Cleveland Clinic, IBM to lead new quantum computing for health projects
The Wellcome Trust has selected the Cleveland Clinic-IBM Discovery Accelerator to develop proof-of-concept demonstrations of quantum computing for biological and health applications through the Wellcome Leap Quantum for Bio Challenge.
WHY IT MATTERS
Wellcome Leap’s Q4Bio, a US-based non-profit organization that aims to accelerate and increase the number of breakthroughs in global healthcare, aims to co-develop health applications that demonstrate the benefits of using quantum computing and are expected to develop in the coming years to appear. three to five years.
In addition to an award of up to $40 million to fund two projects focused on disease manifestation and the use of quantum physics to prevent and treat cancer, the team may receive $10 million in challenge prizes for successful, scalable technologies and approaches.
According to Wednesday’s announcement, Cleveland Clinic and IBM installed the first quantum system for healthcare research on the main campus earlier this year.
Since Cleveland Clinic and IBM announced their intention in 2021 to advance biomedical research through high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and quantum computing, Cleveland Clinic-IBM Discovery Accelerator researchers have been working on a portfolio of projects that generate large amounts of data and analyze quickly. data for a wide range of disease-oriented research.
The deployment of the quantum system was an important milestone in the organizations’ ten-year collaboration, Cleveland Clinic and IBM said.
For Q4Bio, the accelerator will focus on predicting protein conformation with quantum computing, which could lead to new insights into how proteins function and interact with other molecules to better understand disease manifestation and develop more effective, targeted therapies.
The team will work on developing quantum algorithms and workflows to investigate how they can help create universal, scalable methods to predict protein structures more accurately and faster.
For the second project, Algorithmiq joins collaborators to create a series of computational tools that aim to explore how quantum computers can help develop photon-activated cancer drugs.
The quantum computing for photon-drug interactions in cancer prevention and treatment will leverage Algorithmiq’s drug discovery platform, Aurora, which leverages IBM’s quantum hardware, and Cleveland Clinic’s experience in developing drug applications.
THE BIG TREND
Quantum computing can boost healthcare data analysis, benefiting medical imaging, pathology and more.
“This technology holds tremendous promise in revolutionizing healthcare and accelerating progress toward new care, cures and solutions for patients,” said Dr. Tom Mihaljevic, CEO of Cleveland Clinic, in a statement announcing the healthcare system’s deployment of IBM Quantum System One.
“Quantum and other advanced computing technologies will help researchers address historic scientific bottlenecks and potentially find new treatments for patients with diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes,” he added.
The using quantum physics to help destroy cancer cells A Kyoto University study announced in 2021 used X-rays on tumor tissue containing iodine-containing nanoparticles, causing the death of cancer cells within three days.
At the time, researchers said they were able to produce a quantum physics phenomenon in a cancer cell by generating low-energy electrons close to the DNA and causing difficult-to-repair damage, ultimately leading to programmed cell death.
ON THE RECORD
Then the IBM supercomputer was used for the first time At the Cleveland Clinic last March, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna noted how Quantum System One would allow researchers to “explore and uncover new scientific advances in biomedical research. By combining the power of quantum computing, artificial intelligence and other next-generation technologies with Cleveland Clinic’s world-renowned leadership in healthcare and the life sciences, we hope to unleash a new era of accelerated discovery.”
Andrea Fox is editor-in-chief of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.