Article | October 24, 2024

The Quantum Future Of Biosensing

Quantum biosensing is on the cusp of a breakthrough. While practical quantum computing applications remain far away, quantum biosensing applications with real-world impact in areas like immunotherapy and diagnostics are near at hand.

Traditionally, quantum behavior is studied and used in conditions hostile to biological processes. Researchers slow all activity via a temperature drop to within the millikelvin range, very close to absolute zero. However, most quantum biosensing applications must work within biologically relevant temperatures, facilitating the naturally occurring, constant interactions within the biological system.

Under these conditions, the biological mess bombards the sensor with loads of information and noise. Maintaining the sensor’s coherence in such a noisy environment is one of quantum biosensing’s key challenges. The other is isolating or interpreting signals, distinguishing noise from what operators want to measure.

Still, many successful proof-of-concept experiments have been published, detailing the observation of single-molecule-level events and organism-level processes at room temperature. The immediate next steps should focus on applying this exciting work to relevant biological questions.

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