Anaerobic bacteria have been discovered to produce a new class of pigments, celluxanthenes, expanding the scope of microbial-derived compounds with potential applications in bioenergy and medicine. Concurrently, breakthroughs in optical technology demonstrated on-chip reconfigurable orbital angular momentum beam generation, which may revolutionize photonics and biotech imaging. These biotechnological advances underscore the expanding roles of microbes and integrated photonics platforms in next-generation industrial and medical innovations.