The photonic chip that illuminates the cell
The chip enables the observation of cellular details and dynamics that conventional optics cannot distinguish. It supports predictive assessments and actions. Experimental tests in Germany have confirmed the reliability and quality of the results. Possible applications: immunology, advanced diagnostics, biomedical microscopy. Francesco Dell’Olio, a Poliba professor, is one of the authors of the research. He says: “the result enhances a line of research related to integrated photonics developed at our university. We now want to activate collaborations with hospitals, IRCCS, universities and local centers, to apply the platform to concrete biological and pharmacological questions”
August 1, 2026
Miniaturized technological processes in integrated photonics have enabled new advances in knowledge that have been translated into applications. The technology that uses light instead of electricity has produced photonic chips capable of extending researchers’ view of the cellular world, enabling new knowledge.
The photonic chip, the heart of the innovation, is a miniaturized circuit that, instead of electric current, guides and controls light through very thin paths that function as microscopic roads for light: they can carry it, split it, combine it, filter it, or direct it toward specific points.
In the study, the photonic chip is used to illuminate cells selectively and obtain highly detailed images of their internal structures. The work demonstrates how it is possible to use a transparent photonic chip not only as a support for the biological sample, but also as a true device for advanced optical microscopy. This makes it possible to observe nanometric details that conventional optical microscopy cannot distinguish. The photonic chip thus proves to be an integrated optical platform capable of making analytical instruments more compact, precise, and potentially suitable for examining many cells.
“Science Advances”. All of this is part of a scientific work entitled, “Photonic waveguide chip-based nanoscopy visualizes rearrangements of the cortical actin cytoskeleton in activated Jurkat T cells”, published on July 15 in the international scientific journal “Science Advances”.
Authors The authors of the article are a group of researchers from three universities: Bielefeld University (Germany), responsible for the biological and experimental component; Aschaffenburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany), responsible for the platform, development and production of transparent chips; and the Polytechnic University of Bari (Italy), responsible for the research concept, methodological development of the photonic platform, and data management and validation. The coordinator and scientific lead for Poliba is Professor Francesco Dell’Olio, of the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering.
The experiment has focused especially on T lymphocytes, the white blood cells that fight infections and diseased cells. When a T lymphocyte is activated externally, it rapidly reorganizes its internal “scaffold,” made largely of actin filaments, to form the so-called immunological synapse, that is, the contact zone through which the cell recognizes and responds to a target. The innovation makes it possible to visualize this reorganization with very high resolution and over a wide field of view.
Applications. In the short term, the impact concerns biological and pharmacological research. In oncology, this technology may help improve immunotherapies. T lymphocytes, including CAR-T cells modified in the laboratory, can eliminate tumor cells by forming an “immunological synapse” with them, a contact zone in which the actin network reorganizes. Observing this process at the nanometric scale may make it possible to compare cells with different levels of effectiveness, understand why some are unable to attack the tumor, and assess the effect of drugs or new genetic modifications. The photonic chip could become a research tool for designing future, more targeted and effective immunotherapies.
The considerations. “For the Polytechnic University of Bari – says Prof. Francesco Dell’Olio – the news highlights a line of research related to integrated photonics developed in the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering of our university. The publication represents a useful opportunity to highlight Poliba’s ability to contribute enabling technologies for the study of complex cellular processes, with possible future implications in immunology, advanced diagnostics, and biomedical microscopy. This result is a starting point. We want to activate collaborations with hospitals, IRCCS, universities, and centers in the area, to apply the platform to concrete biological and pharmacological questions. It is not enough to see smaller structures: this capability must be transformed into information useful to those who study cells, drugs, and immune response”.
The article The photonic chip that illuminates the cell comes from Poliba Chronicle.
