Dr. Stéphanie Lacour

Biography

Stéphanie P. Lacour is a full professor at the School of Engineering at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). She received her PhD in Electrical Engineering from INSA de Lyon, France, completed postdoctoral research at Princeton University in the USA and the University of Cambridge in the UK. Lacour joined EPFL in 2011 and is the founding director of the EPFL Neuro X institute, a new interschool department focused on interdisciplinary translational neuro-research located at the EPFL-associated campus – Campus Biotech Geneva. She serves as the EPFL Vice-President for Strategic Initiatives, effective 2025. Her research integrates principles of electrical engineering with biology and medicine to develop bioelectronic systems that minimize perturbation in vivo. Lacour focuses on designing and manufacturing electronic devices with mechanical properties compatible with biological tissues, ensuring long-term reliability. Her fabrication methods adapt soft substrates, like elastomers, drawing techniques from MEMS and microelectronics industries. She has developed novel characterization tools for bioelectronic circuits, evaluating them in vitro, in animal models, and ultimately in humans, striving for the integration of soft bioelectronic interfaces in health applications.

Research Interests