This is particularly the case in the area of drug design, where it is important to compute the properties of biomolecules and their interactions, explains Christandl.

“Molecular structures and interactions are ruled by the electrons involved, which can only be described accurately by quantum mechanics. The mantra “Quantum simulates Quantum” is what drives the promise of quantum computing to molecular sciences – and what differentiates that field of application from other fields,” he says.

Cultivating interdisciplinary research

The Quantum for Life Centre, established in 2020, is a cross-disciplinary research center funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The goal of the center is to develop strategies for the quantum simulation of biomolecules, and to show proof-of-principle demonstrations of their main functioning on atom-based experimental platforms, including the center’s own quantum simulator. 

“In the future, this might lead to faster development of new drugs and speed up the computationally demanding tasks of analyzing and interpreting large amounts of biological data,” says Christandl.

Matthias Christandl, Leader, Quantum for Life Centre. Photo: Nikolai Linares

The four different teams at the center combine research in quantum physics, mathematics, chemistry, and data science, and this mix has resulted in several exciting projects and research results. As an example, the newest publication (Harley et al., Nature Communications, August 2024) shows that new mathematical frameworks and ideas, such as controlled energy loss, can overcome challenges in scalability for analogue quantum simulators and thus bring us closer to practical, large-scale quantum simulations.

“Gathering so many excellent researchers in our center and cultivating interdisciplinary research has also helped other exciting projects, such as participating in the global cross-disciplinary competition, Quantum for Bio, funded by Wellcome Leap,” says Christandl.

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The perfect location

Being located in Copenhagen has several advantages, says Christandl, “Denmark has a fantastic research environment for both quantum computing research and in life sciences. For our research, that combines both areas, Denmark and Copenhagen are thus the perfect location.”

Denmark has a fantastic research environment for both quantum computing research and in life sciences.

“In addition to our theoretical quantum research within my own team and our experimental work at the Niels Bohr Institute, we are working with computer scientists in Copenhagen and quantum chemists from ETH Zürich. We also collaborate closely with researchers from Copenhagen University’s Quantum Hub, an interdisciplinary initiative linking quantum computing researchers across the entire university, including for instance the Faculty of Health Sciences,” he adds.

Many say that we are at a tipping point in quantum computing and the Nordic region, especially Denmark, already has a very strong position in quantum computing research, both on the quantum software side (e.g. QMATH) and the quantum hardware side (e.g. Niels Bohr Institute, DTU). 

“The new Master’s education program in quantum information science run jointly by the University of Copenhagen and DTU is another example of this,” says Christandl. 

“To maintain this strong position, investment in both quantum hardware and quantum software research is essential, in particular regarding the foundational aspects of the field as many fundamental aspects of quantum information remain to be discovered,” he concludes. 

Facts Quantum computing

Quantum computing is built on quantum bits, qubits, which can store zeros and ones. Qubits can represent any combination of both zero and one simultaneously and this is called a superposition. When classical computers solve a problem with multiple variables they have to conduct a new calculation every time a variable changes. Quantum computers, however, have a larger working space, which means they can explore a massive number of paths simultaneously. Consequently, quantum computers can be much faster and perform several tasks much more efficiently than classical computers.

Source: McKinsey & Company