Jos Istiyanto was born in Pemalang in 1975 and completed his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Indonesia in 1998. Since becoming a lecturer at the UI Mechanical Engineering Department, manufacturing has been his specialty. Microfabrication, especially related to machining, is the research he is currently doing. He has been listed as a member of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering and the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers.

Bio machining is one of his focus research. Bio machining is an alternative process in micro fabrication deemed to be environmentally friendly since it uses bacteria as a cutting tool. This biology-based process, besides being environmentally friendly, does not requires additional energy and does not result in any heat effects on the metal as that of physical processes such as in a milling machining process. However, the process relatively takes a slower speed than that of a conventional process. Therefore, the biomachining process is very suitable to be applied in the manufacturing of micro-sized metal components such as of micro-channels and micro-heat exchangers made of copper.