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
MBI Conference 2023: Mechanobiology in Health and Disease
MBI's biggest in-person conference and event-of-the-year saw the convergence more than 250 enthusiastic researchers from 21 countries and their exciting discoveries from years of research in mechanobiology
Faculty Recruitment 2023/24
The Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) invites applications from outstanding candidates for faculty positions at all levels.
Seeking Research Fellow in the Theory Collaborator team at MBI, NUS
We seek to recruit a Research Fellow in the Theory Collaborator at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS.
Congratulations to Jashan and Jessica for their awards at the NUS 3MT Competition!
Ph.D. students Jashan and Jessica represented MBI and presented their research theses in 3 short minutes, their compact but impactful presentations earning them the top awards at this year's NUS 3MT Competition.
Soumya Bunk
PhD Student, Department of Biological Sciences
Seeking Graduate Program Administrator at MBI, NUS
The Mechanobiology Institute (MBI), National University of Singapore (NUS), seeks to recruit an administrator for its Graduate Program.
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
Silencing and Anti-Silencing in Salmonella Pathogenesis
Characterizing the binding properties of the H-NS homologue StpA
Prof Masahiro Sokabe visiting from Nagoya University
Prof Masahiro Sokabe visiting from Nagoya University, 1-11 December, 2016
Porin Gene Transcription in Single Cells
Transcription of GFP enables us to see how expression levels change in response to osmolality
The Mechanism of Osmosensing by EnvZ and other HKs
Mapping conformational changes in EnvZ associated with osmotic stress
Molecular Mechanisms of Mechanotransduction
Molecular machines sense and transduce mechanical force
Kriti Sethi
Research Fellow, Li Group
Persistent a-Catenin Activation
Switching behavior of a-Catenin at E-cadherin adhesions
Cell Extrusion Mechanisms
Making sure to expel an unwanted cell
A Moving Story of FHL2
How FHL2 translocates to the nucleus under low tension
2016 MBI-BPS Thematic Meeting on the Mechanobiology of Disease
Recent meeting brings together scientists to discuss research on the physical basis of disease
Elongation by Contraction
Pulling forces drive changes in cell shape
Decisions in a Pinch
Receptor Tyrosince Kinases control mechanosensors
Former Lab Members
Silencing and Anti-Silencing in Salmonella Pathogenesis
Characterizing the binding properties of the H-NS homologue StpA
Prof Masahiro Sokabe visiting from Nagoya University
Prof Masahiro Sokabe visiting from Nagoya University, 1-11 December, 2016
Porin Gene Transcription in Single Cells
Transcription of GFP enables us to see how expression levels change in response to osmolality
The Mechanism of Osmosensing by EnvZ and other HKs
Mapping conformational changes in EnvZ associated with osmotic stress
Molecular Mechanisms of Mechanotransduction
Molecular machines sense and transduce mechanical force
Kriti Sethi
Research Fellow, Li Group
Persistent a-Catenin Activation
Switching behavior of a-Catenin at E-cadherin adhesions
Cell Extrusion Mechanisms
Making sure to expel an unwanted cell
A Moving Story of FHL2
How FHL2 translocates to the nucleus under low tension
2016 MBI-BPS Thematic Meeting on the Mechanobiology of Disease
Recent meeting brings together scientists to discuss research on the physical basis of disease
Elongation by Contraction
Pulling forces drive changes in cell shape
Decisions in a Pinch
Receptor Tyrosince Kinases control mechanosensors
