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Quantum computing at the frontiers of biological sciences

Nature Methods volume 18, pages 701–709 (2021)Cite this article

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Computing plays a critical role in the biological sciences but faces increasing challenges of scale and complexity. Quantum computing, a computational paradigm exploiting the unique properties of quantum mechanical analogs of classical bits, seeks to address many of these challenges. We discuss the potential for quantum computing to aid in the merging of insights across different areas of biological sciences.

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Fig. 1: Concepts in quantum computing.
Fig. 2: Complexity of linking levels of analyses from genetics to human behavior.

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Acknowledgements

This work is a product of discussions initiated during a NIMH-convened virtual workshop, addressing computational challenges in genomics and neuroscience via massively parallel computing and QC (https://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/events/2018/virtual-workshop-solving-computational-challenges-in-genomics-and-neuroscience-via-parallel-and-quantum-computing.shtml). We would also like to acknowledge the help and support of Lora Bingaman of the NIMH in overseeing the administration of this collaboration. M.B.G. acknowledges the support of NIH grant MH116492-03S1.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Thomas Lehner

    Present address: Neuropsychiatric Disease Genomics, New York Genome Center, New York, NY, USA

  2. These authors contributed equally: Prashant S. Emani, Jonathan Warrell.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Prashant S. Emani, Jonathan Warrell & Mark B. Gerstein

  2. Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Prashant S. Emani, Jonathan Warrell & Mark B. Gerstein

  3. Yale School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, New Haven, CT, USA

    Alan Anticevic

  4. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Stefan Bekiranov

  5. Department of Psychiatry, Semel Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California–Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Michael Gandal

  6. Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Michael J. McConnell

  7. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Guillermo Sapiro

  8. Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Alán Aspuru-Guzik

  9. Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Artificial Intelligence Research Chair, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Alán Aspuru-Guzik

  10. Vector Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Alán Aspuru-Guzik

  11. Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Alán Aspuru-Guzik

  12. Institute for Technology in Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA

    Justin T. Baker

  13. Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Justin T. Baker

  14. Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

    Matteo Bastiani & Stamatios N. Sotiropoulos

  15. Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB Centre, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK

    Matteo Bastiani

  16. Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    John D. Murray

  17. Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    John D. Murray

  18. NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK

    Stamatios N. Sotiropoulos

  19. Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Jacob Taylor

  20. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA

    Jacob Taylor

  21. New York Genome Center, New York, NY, USA

    Geetha Senthil & Thomas Lehner

  22. National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Thomas Lehner

  23. Department of Computer Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Mark B. Gerstein

  24. Department of Statistics and Data Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Mark B. Gerstein

  25. Center for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Aram W. Harrow

Authors
  1. Prashant S. Emani
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  2. Jonathan Warrell
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Contributions

All authors contributed to discussions on the design of the manuscript. G. Senthil and T.L. led the NIMH workshop and subsequent discussions. P.S.E., J.W., A.A., S.B., M.G., M.J.M., J.T.B., M.B.G. and A.W.H wrote the manuscript. P.S.E., J.W., A.A., S.B., M.G., M.J.M., G. Sapiro, A.A.-G., J.D.M., J.T.B., M.B., S.N.S., G. Senthil, T.L., M.B.G. and A.W.H edited the manuscript. A.W.H. and S.B. contributed to the “Classical versus quantum circuits: state of the art” section. P.S.E., J.W., S.B., M.G., M.J.M., M.B.G. contributed content to the “Sequence analysis,” “Genetics,” “Functional genomics” and “Integration across disciplines” subsections, and A.A., G. Sapiro, J.T.B., J.W. and J.M. to the “Mapping neurobehavioral variation via neuroimaging and deep phenotyping” subsection. S.B. contributed to the Epilogue section.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Thomas Lehner, Mark B. Gerstein or Aram W. Harrow.

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Competing interests

A.A. serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of, consults for, has received grants from, and holds equity in BlackThorn Therapeutics. G. Sapiro consulted for Apple, Volvo, Restore3D and SIS, and has received speaking fees from Johnson & Johnson. J.T.B. has received consulting fees from BlackThorn Therapeutics, Niraxx Therapeutics, Verily Life Sciences, AbleTo Inc. and Pear Therapeutics, and has received consulting fees and equity from Mindstrong Inc. J.D.M. consults for, has received grants from, and holds equity in BlackThorn Therapeutics. A.W.H. has recently joined the Scientific Advisory Board of Zapata Computing, from which he expects income and equity.

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Emani, P.S., Warrell, J., Anticevic, A. et al. Quantum computing at the frontiers of biological sciences. Nat Methods 18, 701–709 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-020-01004-3

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