Configurable photonics to visualize complex biology

High‑ and super‑resolution fluorescence microscopy underpins many advances in the life sciences and has transformed our ability to probe biological systems at the molecular scale. These capabilities are increasingly important for enabling scalable, high‑throughput assays for sensing and diagnostics. Over the past two decades, innovations in illumination strategies, computational reconstruction, and molecular labeling have enabled lateral resolutions approaching the physical size of fluorophores. However, these techniques typically rely on high‑numerical‑aperture objective lenses that inherently restrict the accessible field of view (FOV). As a result, imaging large sample areas requires mechanical scanning and computational stitching, which severely limit throughput and impose stringent stability requirements on the imaging system. Consequently, conventional objective‑based microscopy struggles to keep up with the increasing throughput demands of emerging large‑scale biological assays, including genomic, transcriptomic, spatial omics, and fluorescence‑based proteomics.

To overcome these limitations, we are developing an integrated fluorescence imaging platform in which both illumination and detection are implemented at the chip level. Excitation light is delivered and structured using photonic integrated circuits (PICs), where nanophotonic waveguides generate finely structured illumination patterns across the sample plane. Fluorescence emission is recorded directly by a monolithic image sensor positioned close to the sample, eliminating the need for conventional objective‑based detection. By encoding spatial detail in the illumination patterns generated on chip rather than relying on bulky detection optics, this architecture enables high‑resolution fluorescence imaging in a compact and mechanically stable format, opening a path toward scalable, high‑throughput imaging platforms.