YU Hanry
Professor, Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore
phsyuh@nus.edu.sg
+65 6516 3466
MD 9, #03-03; MD 1, #B1-03;
National University of Singapore
2 Medical Drive #04-01
Singapore 117597
Laboratory website
Translational Mechanobiology Laboratory
Research Program
Technology Innovation for Mechanobiology
Shedding Light on Local Microtubule Regulation of Focal Adhesions
Researchers from the Bershadsky Lab at MBI utilized optogenetics to unlock the role of microtubules in regulating focal adhesion disassembly, an important step in cell migration. http://www.mbi.nus.edu.sg/featured-research/microtubules-and-cell-movement-a-closer-look-at-focal-adhesion-disassembly
A Warm Welcome to the 2025 Ph.D Cohort!
MBI is delighted to welcome the 2025 cohort of Ph.D students. Coming from a rich tapestry of countries – China, Vietnam, Singapore, India and the Philippines – these eleven outstanding individuals bring with them interdisciplinary expertise and fresh perspectives that will enrich MBI’s vibrant research community.
Neha Paddillaya
Research Fellow, Chan Group
Privita Edwina
Research Fellow
Yu Hanry
Principal Investigator
Research Areas
Cell and Tissue Engineering Laboratory translates the latest biological and engineering knowledge into innovative technologies for diagnostics, therapeutics and drug testing applications in pharmaceutical and healthcare industry.
Research Interests
We adopt the latest industrial management models of teams to train future leaders of the R&D-based industry and academia. Our research expertise span from basic biological studies, biomaterials synthesis, to integrative engineering of biomedical devices that facilitate the translation of systems level understanding of biological functional processes into significant application solutions to help patients with liver diseases; and fuel biomedical industrial development in Asia. We acquire fundamental principles and technologies to quantitatively study and manipulate liver cell and tissue polarity and functions at meso-scale such that their global tissue structures and functions can be precision-engineered at mm-cm scales for applications.
Biography
Prof Yu is a Professor in the Department of Physiology, YLL School of Medicine, National University Health System, Principal Investigator at MBI, and Co-Lead Principal Investigator, Critical Analytics for Manufacturing Personalized-Medicine (CAMP), Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART). He was trained as a cell biologist but ventured into various other disciplines such as imaging, biomaterials, tissue engineering, drug testing, and computational biology of liver fibrosis. He takes pride in the interdisciplinary approach to research and graduate training; and he strives to build integrated teams to equip future graduates to readily adapt into both industrial and future academic settings.
Education
PhD, Duke University, USA
Recent Publications
- Balachander GM, Ng IC, Pai RR, Mitra K, Tasnim F, Lim YS, Kwok R, Song Y, Yaw LP, Quah CB, Zhao J, Septiana WL, Kota VG, Teng Y, Zheng K, Xu Y, Lim SH, Ng HH, and Yu H. LEADS – a comprehensive human liver-on-a-chip for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) drug testing. Lab Chip 2025;. [PMID: 40391591]
- Wu X, Raymond JJ, Liu Y, Odermatt AJ, Sin W, Teo DBL, Natarajan M, Ng IC, Birnbaum ME, Lu TK, Han J, Springs SL, and Yu H. Rapid Universal Detection of High-Risk and Low-Abundance Microbial Contaminations in CAR-T Cell Therapy. Small Methods 2025;:e2500253. [PMID: 40159755]
- Zhou H, Loo LSW, Ong FYT, Lou X, Wang J, Myint MK, Thong A, Seow DCS, Wibowo M, Ng S, Lv Y, Kwang LG, Bennie RZ, Pang KT, Dobson RCJ, Domigan LJ, Kanagasundaram Y, and Yu H. Cost-effective production of meaty aroma from porcine cells for hybrid cultivated meat. Food Chem 2025; 473:142946. [PMID: 39864181]
- Bennie RZ, Ogilvie OJ, Loo LSW, Zhou H, Ng SK, Jin A, Trlin HJF, Wan A, Yu H, Domigan LJ, and Dobson RCJ. A risk-based approach can guide safe cell line development and cell banking for scaled-up cultivated meat production. Nat Food 2025;. [PMID: 39753758]
- Lou X, Wang J, Kwang LG, Zhou H, Ong FYT, Ng S, and Yu H. Perforated imprinting on high moisture meat analogue confers long range mechanical anisotropy resembling meat cuts. NPJ Sci Food 2024; 8(1):106. [PMID: 39706829]
- Liu Y, Raymond JJ, Wu X, Chua PWL, Ling SYH, Chan CC, Chan C, Loh JXY, Song MXY, Ong MYY, Ho P, Mcbee ME, Springs SL, Yu H, and Han J. Electrostatic microfiltration (EM) enriches and recovers viable microorganisms at low-abundance in large-volume samples and enhances downstream detection. Lab Chip 2024;. [PMID: 39189168]
- Ma Y, Li Z, Luo Y, Chen Y, Ma L, Liu X, Xiao J, Huang M, Li Y, Jiang H, Wang M, Wang X, Li J, Kong J, Shi P, Yu H, Jiang X, and Guo Q. Biodegradable Microembolics with Nanografted Polyanions Enable High-Efficiency Drug Loading and Sustained Deep-Tumor Drug Penetration for Locoregional Chemoembolization Treatment. ACS Nano 2024;. [PMID: 38946122]
- Wu Y, Cheng J, Qi J, Hang C, Dong R, Low BC, Yu H, and Jiang X. Three-dimensional liquid metal-based neuro-interfaces for human hippocampal organoids. Nat Commun 2024; 15(1):4047. [PMID: 38744873]
- Luo X, Wang J, Tan C, Dou Q, Han Z, Wang Z, Tasnim F, Wang X, Zhan Q, Li X, Zhou Q, Cheng J, Liao F, Yip HC, Jiang J, Tan RT, Liu S, and Yu H. Rapid Endoscopic Diagnosis of Benign Ulcerative Colorectal Diseases with an Artificial Intelligence Contextual Framework. Gastroenterology 2024;. [PMID: 38583724]
Lab Members
Recent Lab Alumni
How does invagination and maturation of the clathrin-coated vesicle occur?
How does invagination and maturation of the clathrin-coated vesicle occur? Clathrin-coated vesicle maturation incorporates the activities of a range of proteins. Actin, myosin and WASP all have important roles in the formation and stabilization [...]
What is exocytosis?
What is exocytosis? Exocytosis is defined as the transport and fusion of secretory vesicles with the plasma membrane and the extracellular space. There are three exocytosis pathways that deliver vesicles to the plasma membrane. [...]
How are clathrin-coated vesicles uncoated?
How are clathrin-coated vesicles uncoated? Uncoating is the process by which clathrin is removed from clathrin-coated vesicles (CCVs). In mammals, this ATP dependent process is driven by the 70kDa molecular chaperone ‘Heat shock cognate [...]
How does scission of the clathrin-coated vesicle occur?
How does scission of the clathrin-coated vesicle occur? As mentioned, in mammalian CME the GTPase dynamin is believed to play important roles in invagination and clathrin-coated pit (CCP) maturation [1]. Its binding partners endophilin [...]
How are clathrin-coated vesicles transported?
How are clathrin-coated vesicles transported? Different cytoskeletal networks have been implicated in the transport of clathrin-coated vesicles (CCVs). In yeast, the actin cytoskeleton traffics dissociated CCVs [1], whilst in mammals the microtubule network transports [...]
What is the CLIC/GEEC Endocytosis pathway?
What is the CLIC/GEEC Endocytosis pathway? The CLIC/GEEC (CG) pathway is a clathrin-independent endocytic pathway mediated by uncoated tubulovesicular primary carriers called clathrin-independent carriers (CLICs) which arise directly from the plasma membrane and later [...]
What is Arf6-associated endocytosis?
What is Arf6-associated endocytosis? Arf6-associated endocytosis is a clathrin-independent, plasma membrane-endosomal recycling pathway, regulated by the Arf6 protein, which is a member of the Arf family of small GTPases [1]. In this pathway, Arf6 [...]
What is Rho-dependent IL-2 receptor endocytosis?
What is Rho-dependent IL-2 receptor endocytosis? Internalization of transmembrane receptors was thought to occur exclusively via clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME). However, the discovery of clathrin-independent endocytic routes, in particular, the pathway that mediates the internalization [...]
What is flotillin-associated endocytosis?
What is flotillin-associated endocytosis? Flotillins, which are proteins that localize to specific microdomains or lipid rafts in the plasma membrane, mediate a clathrin-independent endocytosis pathway that is regulated by the Src family tyrosine kinase [...]
What is Fast Endophilin-Mediated Endocytosis (FEME)?
What is Fast Endophilin-Mediated Endocytosis (FEME)? FEME is a novel clathrin-independent endocytic pathway, regulated by the BAR domain protein endophilin, where tubulo-vesicular carriers form within seconds at the plasma membrane upon activation of specific [...]
What is autophagy?
What is autophagy? Autophagy, meaning self-eating, is an intracellular degradation system wherein unwanted cargo, such as old or damaged organelles, unneeded proteins, as well as pathogenic agents, are digested and the macromolecular contents from [...]
Genome Regulation
Genome Regulation Genome regulation encompasses all facets of gene expression, from the biochemical modifications of DNA, to the physical arrangement of chromosomes and the activity of the transcription machinery. The genome regulation programs that [...]
