2027 Keynote Speakers
Polymeric Mixed Conductors for Bioelectronic Sensors
Prof Sahika Inal
Associate Professor of Bioengineering, FRSC
Division of Biomedical Sciences
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Organic mixed ionic and electronic charge conductors offer a unique toolbox for establishing electrical communication with biological systems. In this talk, I will introduce this rising class of materials for bioelectronic interfacing and explain how their multifunctionality can be harnessed to develop next-generation conformable bioelectronic sensors operating at aqueous electrolyte and tissue interfaces. I will highlight one application where organic electrochemical transistors that rely on these soft conductors are used to detect biochemical molecules from sweat while recording and analyzing electrophysiology signals. Drawing from our experience with patient samples, I will address potential shortcomings of proof-of-concept biosensor platforms and explore strategies for overcoming these challenges.
Biography
Sahika Inal is an Associate Professor of Bioengineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, with affiliated appointments in Electrical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. Since 2016, she has led the Organic Bioelectronics Lab, where her group develops organic mixed ionic–electronic materials and bioelectronic devices for biosensing, biosignal recording, stimulation, and neuromorphic applications. Trained as a polymer scientist and engineer, Inal earned her Ph.D. in Experimental Physics from the University of Potsdam, Germany, and completed postdoctoral research in microelectronics for bioelectronic applications in France. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and has received several international honors, including the 2026 Humboldt Professorship, the ACS Kavli Lectureship Award, the Beilby Medal and Prize, and the Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship. She has authored more than 150 publications, which have received approximately 20,000 citations.
Thin Film encapsulation of OLED displays, from a challenge to make flexible displays to an opportunity to make large area OLED displays without using a shadow mask
Dr Robert Visser
VP of Engineering Technology in the CTO Office
Applied Materials, Inc.
Robert J. Visser, VP of Engineering Technology in the CTO office at Applied Materials, Inc., spearheads business and engineering ventures in emerging markets such as advanced displays, packaging technology, and photonic components for augmented reality, flat optics, and quantum computing. With four decades of expertise, he has revolutionized flat panel display manufacturing and made significant breakthroughs in photolithography, plasma physics, and organic electronics. He currently leads the Quantum Technology activities at Applied Materials, leveraging the most advanced semiconductor technology to improve customers’ device quality for both quantum computing, sensing, and communications. In 2020, Dr. Visser was recognized by the Society for Information Display with the Fellows Award for his pioneering work in thin film encapsulation of organic light-emitting diode and flexible displays. His leadership extends to an advisory role in the field of chemistry at Applied Material’s Center of Excellence at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. He holds master’s and PhD degrees in theoretical and physical organic chemistry from Leiden University, The Netherlands. His impactful career encompasses 128 granted patents across multiple disciplines and 78 journal and conference publications.
Soft Bioelectronics Across Scales: Hybrid Integration, Encapsulation and Neural Interfaces
Prof Stéphanie P. Lacour
Professor / Vice-President for Research and Strategic Initiatives
EPFL
Neural interfaces must reconcile two incompatible worlds: the rigid, planar materials of microelectronics and the soft, curved, mechanically dynamic architecture of living tissue. The way forward is not to make everything soft, but to integrate rigid and compliant elements deliberately, placing stiffness only where function demands it.
This presentation first outlines hybrid thin-film integration as a design and manufacturing framework. Polymer substrates carry thin-film transducers, thick-film metallization supports wireless communication and power transfer, and rigid dies are assembled through compliant microscale interconnects. Equally critical is encapsulation: thin-film barriers must protect active electronics in a saline environment for years while remaining mechanically compliant. Hybrid organic–inorganic multilayers address this trade-off, combining the barrier properties of inorganic films with the crack tolerance and defect decoupling of organic layers, making hermeticity a design constraint on system architecture rather than a packaging afterthought.
The same toolbox then serves different scales of neuroscience and neurotechnology. In vivo, soft implants combining recording and optical stimulation enable closed-loop, cell-type-specific modulation of pathological motor activity. In vitro, compliant and stretchable arrays make three-dimensional neural tissue accessible, combining electrophysiology with controlled mechanical stimulation in engineered organoid systems.
Across these examples, mechanical and barrier design determine not only device lifetime, but which biological questions become experimentally reachable.
Biography
Stéphanie P. Lacour is Full Professor at EPFL, where she leads the Laboratory for Soft Bioelectronic Interfaces and, since 2025, serves as Vice-President for Research and Strategic Initiatives. Trained at INSA Lyon, Princeton University and the University of Cambridge, she joined EPFL in 2011. Her work develops soft, stretchable electronics for interfacing with the nervous system in vivo and in vitro. She is the recipient of several ERC grants and held the Collège de France Liliane Bettencourt Annual Chair in 2023–24.