduate students: A case study
Professor Lim Chwee Teck and team awarded the Human Frontier Science Program Research Grant
MBInsights Home Science Features News Awards Outreach Events Awards Professor Lim Chwee Teck and team awarded the Human Frontier Science Program Research Grant MBI SCI COMS [...]
Determining genomic architecture
Network analysis reveals 3D chromosome organization
Modeling nuclear dynamics
How fluctuations in the cell cortex influence nuclear shape
Prof Benoit Ladoux visiting from Institut Jacques-Monod
Prof Benoit Ladoux will be visiting MBI from 29 June-24 August, 2018.
Liu Shuhan
Intern, Kenney Group
Controlling how bacteria respond to stress
Bacterial self-protection by self-acidification
