The Possibility of Quantum Medicine in Cancer Research: A Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Mahsa Faramarzpour ◽  
Mohammadreza Ghaderinia ◽  
Hamed Abadijoo ◽  
Hossein Aghababa

There is no doubt that quantum mechanics has become one of the building blocks of our physical world today. It is one of the most rapidly growing fields of science that can potentially change every aspect of our life. Quantum biology is one of the most essential parts of this era which can be considered as a game-changer in medicine especially in the field of cancer. Despite quantum biology having gained more attention during the last decades, there are still so many unanswered questions concerning cancer biology and so many unpaved roads in this regard. This review paper is an effort to answer the question of how biological phenomena such as cancer can be described through the quantum mechanical framework. In other words, is there a correlation between cancer biology and quantum mechanics, and how? This literature review paper reports on the recently published researches based on the principles of quantum physics with focus on cancer biology and metabolism.

Author(s):  
Johnjoe McFadden ◽  
Jim Al-Khalili

Quantum biology is usually considered to be a new discipline, arising from recent research that suggests that biological phenomena such as photosynthesis, enzyme catalysis, avian navigation or olfaction may not only operate within the bounds of classical physics but also make use of a number of the non-trivial features of quantum mechanics, such as coherence, tunnelling and, perhaps, entanglement. However, although the most significant findings have emerged in the past two decades, the roots of quantum biology go much deeper—to the quantum pioneers of the early twentieth century. We will argue that some of the insights provided by these pioneering physicists remain relevant to our understanding of quantum biology today.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-126
Author(s):  
Youngchan Kim ◽  
Federico Bertagna ◽  
Edeline M. D’Souza ◽  
Derren J. Heyes ◽  
Linus O. Johannissen ◽  
...  

Understanding the rules of life is one of the most important scientific endeavours and has revolutionised both biology and biotechnology. Remarkable advances in observation techniques allow us to investigate a broad range of complex and dynamic biological processes in which living systems could exploit quantum behaviour to enhance and regulate biological functions. Recent evidence suggests that these non-trivial quantum mechanical effects may play a crucial role in maintaining the non-equilibrium state of biomolecular systems. Quantum biology is the study of such quantum aspects of living systems. In this review, we summarise the latest progress in quantum biology, including the areas of enzyme-catalysed reactions, photosynthesis, spin-dependent reactions, DNA, fluorescent proteins, and ion channels. Many of these results are expected to be fundamental building blocks towards understanding the rules of life.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Michael Snyder

A straightforward explanation of fundamental tenets of quantum mechanics concerning the wave function results in the thesis that the quantum mechanical wave function is a link between human cognition and the physical world. The reticence on the part of physicists to adopt this thesis is discussed. A comparison is made to the behaviorists’ consideration of mind, and the historical roots of how the problem concerning the quantum mechanical wave function arose are discussed. The basis for an empirical demonstration that the wave function is a link between human cognition and the physical world is provided through developing an experiment using methodology from psychology and physics. Based on research in psychology and physics that relied on this methodology, it is likely that Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen’s theoretical result that mutually exclusive wave functions can simultaneously apply to the same concrete physical circumstances can be implemented on an empirical level. Original article in The Journal of Mind and Behavior is on JSTOR at https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/43853678.pdf?seq=1 . Preprint on CERN preprint server at https://cds.cern.ch/record/569426 .


Author(s):  
Duncan G. Steel

This is an introduction to the field, providing a brief discussion of why quantum physics is creating new opportunities in modern technology. Quantum has always been a part of the discussion on the behavior of semiconductors for transistors. But the measurements were on classical parameters. Now measurements are being made on quantum mechanical observables. This means that one of the most important features of quantum mechanics, namely the principle of superposition can be used to create entirely new devices. It is the principle of superposition, where a switch can be on and off at the same in a quantum system, that leads to amazing results of quantum entanglement of observables. The chapter sets the stage for the student to learn that the usual way of thinking about things in the classical world, such as the charge on a capacitor as a function of time, is no longer viable in a quantum system.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Horton ◽  
Alice Allen ◽  
Daniel Cole

<div><div><div><p>The quantum mechanical bespoke (QUBE) force field is used to retrospectively calculate the relative binding free energy of a series of 17 flexible inhibitors of p38α MAP kinase. The size and flexibility of the chosen molecules represent a stringent test of the derivation of force field parameters from quantum mechanics, and enhanced sampling is required to reduce the dependence of the results on the starting structure. Competitive accuracy with a widely-used biological force field is achieved, indicating that quantum mechanics derived force fields are approaching the accuracy required to provide guidance in prospective drug discovery campaigns.</p></div></div></div>


Author(s):  
Dan Bodoh ◽  
Anthony Blakely ◽  
Terry Garyet

Abstract Since failure analysis (FA) tools originated in the design-for-test (DFT) realm, most have abstractions that reflect a designer's viewpoint. These abstractions prevent easy application of diagnosis results in the physical world of the FA lab. This article presents a fault diagnosis system, DFS/FA, which bridges the DFT and FA worlds. First, it describes the motivation for building DFS/FA and how it is an improvement over off-the-shelf tools and explains the DFS/FA building blocks on which the diagnosis tool depends. The article then discusses the diagnosis algorithm in detail and provides an overview of some of the supporting tools that make DFS/FA a complete solution for FA. It also presents a FA example where DFS/FA has been applied. The example demonstrates how the consideration of physical proximity improves the accuracy without sacrificing precision.


Author(s):  
Anindo Bhattacharjee

The romanticism of management for numbers, metrics and deterministic models driven by mathematics, is not new. It still exists. This is exactly the problem which classical physicists had in the late 19th century until Werner Heisenberg brought the uncertainty principle and opened the doors of quantum physics that challenged the deterministic view of the physical world mostly driven by the Newtonian view. In this paper, we propose an uncertainty principle of management and then list a set of factors which capture this uncertainty quite well and arrive at a new view of scientific management thought. The new view which we call as the Quantum view of Management (QVM) will be based on the major tenets from the ancient philosophical traditions viz., Jainism, Taoism, Advaita Vedanta, Buddhism, Greek philosophers (like Hereclitus) etc.


Author(s):  
Nicholas Manton ◽  
Nicholas Mee

The book is an inspirational survey of fundamental physics, emphasizing the use of variational principles. Chapter 1 presents introductory ideas, including the principle of least action, vectors and partial differentiation. Chapter 2 covers Newtonian dynamics and the motion of mutually gravitating bodies. Chapter 3 is about electromagnetic fields as described by Maxwell’s equations. Chapter 4 is about special relativity, which unifies space and time into 4-dimensional spacetime. Chapter 5 introduces the mathematics of curved space, leading to Chapter 6 covering general relativity and its remarkable consequences, such as the existence of black holes. Chapters 7 and 8 present quantum mechanics, essential for understanding atomic-scale phenomena. Chapter 9 uses quantum mechanics to explain the fundamental principles of chemistry and solid state physics. Chapter 10 is about thermodynamics, which is built around the concepts of temperature and entropy. Various applications are discussed, including the analysis of black body radiation that led to the quantum revolution. Chapter 11 surveys the atomic nucleus, its properties and applications. Chapter 12 explores particle physics, the Standard Model and the Higgs mechanism, with a short introduction to quantum field theory. Chapter 13 is about the structure and evolution of stars and brings together material from many of the earlier chapters. Chapter 14 on cosmology describes the structure and evolution of the universe as a whole. Finally, Chapter 15 discusses remaining problems at the frontiers of physics, such as the interpretation of quantum mechanics, and the ultimate nature of particles. Some speculative ideas are explored, such as supersymmetry, solitons and string theory.


1998 ◽  
Vol 13 (05) ◽  
pp. 347-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
MURAT ÖZER

We attempt to treat the very early Universe according to quantum mechanics. Identifying the scale factor of the Universe with the width of the wave packet associated with it, we show that there cannot be an initial singularity and that the Universe expands. Invoking the correspondence principle, we obtain the scale factor of the Universe and demonstrate that the causality problem of the standard model is solved.


Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Ghmkin Hassan ◽  
Said M. Afify ◽  
Shiro Kitano ◽  
Akimasa Seno ◽  
Hiroko Ishii ◽  
...  

Defined by its potential for self-renewal, differentiation and tumorigenicity, cancer stem cells (CSCs) are considered responsible for drug resistance and relapse. To understand the behavior of CSC, the effects of the microenvironment in each tissue are a matter of great concerns for scientists in cancer biology. However, there are many complicated obstacles in the mimicking the microenvironment of CSCs even with current advanced technology. In this context, novel biomaterials have widely been assessed as in vitro platforms for their ability to mimic cancer microenvironment. These efforts should be successful to identify and characterize various CSCs specific in each type of cancer. Therefore, extracellular matrix scaffolds made of biomaterial will modulate the interactions and facilitate the investigation of CSC associated with biological phenomena simplifying the complexity of the microenvironment. In this review, we summarize latest advances in biomaterial scaffolds, which are exploited to mimic CSC microenvironment, and their chemical and biological requirements with discussion. The discussion includes the possible effects on both cells in tumors and microenvironment to propose what the critical factors are in controlling the CSC microenvironment focusing the future investigation. Our insights on their availability in drug screening will also follow the discussion.


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