Ilyesse Bihi is a Research Scientist in Chemical Engineering at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium, and a core member of the µFlow group. He holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lille University (France), and dual PhDs in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida (USA) and in Micro- and Nanotechnologies from Lille University/IEMN (France). Part of his doctoral research was conducted at INRA (France), investigating micro-organism detachment in microfluidic environments — work recognised with the 2017 Pierre Isoard Award by ASPEC (Paris). Before joining VUB, he carried out postdoctoral research at the Biomechanics and Bioengineering Laboratory (BMBI, UTC/Sorbonne University Alliance), where he contributed to the development of a microfluidic platform for ex-vivo platelet production inspired by physiological processes in bone marrow — a research line later acquired by a Swiss spin-off company for commercial development.

At VUB, he leads research on microfluidic chip design for drug-loaded microparticle production, droplet generation scale-up, and the integration of vortex structures into next-generation chromatographic columns to reduce dispersion and enhance separation performance. His approach combines numerical modeling with experimental fabrication and validation, bridging fundamental science and applied engineering.

He is deeply engaged in translating microfluidic research into real-world impact, with contributions to numerous funded programs. He serves as VUB lead scientist in the ERC-funded project CELLAGRI (€2.5M, 2025–2029) and as a coordinating team member of the Pathfinder European project VortexLC (€3M, 2021–2026). He has further contributed to a Moonshot-VLAIO program, two Catalisti-ICON projects, and two Innoviris projects, all targeting microfluidic platforms for drug delivery, crystallization, and continuous separations.

Bihi has been recognised for his contributions to contamination science with the 2017 Pierre Isoard Award, and his research has attracted media coverage including features on Echoscience and Radio Graf’hit (Paris). He has actively engaged with the public through events such as the I Love Science Festival (Brussels). He has delivered over 350 hours of teaching across Bachelor’s and Master’s programs in France and Belgium, co-supervised seven Master’s theses, and is currently mentoring three PhD researchers. Since 2023, he manages one of the laboratories in the Chemical Engineering Department at VUB.

The core of his work is centered on microfluidics, with a particular emphasis on applications in bioengineering. For more detailed insights, please visit the research section or feel free to get in touch.