Biomedical

With predictions of double-digit growth into the future, biophotonics is one of the most vibrant and promising of global markets. Increasingly component manufacturers are addressing this market and aligning their products with the requirements of systems and whole solution providers, thus generating additional synergies. Breakthrough advances in photonic methods and techniques for health and life sciences will contribute to solving several grand challenges for Europe and the rest of the world.

Due to demographic changes and more particularly the ageing of the population, new and efficient methods and devices need to be developed that allow maintenance of a quality life with affordable healthcare, and the introduction of new cost-effective photonics-enabled solutions to the healthcare market will play a major role in meeting this challenge. It is also anticipated that there will be a huge demand for photonics solutions in the quality control/assurance of production processes related to the healthcare market, especially in food and pharmaceutical production environments where high quality standards with zero defects must be met.

Examples of where photonics is applied in Biomedical applications include:

Biomedicine

  • Photonic enabled microfluidics
  • Imaging guides
  • Sensor catheters
  • RI sensors
  • Opto-fluidics
  • Minimal invasive diagnostics
  • Treatment monitoring by imaging
  • Retinal implants
  • Microinstruments for early diagnostics of cancer
  • Endomicroscopes for colonoscopy, gastroscopy, bronchoscopy
  • Miniature OCT systems

Biotechnology

  • Opto-fluidics
  • Bio-chips
  • Lab-on-chip system
  • Point-of-care diagnostics
  • Microcytometers
  • μTAS devices