Recent progresses in materials development, device engineering and mechanical design have given birth to photonic systems with unconventional functionalities such as mechanical flexibility, biocompatibility and resorbability, thereby enabling novel opportunities for bio-related optoelectronic platforms [1]. Such efforts have lead to advanced bioinspired and biointegrated materials and devices that not only provide novel insights on light-matter interactions at bio-interfaces, but also explore versatile opportunities for sensing, diagnostics and therapeutics both in vitro and in vivo.

Innovative material design and device architectures are being actively pursued to improve the performance of optical and electronic sensors and detectors, by emulating morphologies and/or functions of biological systems. In this feature issue, Prajzler et al. investigated the optical properties of an important biological substance, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) complexes, deposited on elastomer substrates [2]. Gao et al. employed deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and guanine as functional interfacial layers to enhance the photocurrent of perovskite based photodetectors [3]. Additionally, Yang et al. implemented hair like gold nanowires for high performance strain sensors [4]. Moreover, Li et al. developed neural inspired computational models to design and optimize plasmonic sensors [5].

Innovative processing and manufacturing, associated with the multifunctional integration of organic/inorganic components, have enabled a wide spectrum of high performance electronic and photonic materials, devices, and systems in soft, flexible, stretchable and/or biocompatible formats. Li et al. [6] and Chen et al. [7] respectively reviewed recent developments of flexible and stretchable inorganic and organic based optoelectronic materials, devices and systems, and highlighted their versatile biomedical applications. In addition, Xu et al. presented silicon based light emitters and their integration with micro-fluidic sensors [8].

In particular, micro- and nanoscale optoelectronic components that are engineered as implantable devices have attracted tremendous interests in biomedicine. Jang et al. overviewed the recent progress and challenges of retinal prosthesis devices for vision restoration [9]. Nazempour et al. analytically evaluated the performance of implantable optical sensors for fluorescence imaging in the deep animal brain [10]. Fernandes and Kolios showed the potential of using perfluorocarbon bubbles as photoacoustic signal amplifiers for cancer theranostics [11].

To summarize, this feature issue provides a forum to discuss various approaches to realize advanced high performance bio-inspired and bio-integrated photonics. Such advanced materials, devices and systems offer not only fundamental impacts on light-matter interactions at bio-interface, but also new opportunities for sensing, diagnostics, and therapeutics. Certainly, we hope that this feature issue will inspire new research directions and novel concepts in this emerging field.