The unification of quantum principles with Einstein's geometric conception of spacetime and gravity into a consistent theory of quantum gravity is one of the main open challenges at the foundations of modern theoretical physics. Among several approaches developed over the years, the two main candidates are string theory and loop quantum gravity (LQG). Both theories are characterized by their own achievements and open issues so that the solution to the problem of quantum gravity remains still elusive. In lack of experimental guidance, in order to make progress, it becomes important to single out common features shared by different approaches allowing to merge tools and ideas, thus providing indirect tests to potentially overcome current limitations. In this respect, one of the major recent developments is the so-called holographic principle and its string theory-based realization within the Anti-de Sitter/Conformal Field Theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence, a conjectured duality between string theory in asymptotically AdS spacetime and a SU(N) gauge theory thought of as living on its conformal boundary. As such it provides a promising arena to look for possible connections between non-perturbative LQG and string theory non-perturbatively defined via its dual field theory. With this motivation in mind, in this thesis we focus on effective symmetry-reduced models for resolved cosmological and black hole singularities to which lot of effort has been devoted within the LQG community and their possible embedding within the AdS/CFT framework. First of all, we focus on the field theory signatures of the singularity resolution in the bulk of Kasner-AdS spacetimes and show via several examples of quantum corrected effective geometries that the finite-distance pole in the boundary two-point correlator previously interpreted as the holographic signature of the bulk singularity is smoothed out by quantum gravity effects. The time dependence of the boundary spacetime however prevents us from setting up an independent field theory computation to compare with the bulk gravity results. We move then to black hole (BH) singularities whose asymptotic boundary is Minkowski or AdS. Since no fully satisfactory effective LQG model is available already for the simplest static spherically symmetric case with zero cosmological constant, we consider the case of a 4-dimensional Schwarzschild BH as a necessary preparation for higher dimensional extensions to AdS BHs. New models based on new sets of canonical variables directly related to the Kretschmann scalar are thus introduced to take the onset of quantum effects under control, and the resulting quantum corrected spacetime structure is discussed in detail. A key ingredient of our analysis is the study of Dirac observables for the asymptotic ADM masses and their relation with admissible initial conditions for the effective dynamics compatibly with the requirement of a unique upper bound on curvature invariants resolving the central singularity. Finally, quantum corrections to thermodynamic quantities are also analyzed and, coming back to the original motivation of using LQG techniques for AdS/CFT, a possible extension to arbitrary dimensions and negative cosmological constant is sketched
