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Review
. 2025 Jul;18(7):e202500148.
doi: 10.1002/jbio.202500148. Epub 2025 May 14.

Shining a Light on the Future of Biophotonics

Francesco Baldini  1 , Kishan Dholakia  2   3 , Paul French  4   5 , Orlando Guntinas-Lichius  6   7   8 , Achim Kohler  9 , Werner Mäntele  10   11 , Laura Marcu  12   13 , Ronald Sroka  14   15 , Siva Umapathy  16   17 , Juergen Popp  18   19
Affiliations
Review

Shining a Light on the Future of Biophotonics

Francesco Baldini et al. J Biophotonics. 2025 Jul.

Abstract

Biophotonics-the interdisciplinary fusion of light-based technologies with biology and medicine-is rapidly transforming research, diagnostics, and therapy across various domains. This white paper, developed in conjunction with the International Congress on Biophotonics 2024, offers a comprehensive overview of the current landscape and future potential of biophotonics. It discusses core technologies such as bioimaging, biosensing, and photonic-based therapies, while highlighting novel applications in oncology, infectious diseases, neurology, cardiovascular health, agriculture, food safety, and environmental monitoring. The document also explores key enablers, including artificial intelligence, novel materials, and quantum biophotonics, along with critical challenges related to standardization, regulation, and clinical translation. A SWOT analysis and recommendations are provided to guide future research, commercialization, and interdisciplinary collaboration, underscoring biophotonics as a cornerstone of next-generation precision medicine and the One Health approach.

Keywords: artificial intelligence; bioimaging; biophotonics; biosensing; clinical translation; laser medicine; one health; optical health technologies; photonic therapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Areas of biophotonics in the spirit of the One Health approach.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The three main areas of biophotonics in health: Bioimaging, biosensing, and treatment control.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Comparison of an H&E‐stained image of a tissue section of a tumor patient and a multimodal image based on various nonlinear modalities (CARS, red; TPEF, green; SHG, blue).
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Assay with which bacteria can be identified and their resistance against certain antibiotics can be tested employing Raman spectroscopy.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Workflow of photodynamic therapy (PDT) after photosensitizer (PS) administration (taken over from EPS Grand Challenges, CC BY‐SA 4.0; ROS stands for reactive oxygen species).
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Workflow planned for the Leibniz Center for Photonics in Infection Research.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
Summary and SWOT analysis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Popp J., Tuchin V. V., Chiou A., and Heinemann S. H., Handbook of Biophotonics, Volume 1: Basics and Techniques (Wiley, 2011).
    1. Popp J., Tuchin V. V., Chiou A., and Heinemann S. H., Handbook of Biophotonics: Volume 2: Photonics for Health Care (Wiley, 2011).
    1. Popp J., Tuchin V. V., Chiou A., and Heinemann S. H., Handbook of Biophotonics, Volume 3: Photonics in Pharmaceutics, Bioanalysis and Environmental Research (Wiley, 2012).
    1. Vo‐Dinh T., Biomedical Photonics Handbook: Therapeutics and Advanced Biophotonics (2nd ed, Taylor & Francis, 2014).
    1. Meglinski I., Biophotonics for Medical Applications (Woodhead Publishing, 2015).

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