Photonic Innovations Transforming Life Sciences

By John Oncea, Editor

Photonics is revolutionizing life sciences with advanced diagnostics, imaging, and therapies. It enables personalized medicine, deep tissue imaging, and AI integration, driving innovation across healthcare and biology.

Photonics plays a major role in life sciences. This includes, according to EPIC Photonics, lasers, and silicon nitride (SiN) photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for POC and lab-on-a-chip devices that detect a wide range of molecules and infectious diseases including COVID-19.

Then there are custom optics and illumination for super-resolution microscopy below sub-micron level for live cell imaging and DNA sequencing and LED-based fluorescence microscopy to detect tuberculosis. Finally, consider IR sensors for wearables to detect body temperature and oxygenation of hemoglobin.

It doesn’t stop there, either. Photonics is being applied in life sciences in drug development, where it is being used for target evaluation, high-throughput screening, and drug delivery. Laboratory tests are turning to photonics to help analyze body liquids for a variety of medical conditions. Beyond that, there are:

• Clinical diagnostics: Photonics can be used to image atherosclerotic plaques, detect tumors, and more.
• Regenerative medicine: Photonics can be used in stem cell research, tissue engineering, and more.
• Environmental monitoring: Photonics can be used to monitor harmful compounds in air, water, and food.

The symbiotic relationship between photonics and life sciences should come as no surprise. Both fields are progressing rapidly with the advancements in one driving innovation in the other. Here, we look at some recent developments that, while they benefit each industry, ultimately help us all live better lives.

What Are Life Sciences

The Knut and Alic Wallenberg Foundation writes, “The life sciences can be defined as the science of all living things. They deal with research into how living organisms function, interact, and affect their surroundings. Biology and medicine are two major disciplines, but research within life sciences is highly interdisciplinary, involving scientists from various fields such as technology, chemistry, physics, materials sciences, and pharmacology.”

Life sciences can trace their origins to ancient civilizations and have evolved significantly over time, shaping our understanding of living organisms and their processes. Egyptian and Mesopotamian records from around 3000-1200 BCE show contributions to medicine and the study of plants and animals. Ancient Egyptians developed embalming techniques and produced medical papyri, such as the Edwin Smith Papyrus, which is considered the oldest extant surgical handbook.

A significant shift occurred with the emergence of Greek civilization around 600 BCE, notes Britannica. Greek philosophers introduced the concept of causality and natural law, moving away from supernatural explanations of biological phenomena. Notable figures include Alcmaeon, considered the founder of embryology who investigated animal structure and discovered the optic nerve, and Hippocrates, who established a school of medicine on Cos around 400 BCE and recognized complex interrelationships in the human body.

During the Middle Ages, Muslim physicians and scholars like Avicenna further developed the work of ancient Greeks. The European Renaissance saw a renewed interest in empiricism and the discovery of novel organisms led by thinkers like Vesalius who produced detailed anatomical works based on human dissections. At the same time, naturalists like Linnaeus and Buffon were beginning to classify the diversity of life and study fossils.

The 18th and 19th centuries saw biology becoming a professional science with cell theory providing a new perspective on the fundamental basis of life. During the same period, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution synthesized findings from various fields, revolutionizing biological thought.

The 20th century brought rapid advancements, from the rediscovery of Mendel’s work leading to the development of genetics, to Watson and Crick’s work with the structure of DNA opening opened new fields of study. We’ve also recently seen the emergence of molecular biology as a major discipline, focusing on the molecular basis of biological activity.

Today, life sciences encompass a wide range of specialized fields, from genomics to ecology, continuing to expand our understanding of life in all its forms.

Photonics’ Contributions To Advancing Life Sciences

The life sciences are facing challenges that photonic technologies are helping to address, starting with medical diagnostics and imaging and the need for more accurate, rapid, and non-invasive diagnostic tools, notes Frontiers. Photonics offers innovative solutions starting with advanced flow cytometry systems that use improved bandpass and dichroic filters to increase accuracy and precision in identifying multiple components within biological samples simultaneously.

Some innovators are replacing traditional optics with dispersive optic spectrometers in flow cytometry, improving accuracy and significantly accelerating sample throughput. According to Electro Optics, these advancements are proving to be crucial for early disease detection and personalized medicine.

There’s also a growing need for portable, easy-to-use diagnostic devices, especially in resource-limited settings and home use. As a solution, compact and miniaturized devices, along with wearable and implantable sensors, are being developed for use at home and in point-of-care settings. These photonic-based devices can provide rapid and accurate diagnostics, which is particularly valuable in situations like the COVID-19 pandemic, reports the National Library of Medicine.

Photonics are also expected to play a crucial role as life sciences move toward more personalized approaches to treatment. Light-based theranostic technologies integrated with molecular and genomic profiling are providing capabilities for combined sensing, diagnostics, imaging, and therapeutics on a personalized basis. In addition, photonic technologies are being used in high-throughput drug screening, in vivo tracking of drug biodistribution, and mediating localized and controlled release of drugs.

One of the persistent challenges in life sciences is achieving deep tissue penetration for imaging and therapy. Photonics researchers are working on methodologies to increase optical penetration depth while maintaining high spatial resolution, which would have a significant impact on phototherapeutics and optical imaging applications. These advancements could lead to improved cancer treatments and more effective therapies for other deep-tissue conditions.

The life sciences are, along with every other industry, integrating existing technologies with artificial intelligence (AI) to deal with the massive amounts of data being generated. This increase in data requires better analysis tools and photonics is helping by providing opportunities for closer integration with biophotonics. This integration leads to automated features and pattern identifications that may otherwise not be possible, enhancing diagnostic accuracy and research capabilities.

Finally, life sciences are also concerned with environmental health and food security. Photonics technologies are being applied to environmental monitoring, including the assessment of climate change and marine life. In agriculture, photonics is being used for food and soil monitoring, detecting pathogens and toxins, and evaluating vegetation health.

These applications of photonics in life sciences demonstrate the field's potential to address critical challenges in healthcare, environmental science, and agriculture. By enabling more precise, rapid, and non-invasive techniques, photonics is driving innovation and improving our ability to understand and interact with biological systems at multiple scales.