#quantumbiology

Quantum-Si News

Quantum-Si Incorporated released two new articles that rigorously validate their benchtop single-molecule protein sequencing platform, a big step forward for the post-genomic age. These articles demonstrate how the platform can be used for clinical and diagnostic applications like pathogen identification and hemoglobin variation detection.

Protein Analysis Paradigm Change

The Quantum-Si has made protein sequencing as accessible as DNA sequencing. Platinum and Platinum Pro are the first commercial next-generation protein sequencing (NGPS) machines with single-molecule, single-amino-acid precision.

Quantum-Si sequences proteins using real-time kinetic insights and integrated semiconductor devices, unlike mass spectrometry and Edman degradation, which are complicated and slow. Traditional immunoassays ignore proteoforms and PTMs, which determine protein function and disease significance. This method identifies them.

Clinical Hemoglobinopathy Advances

A Stanford laboratory investigation in the Journal of Analytical Chemistry validates the platform. Researchers used Quantum-Si's single-molecule sequencing to find clinically important hemoglobin (Hb) differences in blood samples.

Normal diagnostic methods can struggle to diagnose hemoglobinopathies, red blood cell diseases. The device can analyze individual protein molecules, a resolution not possible in clinical settings. This method may be used in hemoglobinopathy and clinical proteomics research to discover novel variations and understand processes as sequencing coverage rises.

Fast Pathogen/Toxin Detection

The NRL employed it for biosafety and rapid diagnostics. Redesigned by the NRL team, biological sample-to-result data is produced in under 24 hours, a considerable reduction in complex protein analysis turnaround time.

Legacy proteomics requires time-consuming preparation procedures, while this streamlined analytical technique does not. The scientists showed that the platform could recognize long single-domain antibodies, shorter protein toxoids, and proteins in complex combinations. Quantum-Si President and CEO Jeff Hawkins said this result shows the technology's capacity to handle complex situations and environmental issues that existing solutions cannot.

The Platinum Pro Benefit

Without lab space or expertise, the Platinum Pro sequencer is easy to use. Quantum-Si wants single-molecule analysis in “every lab, everywhere” by democratizing proteomics.

Important platform features include:

Single-molecule Resolution: Detects amino acid and isobaric alterations in unprecedented resolution.

Simplified Workflow: The system requires less than three hours of hands-on time for fast-paced labs.

Nanogram Input: The new Library Prep Kit V3 lets researchers draw biological conclusions from 200 ng of protein.

Flexibility: The device enables local and cloud data processing and has a larger touchscreen for easy use.

Kinetics simplify protein sequencing compared to Edman degradation and delve deeper than mass spectrometry to discover amino acid-level changes that are essential for understanding health and illness.

Growth into Drug Development and Beyond

Quantum-Si protein barcoding is revolutionizing pharmaceutical development beyond clinical diagnostics. This method characterizes many protein variations simultaneously, improving screening and therapeutic development throughput.

Pharmaceutical applications for the platform are numerous:

Accelerated Drug Delivery: It simplifies in vivo screening of delivery vehicles including LNPs and AAV capsids, improving discovery program precision.

Comprehensive Variant Analysis: It tracks and characterizes CRISPR and directed evolution-derived protein variants, supporting targeted medication development.

Enhanced Interaction Studies: It studies protein trafficking and interactions in detail, exposing biological pathways essential for quantum drug discovery.

Antibody Characterisation: The approach provides detailed antibody specificity, affinity, and purity, maximizing therapeutic efficacy.

Strategic Vision 2026

These two manuscripts are just the start of Quantum-Si's strategic expansion. CEO Jeff Hawkins said the company wants to offer a strong pipeline of studies by 2026, demonstrating how the technology extends beyond basic research into clinical proteomics.

Quantum-Si allows researchers to study proteins at unprecedented scale by combining quantum biology, chemistry, and AI. Academic research and commercial biomarker identification and disease mechanism analysis are benefiting from this breakthrough.

Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics

Physical and biological laws have conflicted for generations. Living organisms greatly defy the second rule of thermodynamics, which dictates that the universe must eventually reach maximum entropy in a cold, chaotic equilibrium. They create, self-organize, and maintain intricate, structured systems amid cosmic destruction. Until recently, there was no mathematical relationship between biology's dynamic complexity and classical physics' "boring," static equations.

The growing field of Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics provides that "missing manual." Refocusing from static systems to dynamic systems, scientists are learning how life builds order from chaos.

Beyond the “Boring” State: Equilibrium Issues Conventional physics is best at understanding equilibrium systems like coffee cooling to room temperature or gas filling a container. The system becomes most “boring” when there is no net energy flow. Ludwig Boltzmann's statistical mechanics allows scientists to predict complicated systems' behavior by averaging billions of atoms' motions.

Life is unbalanced. A cell in equilibrium is dead by definition. Life is in a “steady state” of matter and energy flux, far from balance. Humans actively eat to lower internal entropy, which emits heat into the environment, to maintain order. Life is dynamic, thus classical equations for steam turbines or cool coffee cannot explain biological reality.

Active Matter and Time Arrow

NESM relies on “Active Matter” research. Active matter—from bacteria and fish schools to a cell's cytoskeleton—converts internal or external energy into directed motion, unlike inactive particles.

This internal drive breaks “time-reversal symmetry,” deviating from classical physics. Classical physics makes a billiard ball hitting another look real even when played backwards. The “arrow of time” is plainly visible while photographing a living cell; living systems have direction and history. Ilya Prigogine identified “dissipative structures” as the foundation of life, and NESM provides the mathematical framework to explain this time arrow.

Breaking the Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem

One of the most important NESM discoveries is the Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem (FDT), a crucial 20th-century physics concept. A system's fluctuations are closely associated with its FDT, energy loss (dissipation). The random Brownian motion of a dust particle in water can affect its viscosity.

The FDT fails in biological systems. Since cells pump energy into their structures, their “jiggling” is deliberate and not merely thermal noise. Max Planck Institute researchers employ NESM to quantify system departure from the FDT. This “non-equilibrium signature” measures the energy “burned” to maintain order, allowing researchers to distinguish living tissue from chemical substances.

Cell “Engine”: Harvesting Noise

Cell molecular motor "engines" like myosin and kinesin demonstrate tiny-scale non-equilibrium physics. Small proteins convey cargo along internal channels with near-perfect accuracy.

The classical thermodynamics says thermal noise (molecular chaos) should buffet and stall these motors, but NESM reveals they gain from it. They use a "Brownian Ratchet" to filter random oscillations and allow forward motion. Life harvests disorder rather than fighting it, which is the best example of order from chaos.

Collective Intelligence and Emergent Order Scaling Up The NESM may explain starling flocks' otherworldly behavior. Even without a “CEO bird” giving orders, these systems move as a single liquid-like entity. In a non-equilibrium system, the flock's continual energy flow organizes chaos while each bird follows basic norms.

NESM considers neural networks and flocks “fluids” with “long-range correlations” including human crowds. These conditions allow system changes to affect each other immediately. In the non-equilibrium domain of life, this phenomenon happens at ordinary temperature, but it is usually limited to unusual quantum materials at absolute zero.

Future: Nanomedicine to Quantum Biology

Understanding life's statistical mechanics will shape future technology. Learn about non-equilibrium systems to help scientists create:

Smart Materials: Fabrics or building materials that deform or heal like skin.

Nanomedicine: Synthetic “active particles” that use glucose to deliver drugs to tumors through the bloodstream. Energy-efficient AI: Non-equilibrium neural networks use less electricity than current silicon chips.

Quantum biology and NESM overlap more. Some experts believe living systems must be out of equilibrium to maintain “quantum coherence,” a delicate coordination. Using non-equilibrium states like photosynthesis to protect quantum effects could change our understanding of quantum computing.

To conclude

Biology was long thought “too messy” for physics' strict principles. As Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics evolves, that messiness becomes more complex.

The Two-Point Propagation Field

Scientists have long struggled to study the cosmos at its most fundamental level: the clearer they perceive the microscopic world, the more likely they are to destroy it. High-resolution X-ray microscopy may look deep into biological cells or modern microchips, but the strong radiation melts, cracks, or ionizes objects before capturing an image.

However, independent researcher Li Hua Yu's latest unique study suggests a major departure from standard imaging approaches. Yu proposed a new physical idea called the Two-Point Propagation Field (TPPF) to reduce radiation dose and achieve nanometer-scale resolution with unprecedented precision.

Knowing Two-Point Propagation Field

Two-point propagation field (TPPF) imagery differs from “shadow-based” or lens-heavy imaging. Instead of detecting photon absorption, the TPPF uses single-photon propagation quantum computing.

Mathematically, the TPPF is phase-sensitive and real. The functional derivative of the detection probability of a single photon with respect to an infinitesimal disturbance—a tiny “blocker” between the detector and the source—is used to compute it. It monitors the wave function change of a single photon as it travels owing to a tiny environmental change.

Two-point propagation field (TPPF) has a stable high-frequency sinusoidal structure. This field generates a 6.7-nanometer pattern around the detecting site. This structure is a “quantum ruler” that measures displacements with astonishing precision due to its stability and fineness.

Practical Stability and Picometre Precision

The “ruler” has major impacts. Perturbative study has showed that the TPPF can sense picometer-level displacement. To illustrate scale, a picometre is one-trillionth of a metre, smaller than an atom.

Current nanofabrication methods, such as slit and comb geometries and synchrotron radiation fluxes, can record displacement with 15 picometer precision. This “shot-noise-limited” test has the maximum detection sensitivity.

Importantly, this degree of sensitivity only requires mechanical stability throughout the last 0.5 millimeters of the experimental apparatus for lab use. This is an advance over previous high-resolution methods that required beamline stability, often many meters long. Localizing the stability requirement with the Two-point propagation field TPPF makes nanometer-resolution imaging achievable.

Solving the “Dose Problem”

The “dose problem” is a major challenge for 3D X-ray micro-tomography. Researchers require more photons to see tiny sample characteristics. The sample's energy may destroy complex chemical systems or fragile biological structures.

The TPPF concept offers a “quantum shortcut” to overcome this restriction. The TPPF can extract more information from fewer photons because it detects wave function interference patterns rather than beam absorption. The report recommends two methods to boost efficiency:

Central Blockers use a modest opaque disturbance to create interference patterns.

Off-Axis Multi-Slit Arrays: Building a complex grid to measure several propagation field points.

Each of these approaches may reduce incident radiation fluence by more than an order of magnitude. When used with next-generation detectors, this might cut radiation exposure by two to three orders of magnitude. This would allow scientists to see chemical activities in real time or produce 3D “movies” of living cells without X-rays interfering.

Transformational Materials Science and Biology

Nanoscale 3D imaging with 0.5mm accuracy has huge implications for many industries.

The TPPF could enable non-destructive “slice-by-slice” examination of 3D chip layouts in semiconductor fabrication, where transistors are a few dozen atoms. TPPF-enabled X-ray tomography can see a chip's entire bulk to discover hidden faults, unlike conventional electron microscopy, which requires thinning a material to a transparent sliver.

Disease at the molecular level in structural quantum biology could change with this method. Protein complexes and cellular organelles can be resolved quickly without chemical labeling or cryo-EM. This helps explain how biological structures work or fail by examining them in their natural surroundings.

The Theory Beamline

TPPF application is well-grounded in theoretical research of single-particle wave function evolution. The paper advises using synchrotron facilities to add TPPF-based operations to present infrastructure instead of building new particle accelerators.

This work also investigates cascaded double and triple slit designs to improve signal quality and increase resolution. The approach's theoretical validity is confirmed by calculations that indicate the position and momentum uncertainty is consistent with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.

Quantum Valley Amaravati will house India's first quantum biofoundry.

Creating India's first integrated quantum–bio–medical research ecosystem in Amaravati will position Andhra Pradesh at the forefront of quantum technologies and biomedical applications. On Thursday, a team of prominent academics, researchers, and companies presented the proposed research hub—anchored by a world-class Quantum BioFoundry—to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

Valley of Quantum Amaravati

The delegation of wet-lab scientists, quantum computation experts, and next-generation wearable sensor experts presented a strategic roadmap for this groundbreaking initiative before the Secretariat. Chief Minister Naidu wants the future Amaravati Quantum Valley (AQV) to be a national hub for cutting-edge research and innovation.

The projected Quantum BioFoundry would merge advanced bio-engineering with quantum biology to create a cutting-edge research centre. With quantum technology, this laboratory aims to make precise biological measurements and build revolutionary bio-systems for next-generation genetic products, diagnostics, and treatments.

The delegation proposed a computation-driven knowledge architecture for life sciences, quantum biology, and quantum medicine. The ecosystem blueprint includes a National Quantum BioFoundry, Innovation Hub, and Quantum Simulation Centre. A national hub-and-spoke network integrating industry, clinical partners, and research institutions is also proposed.

Naidu applauded the ambition of various countries studying quantum applications in biology and medicine, but few have established integrated ecosystems. He said Andhra Pradesh must build the “missing links” because innovation, knowledge, and applications will determine the future. The Chief Minister said, “As a policymaker, I can provide the right policy framework to empower technology,” promising a global innovation environment.

Drug-discovery simulations, molecular modelling, biosensor development, and next-generation biomedical materials were highlighted as global application cases of quantum technologies changing healthcare.

Experts say Andhra Pradesh is well-positioned to lead India's quantum-driven biomedical initiative because to its burgeoning quantum computer infrastructure, policy flexibility, and homegrown talent pools. Naidu suggested a hub-and-spoke model, combining India's scientific knowledge, and strong global research links to transform short-, medium-, and long-term applications.

Development is underway in Amaravati Quantum Valley. The state cabinet approved seven quantum training, research, and use-case development projects on conference day. The state government has identified 50 acres of land for Quantum Valley Amaravati, which will contain at least three types of quantum computers and be operational by 2027. IBM, TCS, and L&T will collaborate on the project. Installation of the first quantum computer is slated for January 2026.

The goal of Amaravati Quantum Valley

The Amaravati Quantum Valley (AQV) aims to become a national hub for cutting-edge research and innovation.

Quantum Valley Amaravati's key goals and traits, according to sources:

Cutting-Edge Research Ecosystem: The state wants AQV to lead quantum technology and medicine. It intends to be India's first quantum, bio, and medical research ecosystem.

Establishing the First Quantum BioFoundry in India: Amaravati's ecosystem should be anchored by a cutting-edge research institution. This university combines cutting-edge bioengineering with quantum biology, the study of quantum influences on life.

The BioFoundry uses quantum technology for high-precision biological measurement to develop novel bio-systems for next-generation genetic products, diagnostics, and treatments.

Promoting Innovation: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu wants Quantum Valley Amaravati to become a national innovation hub that prioritises knowledge, applications, and breakthroughs, especially in domains with “missing links” in globally linked ecosystems.

Strategic architecture: The ecosystem architecture includes the National Quantum BioFoundry, Innovation Hub, and Quantum Simulation Centre. There will be Centres of Excellence, wet-lab research facilities, and deep-tech startup support systems.

To further quantum materials research and quantum technology innovation, Burcu Ozden receives $800K.

Following the disclosure of a large research award to a key faculty member, Penn State Abington is set to help advance quantum technology nationwide. Pennsylvania State Abington assistant professor of engineering and physics Burcu Ozden received a competitive three-year, $800,000 research grant. This large finance focusses on developing cutting-edge two-dimensional materials for next-generation quantum technology.

Room-temperature quantum computing, sensing, and secure communication are huge promises, and the initiative will fund innovative efforts to realise these in 2026.

The Biggest Quantum Challenge

Quantum technologies offer new encryption, sensing, and processing options as global communication needs expand. Quantum physics' powerful, paradoxical laws underpin the second information revolution, which is quantum technology. Traditional bits, or data units, may only be 0 or 1. Quantum bits, or “qubits,” employ superposition to exist in several states. This capacity creates the framework for exponentially greater processing power by enabling computational feats, complicated simulations, and sophisticated encryption that even the most powerful supercomputers cannot do.

Creating stable qubits is a constant and tough challenge to developing this promise. Most modern quantum systems operate in cryogenic, vacuum-sealed settings. Using quantum computing in large-scale commercial and industrial applications is too expensive and complicated.

The research of Dr. Burcu Ozden attempts to construct material platforms that can preserve these fragile quantum states, or coherence, outside of extremely cold conditions. Ozden stressed that stable qubits at ambient temperature require complex material structures.

Atomic-scale engineering

Abington's initiative designs exact defects in sophisticated material structures to control their quantum properties at the atomic level. Dr. Ozden and her group will study transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), highly thin, layered two-dimensional materials. This structure controls their thickness and composition, regulating their quality.

Research aims to exploit certain atomic-scale flaws rather than eliminate them. Antisite defects—atoms exchanging places in a crystal lattice—will be the team's focus. It's ironic that a stable qubit can incorporate this structural irregularity.

This method's breakthrough is its scalable route to defect-based qubits without strain or external impurities, which are common issues in other material creation methods. By deliberately engineering TMD defects, the team hopes to build a reliable, repeatable qubit manufacturing method. According to Dr. Burcu Ozden, this effort will accelerate the University's contributions to defect engineering and quantum materials.

Commitment to Education and Training

The large DOE grant's commitment to workforce development and education, beyond the project's profound scientific goals, aligns with Penn State Abington and national STEM interests. Graduate, undergraduate, and faculty from University Park and Penn State Abington are involved in the initiative's instructional purpose.

Dr. Ozden noted that this collaborative paradigm offers unique prospects when it combines experimental activity, computation, and a strong instructional objective. Her statement says Penn State is “uniquely positioned” to involve undergraduates in federally funded quantum research. In this project, students will learn data analysis, optical characterisation, and materials synthesis for the future quantum workforce.

The "Abington Experience" includes leadership development, internships, academic travel, and undergraduate research, including this top-tier research opportunity. All-encompassing experiences increase marketable skills and self-confidence, which boost job offers, compensation, and long-term success. Students at Abington will connect their academic interests to national research goals through multidisciplinary project teams, summer research projects, and ACURA.

Strongening Multicampus Ecosystem

Penn State's multi-campus research organisation performs well and benefits from the recognition. The Abington campus will benefit from student researcher funding, improved characterisation, and new lab facilities from the project. Additionally, it will enable Penn State Abington researchers and engineering, physics, and materials science students to use shared instruments and spectroscopy labs.

Chancellor Gary Liguori of Abington said the award “showcases the strength of Penn State’s multicampus research ecosystem,” noting that Commonwealth Campus faculty conducted nationally competitive, high-impact research and provided life-changing education.

Over three years, the funds will invest in human capital and basic science. Engineering TMD faults could create a scalable, economical platform for quantum gadget manufacture. This effort ensures that the next generation of scientists and engineers has the cutting-edge skills needed to maintain the quantum-enabled future and reinforces Penn State's position as a national quantum leader.

Quantum Neuroscience

Google Bets Big on Quantum Brain Secrets with New Research Challenge

Google has launched a new research prize program that awards up to $100,000 to academics studying the prospective effects of quantum phenomena on brain function. This ambitious effort represents a substantial institutional push towards quantum neuroscience in a field where most neuroscientists and physicists have dismissed the idea that quantum processes could alter brain function.

The Google Quantum Neuroscience Research Challenge invites computational, experimental, and sensor-based proposals on quantum effects in brain systems. Google aims to increase knowledge of quantum biology and its applications in computers, neuroscience, and medicine.

The Unconventional Bet: Brain Quantum Mechanics

Google is betting big that quantum physics, which affects subatomic particles and superconductors, will alter the brain. Scientists must determine if quantum phenomena like entanglement and superposition affect neurone function and brain decision-making.

For decades, the idea that quantum processes could affect brain function was dismissed due to the premise that biological systems' warm, humid, and naturally loud environments would inhibit delicate quantum states. Recent quantum biology advancements have re-examined this long-held view. Quantum effects may affect other biological systems, according to a recent study. Classical ideas have dominated brain function research. Research on several animals has found quantum behaviours in photosynthesis, enzyme activity, and bird navigation. The crucial and potentially game-changing question is whether such influences affect brain signalling or cognition.

Strategic Interest and Vision of Google

Google supports high-risk, high-reward research, especially in computing and biology, and this program matches that goal. A leader in quantum computing, Google sees quantum neuroscience as a promising area for innovation. The company hopes this research will lead to new human-computer interfaces or medical equipment. Google is interested in studies that examine how quantum effects might be employed in hardware as well as biological systems.

This program's date coincides with a revival of interest in biological intelligence models and brain-inspired computers. As artificial intelligence systems improve, scientists are using Quantum Neuroscience to build efficient, versatile, and generalisable robots. If quantum processes are important to brain function, they could provide a new foundation for artificial intelligence and neurological care. Google's quantum computing research have enabled fault-tolerant processors, quantum machine learning, and advanced sensing technologies, and the corporation appears to be expanding into new scientific domains.

What Research Does Google Want?

Google is seeking university scholar submissions on a wide range of topics:

Research to prove non-classical organism behaviour affects.

Quantum coherence studies on neurones.

Simulations of quantum mechanics' effects on cognition-related biological molecules.

Electron spin resonance, Nano-NMR, and 2D electronic spectroscopy are welcome, as are quantum sensor ideas.

Speculative but Changemaking

Google's research agenda demonstrates a growing awareness that odd theories can offer new technical pathways, even though many are still speculative. One application is using quantum sensors to measure neural activity with unprecedented accuracy. Quantum computers may then translate this data into real-time therapeutic systems that modulate neural signalling or adaptive brain-computer interfaces. Using quantum devices to modulate nuclear spins in biological tissue for imaging and neurological control is intriguing but unlikely.

Famous quantum biological discoveries like photosynthetic energy transfer were once considered improbable. Google now bets the brain may provide unexpected results.

See also Quranium and Abatis for Tamper-Proof Blockchain Security.

Dealing with Scientific and Reputational Issues

Quantum neuroscience faces significant scientific and reputational obstacles. Many opponents caution that attempts to link quantum physics to cognition or awareness can easily become pseudoscience. Google appears to understand these difficulties. To reduce this, the challenge's eligibility and evaluation criteria emphasise focused study design, a clear computing connection, and excellent scientific qualifications. Technology or computer projects must be submitted by degree-granting faculty. Submissions will be evaluated on scientific quality, academic excellence, and Google research goals.

Grant Details and Application Process

About $100,000 in grants will be given. If outstanding applicants make a solid case for more money, the company may consider larger grants. These donations will be unrestricted gifts to fund research without institutional overhead.

The Google Quantum Neuroscience Research Challenge accepts applications and reviews them gradually.

A leap into unknown territory

In this video, we’re diving into the fascinating world of biophysics, not just biochemistry. You’ll learn how the carnivore diet impacts the charged particles in your body—the electrons and protons—and why this is crucial for reducing inflammation, slowing biological aging, and increasing your overall energy. Let's explore this video. Stay informed by subscribing to our channel.

The carnivore diet, which consists entirely or almost entirely of animal products, is believed to work through several biophysical mechanisms, primarily involving the reduction of carbohydrates and the resulting impact on metabolism and the gut microbiome. It is often touted for weight loss, improved blood sugar control, and potential benefits for autoimmune conditions by eliminating plant-based antigens and reducing inflammation.

UChicago receives $21 million for a quantum engineering and health facility.

The Berggren Centre

The University of Chicago Berggren Centre for Quantum Biology and Medicine will launch a major research endeavour. On June 5, 2025, philanthropist Thea Berggren contributed £16.7 million ($21 million) to this historic project. In order to change the future of medicine, the centre is well-positioned to create a new discipline that blends biological research with quantum technology.

The Berggren Centre uses quantum engineering to peek into the human body in unprecedented ways. Our goal is to unlock previously unattainable insights into biology and illness to develop groundbreaking new medicines and diagnostics.

“The founding of the Berggren Centre is a testament to a strong belief: that the most profound scientific discoveries often arise when we combine disparate fields in daring new ways,” said University of Chicago president Paul Alivisatos. He added that the center's work could change how we view health and illness by combining medicine and quantum engineering.

The centre will benefit from the University's strengths in clinical care, biomedical research, and quantum science due to its position at the prestigious UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME). UChicago PME dean Nadya Mason stressed the center's role in bringing together academics from different departments to set a new standard for patient care. For her creative approach to human health, she thanked Thea Berggren.

The Berggren Centre was founded to promote a new generation of “bilingual scholars” skilled in quantum physics and medicinal research:

Develop innovative quantum instruments for biomedical applications.

Scientists and engineers, these experts can practically apply quantum advances. The generous grant will fund workshops, fellowships, and conferences for multidisciplinary researchers to build an international quantum biology and medicine community. This pledge includes continuous help and endowment monies for sustainability.

This creative endeavour is already being led by UChicago scholars. Professor Alexander T. Pearson, Assistant Professor Peter Maurer, and Professor Aaron Esser-Kahn of Immunoengineering, for instance, are working together to develop quantum-enabled IDs that can track individual immune cells in real time. Thousands of cells could be monitored at once by this technique, providing fresh perspectives on cancer and inflammation and facilitating more individualised, targeted therapy.

The center’s goal is to make sure that quantum innovations are successfully transferred from the lab bench to the patient’s bedside. Using UChicago Medicine’s capabilities in clinical care and biomedical research, this will be accomplished. To create a workforce that can diagnose and treat diseases in new ways, Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs Mark Anderson says the centre will support cutting-edge educational initiatives, including a quantum pathway for aspiring and practicing physician-scientists.

The Berggren Centre will be co-directed by Julian Solway, a professor of medicine and the founding head of the Institute for Translational Medicine, and Greg Engel, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and at UChicago PME. Engel and Solway have previously worked together through the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Quantum Sensing for Biophysics and Bioengineering (QuBBE), which seeks to create quantum imaging instruments that go beyond the bounds of classical approaches. With a particular emphasis on increasing clinical effect, the new centre will expand on this basis.

“It’s no easy task to integrate quantum physics and medicine, but it leads to tools and discoveries we never imagined possible,” Engel, whose work focusses on novel approaches to monitor, quantify, and manipulate quantum dynamics, said. In order to better human health, he thinks this gift will help bring together two very different scientific cultures. According to Solway, who has devoted his professional life to creating cooperative structures that would speed up medical research, the Berggren Centre is the next step forward in translational science. Quantum physicists, engineers, and physicians are collaborating to develop a new scientific language that could revolutionise our understanding and management of illness.

When Berggren visited the Atacama Desert, the idea for his present came to him. As she talked to astronomers who were motivated by the idea that quantum mechanics might help shape our future knowledge of the universe, she wondered about another possibility: What if the same quantum concepts were used to explain cellular physiology and disease? Berggren identified the University of Chicago as the perfect location to realise this ambition, calling the potential to revolutionise medicine “extraordinary.”

Although biological systems have historically been believed to disturb delicate quantum states in warm, loud settings, new research indicates that biological entities may potentially take advantage of quantum processes. The center’s research will investigate these possibilities in an effort to find new quantum-biological mechanisms that may be altered to provide therapeutic effects.

A worldwide understanding that the intersection of quantum science and health is a crucial area for 21st-century research is in line with the lofty objectives of the Berggren Centre. By fusing basic biological enquiries with quantum-enabled technology, UChicago hopes to empower researchers and clinicians, resulting in more accurate medicines, earlier disease detection, and ultimately, revolutionary patient care.

The Berggren Center’s founding represents a turning point in the fusion of medicine and physics. The centre will host quantum-enabled therapeutic discoveries thanks to inventive philanthropy, cutting-edge expertise, and strong institutional backing. By emphasising multidisciplinary interaction, training, and clinical translation, it establishes a new framework for bringing together scientific fields to address health challenges and ushers in quantum mechanical precision medicine.