Integrated Photonics for Medical and Healthcare
Accurate and cost-effective biosensors are expected to play a crucial role in the roll-out of Point-of-Care testing. Point of care (PoC) testing is the practice of diagnosing patients at the point of need rather than sending samples to a remote specialised medical laboratory. Integrated photonics technology offers a possible solution for developing genuine PoC diagnostic devices.

How PICs help
- Genuine Point-of-Care (PoC) diagnostic systems
- Continuous monitoring of biomarkers
- Low-cost disposable biosensors
The future of Healthcare




Challenges
Most medical diagnostics techniques use time-consuming, expensive, and specialised techniques performed by trained technicians in a laboratory. Moreover, the distance between the patient and the diagnostic centre can lead to long wait times. What if we could develop a portable, easy to-use, lab-on-a-chip (LOC) platform for real-time diagnosis? The advantages over current methods would be immense. For example, think of faster diagnosis, much lower costs, and a reduction in the need for highly trained staff. All of which would make fast, cheap testing available to almost everyone. Fortunately, that dream is fast-becoming reality with Integrated Photonics.

Faster, cheaper disease diagnosis
Photonics is the technology that uses light to carry information. And since light travels extremely fast, photonic data transmission provides exceptionally high-speed, low-energy information transfer. Photonics additionally provides new ways to sense the world around us. Integrated Photonics is the technology that creates entire photonic networks on a single silicon chip. And when coupled with advanced “biosensors”, Integrated Photonics opens the door to genuine Point-of-Care (PoC) diagnostic systems. Outside of efficient and low-cost PoC testing, there are several drivers in life sciences and health care that can be addressed by integrated photonics. These include the continuous monitoring of biomarkers (wearable, minimally invasive, ingestible, or implantable). There is also the possibility of combining the monitoring of biomarkers with simultaneous therapy within the framework of personalised medicine.

Next steps for photonic chips in medical and healthcare
Even pre-Covid, there was a sizeable, fast-growing market for PoC testing, with a large number of potentially profitable product/market segment combinations. The most significant growth area is in complex molecular diagnostics that require low-cost disposable biosensors that deliver fast results and have extensive multiplexing capability. A collaborative approach, particularly between diagnostic companies and platform providers is key for globally relevant innovation.
How can we help?
Are you working on an application in which you can use photonics, but need support or specific know-how? Or do you need design or process support? We here at PhotonDelta can help deal with challenges along the entire supply chain.