Research News

Wellcome Leap has selected Cleveland Clinic to lead a quantum computing research project while supporting another project led by Algorithmiq – both in collaboration with IBM Quantum.

The winning projects were selected as part of Wellcome Leap's Quantum for Bio Challenge, which will award up to $40 million to 12 researchers globally for research aimed at accelerating applications of quantum computing in healthcare. Wellcome Leap is a U.S.- based non-profit organization founded by the Wellcome Trust to accelerate and increase the number of breakthroughs in global health.

This collaboration is possible through the Discovery Accelerator, a 10-year partnership between Cleveland Clinic and IBM that utilizes Cleveland Clinic's research and clinical expertise and IBM's global leadership in computing technologies. Together, they have launched more than 30 projects spanning drug discovery, quantum computing and digital health. 

Wellcome Leap's Supported Challenge Program in Quantum for Bio is focused on identifying, developing, and demonstrating biology and healthcare applications that will benefit from the use of quantum computers expected to emerge in the next 3-5 years. Up to $40 million in research funding will be awarded to the selected teams and up to $10 million in challenge prizes will be available at the end of the program for successful proof-of-concept demonstrations on quantum devices with a clear path to scaling to large quantum computers. 

Through the Discovery Accelerator partnership, IBM and Cleveland Clinic teams will collaborate closely on one project, and with Algorithmiq on a second project.

Project Information

Protein Conformation Prediction with Quantum Computing 

Principal Investigator: Daniel Blankenberg, PhD (Quantum Computing Lead, Discovery Accelerator)

Co-Principal Investigator Jun Qin (Staff, Cardiovascular & Metabolic Sciences, Lerner Research Institute; Bonnie and Eunice Collins Endowed Chair for Innovative Diabetes Research)

In collaboration with members of the IBM Quantum team, Cleveland Clinic will work to develop quantum algorithms and workflows to explore how they could contribute to the creation of universal, scalable methods for predicting protein structures more accurately and quickly. This research could lead to new insights into how proteins function and interact with other molecules to better understand the manifestation of diseases and develop more effective, targeted therapies.

Quantum Computing for Photon-Drug Interactions in Cancer Prevention and Cancer Treatment

Co-Principal Investigator Vijay Krishna, PhD (Assistant Staff, Biomedical Engineering, Lerner Research Institute)

In collaboration with IBM Quantum and Cleveland Clinic, the Algorithmiq team will create a set of computational tools that aims to explore how quantum computing could assist in the development of photon-activated drugs for cancer. The project team will leverage Algorithmiq's drug discovery platform, Aurora, which uses IBM's quantum hardware, and Cleveland Clinic's extensive experience in bringing relevant drug applications suitable for demonstrating quantum advantage.

For more information and media contacts: This story was originally published on the Cleveland Clinic Newsroom.