Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Quantum computing for oncology

As quantum technology advances, it holds immense potential to accelerate oncology discovery through enhanced molecular modeling, genomic analysis, medical imaging, and quantum sensing.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Evolution of quantum computing capabilities and potential.
Fig. 2: Qubit characteristics.

References

  1. Vedral, V. & Plenio, M. B. Prog. Quantum Electron. 22, 1–39 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Ding, Y. & Chong, F. T. Quantum computer systems: Research for noisy intermediate-scale quantum computers (Springer Nature, 2022).

  3. Biamonte, J. et al. Nature 549, 195–202 (2017).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Ollitrault, P. J., Miessen, A. & Tavernelli, I. Acc. Chem. Res. 54, 4229–4238 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Outeiral, C. et al. WIREs Comput. Mol. Sci. 11, e1481 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Santagati, R. et al. Nat. Phys. 20, 549–557 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Vakili, M. G. et al. Preprint at arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2402.08210 (2024).

  8. Gao, X., Anschuetz, E. R., Wang, S.-T., Cirac, J. I. & Lukin, M. D. Phys. Rev. X 12, 021037 (2022).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Emani, P. S. et al. Nat. Methods 18, 701–709 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Kiani, B. T., Villanyi, A. & Lloyd, S. Preprint at arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2004.02036 (2020).

  11. Wei, L. et al. Neurocomputing 525, 42–53 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Huang, H.-Y. et al. Science 376, 1182–1186 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Aslam, N. et al. Nat. Rev. Phys. 5, 157–169 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Holmes, A. et al. In Proc. 2020 ACM/IEEE 47th Annual International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA) 556–569 (IEEE, 2020).

  15. IBM. Pricing: Access quantum computing. IBM Quantum https://www.ibm.com/quantum/pricing (2024).

Download references

Acknowledgements

Work on this manuscript is supported by Wellcome Leap as part of the Quantum for Bio Program and by philanthropic support from T. Wehmeier.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Frederic T. Chong or Alexander T. Pearson.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

F.T.C. and T.T. are employees of Infleqtion. F.T.C. is Chief Scientist for Quantum Software at Infleqtion and an advisor to Quantum Circuits, Inc. The other authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ramesh, S., Tomesh, T., Riesenfeld, S.J. et al. Quantum computing for oncology. Nat Cancer (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-024-00770-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-024-00770-9

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Cancer

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Cancer newsletter — what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Cancer