Stuart Hameroff
Stuart Hameroff MD is Professor of Anesthesiology and Psychology, and Director of the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona. A clinical anesthesiologist, Hameroff’s academic research for 35 years has focused on how the brain produces consciousness, and how anesthetic gases selectively erase it. In medical school in the early 1970s Hameroff became interested in microtubules and developed a theory of microtubules as self-organizing molecular automata supporting consciousness and other functions inside brain neurons. In 1987 he authored Ultimate Computing: Biomolecular Consciousness and Nanotechnology, a survey of microtubule capabilities and potentials. In the early 1990s Hameroff teamed with British physicist Sir Roger Penrose to develop the controversial Penrose-Hameroff "Orch OR" model of consciousness based on microtubule quantum computation, a theory bolstered by recent discoveries of warm quantum coherence in biology. Hameroff also organizes the conference series Toward a Science of Consciousness, has written and co-edited 4 other books and numerous research articles, and recently developed the ‘conscious pilot’, a theory supportive of Orch OR involving spatiotemporal envelopes of dendritic synchrony moving through the brain as a conscious agent. Hameroff’s research website is http://www.quantumconsciousness.org.
Optimal and robust energy transfer in light-harvesting complexes: a peculiar interplay of quantum coherence and decoherence
Recent advances in 2D electronic spectroscopy have provided direct
evidence for existence of quantum dynamical coherence in
photosynthetic energy transfer at physiological temperature. These
experimental observations lead us to three main questions: How
quantum coherence can persist in such warm and wet conditions? What
is the role of quantum effects in their biological performance? And
how we can exploit similar phenomena for designing artificial
systems for efficient light-harvesting and sensing. In this talk, I
address these questions and demonstrate that an interplay of quantum
coherence with environmental interactions leads to optimal and
robust quantum transport in these biological complexes. The
performance of these systems for transporting excitation energy is
explored under realistic (non-perturbative and non-Markovian)
interactions to their environment. In particular, the effects of
environmental strength, memory, and symmetries on the energy
transfer efficiency is studied. For Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO)
protein of green sulfur bacteria, the natural environmental
parameters lay within an optimal and robust regime of energy
transfer efficiency manifold. Furthermore, I will discuss whether or
not the FMO complex structure is necessary for its performance and
how probable is to randomly evolve into such particular geometry
considering its rich parameter space.
Masoud Mohseni
Dr. Mohseni is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Excitonics at MIT. He has
been conducting research in experimental, theoretical and
computational physics at the interface of quantum optics, quantum information,
quantum control, physical chemistry, and biological physics. He obtained an
M.Sc. in experimental quantum optics in 2003 and a Ph.D in theoretical physics
in 2006 from University of Toronto. He then moved to Harvard University where
he completed a two-year postdoctoral program at the Department of Chemistry and
Chemical Biology. His current research addresses fundamental questions in
quantum physics for understanding and controlling the interaction of light with
mesoscopoic systems with potential applications to quantum transport, sensing,
and imaging in biological environments. In particular, his main research
interests concentrate on understanding and enhancing transport in complex
quantum systems by utilizing the interplay of quantum coherence and
decoherence, designing artificial systems for biosensing and light-harvesting
by harnessing quantum interference effects, and quantum tomography of
nanodevices and biomolecular systems via ultrafast spectroscopy.
Learning from examples using quantum annealing
The ability to learn from examples is a quintessential feature of higher intelligence. Machine learning theory shows how to formulate this task in terms of optimization problems. In their native format learning problems tend to be formally NP-hard. Therefore, in order to arrive at an efficiently solvable learning problem, relaxations need to be made. But recent advances in quantum computing, in particular in adiabatic quantum optimization, have shown how quantum resources can be employed to obtain solutions to hard optimization problems that are of higher quality than available classically. Hence, it is an interesting question whether an advantage can be gained by applying adiabatic quantum optimization to problems arising in learning. In particular we studied non-convex formulations of learning problems arising from non-convex loss functions, Gestalt constraints or L0-norm regularization. We will present results from numerical studies as well as from applying an adiabatic quantum chip manufactured by D-Wave.
Hartmut Neven
Biography
Microtubules – Electric Oscillating Structures in Living Cells
Fröhlich formulated hypothesis of coherent electromagnetic activity in biological systems. The full featured Fröhlich’s system is described by two complementary nonlinear models: the one with spectral energy channeling and energy condensation in the lowest frequency mode, the other with creation of a ferroelectric state and a potential valley for oscillation amplitudes. Electric and electromagnetic oscillations in various biological systems were found in a wide frequency range from acoustic to visible and UV bands but their internal physical mechanisms are rather unclear.
We proved that electromagnetic oscillations at 8 MHz are generated by microtubules in cells (Pokorný et al., Electro- Magnetobiol. 20, 2001, 371). As the greatest activity of living cells is exhibited in the M phase the measurements were performed on synchronous cells in this phase. Cold-sensitive β tubulin mutans tub2-401 and tub2-406 of S. cerevisiae were used. Two types of sensors were designed. A sensor with two evaporated gold strips 400 μm wide with a gap 8 μm between them was prepared on alumina substrate. The other sensor with 7 pairs of gold strips 10 μm wide and gaps from 2 to 10 μm was prepared on silicon substrate. Synchronization was achieved by warming the cell suspension to permissive temperature. Control experiments with empty sensor, sensor with sucrose solution, and with wild yeast cells were used. The periods with great electromagnetic activity coincide with formation of the mitotic spindle, with the processess of late prometaphase and metaphase, anaphase A, and anaphase B. The coincidence was revealed by comparison of electro-magnetic measurement results with immunofluorescence microscopy pictures of the M phase development of the same cells.
Mitochondria and microtubules are “cooperating” structures in living cells. A zone of a strong static electric field and a proton space charge layer around a mitochondrion, and liberation of energy non utilized for ATP and GTP (adenosine and guanosine triphosphate) production may have an impact on cellular order and cellular activity. The mitochondria occupy about 22 % of the cellular volume and their static electric fields and their proton space charge layers are distributed in the rest of the cell. The strong static electric field adjusts nonlinear conditions in the cytoskeleton and together with the proton space charge layer provides a high level ordering of cellular water (the basic ordering of water – the interfacial ordering – depends on surface charges of cellular structures). Mitochondria are aligned along microtubules, whose oscillations are excited by the non utilized energy liberated from mitochondria in a random form. Due to nonlinear mechanism oscillations in microtubules may be converted from random to coherent form. As the mictrotubules are electrically polar, electric (electromagnetic) field is generated.
Due to high level of water ordering damping of microtubule oscillations by the surrounding medium is low. Intrinsic conductivity properties of microtubules are not disturbed and the quality factor of the microtubule oscillator is high. The coherence time of the order of magnitude 0.1 – 1 μs in the frequency range 5 – 15 MHz may be assessed. The microtubule electromagnetic field and its coherence may play a specific role in biological activity and in cancer transformation.
Jiří Pokorný
Ing. Jiří Pokorný, Dr.Sc. was born in Czechoslovakia (Central Europe) in 1932. He graduated at the Czech Technical University, Prague in 1956, then was affiliated with the Inst. Radio Eng. Electronics Acad. Sciences, and completed postgraduate study (CSc) in 1961. He carried out research on electromagnetic theory and wave propagation, and microwave semiconductor devices. From 1982 to 1997 he was affiliated with the Faculty of Math. and Phys., Charles Univ., Prague (research on coherent states in biological systems, their electromagnetic activity and role in cancer transformation). In 1994 he was awarded Doctor of Sciences degree (Dr.Sc.). Since 1997 up to now he has continued in the research in Inst. Photonics and Electronics ASCR (from 2008 emeritus scientist). He is author or coauthor of about 150 scientific papers, and of two monographs (the second - Pokorný J., Wu T.-M. Biophysical Aspects of Coherence and Biological Order. Springer, Academia 1998). Since 1987 he organized 8 international meetings on biophysical (electromagnetic) aspects of biological activity and cancer transformation of cells; the last one in 2008 (Symposium Biophysical Aspects of Cancer – Electromagnetic Mechanisms).
Classical and Quantum Information in DNA
DNA stores and replicates information. Special sequences of different nucleic acids (adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine) encode life's blueprints. These nucleic acids can be divided into a classical part (massive core) and a quantum part (electron shell and single protons). The laws of quantum mechanics map the classical information (A,C,G,T) onto the configuration of electrons and position of single protons. Although DNA replication requires perfect copies of the classical information, the core that constitutes this information does not directly interact with the copying machine. Instead, only the quantum degrees of freedom are measured. Thus successful copying requires a correct translation of classical to quantum to classical information. It has been shown [1] that the electronic system is well shielded from thermal noise. This leads to entanglement inside the DNA helix. It is an open question if this entanglement influences the genetic information processing. In this talk I will discuss possible consequences of entanglement for the information flow and the similarities and differences between classical computing, quantum computing and DNA information processing.
[1] E. Rieper, J. Anders, V. Vedral: The relevance of continuous variable entanglement in DNA, arXiv:1006.4053
Elisabeth Rieper
2007: Diploma thesis in entanglement theory under supervision of Reinhard Werner. Since 2008: PhD studies in 'Quantum Coherence in Biological Systems' at CQT Singapore under supervision of Vlatko Vedral. This includes both finite dimensional entanglement (spin-spin entanglement in the avian compass, arxiv: 0906.3725) as well as infinite dimensional entanglement (phonons in the electronic degrees of freedom in DNA, arxiv: 1006.4053), exploiting correlations for work extraction (The work value of information, arXiv:0908.0424) and complexity theory.
Currently investigating the possible influence of entanglement on the information flow in biological systems.
The quantum mechanics of photosynthetic light harvesting machinery
After a brief discussion about the conditions required for quantum effects to be relevant in biological systems, I will focus on recent advances in our knowledge about the quantum nature of the primary processes in photosynthesis. I will review some of the experimental results and theoretical predictions regarding quantum aspects of the sophisticated molecular machinery behind photosynthesis, including coherent energy transfer and robust quantum entanglement. To conclude I will present a new direction of research that aims to harness the quantum properties of pigment-protein structures to create tunable and versatile light sensors and photovoltaic devices.
Mohan Sarovar
Electrodynamic signaling by the dendritic cytoskeleton: Towards an intracellular information processing model
A model describing information processing pathways in dendrites is proposed based on electrodynamic signaling mediated by the cytoskeleton. Our working hypothesis is that the dendritic cytoskeleton, including both microtubules (MTs) and actin filaments plays an active role in computations affecting neuronal function. These cytoskeletal elements are affected by, and in turn regulate, a key element of neuronal information processing, namely, dendritic ion channel activity. We present a molecular dynamics description of the C-termini protruding from the surface of a MT that reveals the existence of several conformational states, which lead to collective dynamical properties of the neuronal cytoskeleton. Furthermore, these collective states of the C-termini on MTs have a significant effect on ionic condensation and ion cloud propagation with physical similarities to those recently found in actin-filaments and microtubules. We also discuss experimental findings concerning both intrinsic and ionic conductivities of microfilaments and microtubules which strongly support our hypothesis regarding internal processing capabilities in neurons. Our ultimate objective is to provide an integrated view of these phenomena in a bottom-up scheme, demonstrating that ionic wave interactions and propagation along cytoskeletal structures impacts channel functions, and thus neuronal computational capabilities. The issue of quantum versus classical character of these interactions will be discussed.
Jack Tuszynski
Professor Jack Tuszynski received his M.Sc. with distinction in Physics from the University of Poznan (Poland) in 1980. He received his Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics from the University of Calgary in 1983. He did a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Calgary Chemistry Department in 1983. He was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics of the Memorial University of Newfoundland from 1983 to 1988, and at the University of Alberta Physics Department from 1988 to 1990, an Associate Professor from 1990 to 1993 and a Full Professor since 1993. He joined the Division of Experimental Oncology within the Cross Cancer Institute as the Allard Chair in 2005. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Physics, Journal of Biophysics and Structural Biology (JBSB), Quantum Biosystems, Research Letters in Physics, Water: a Multidisciplinary Research Journal and Interdisciplinary Sciences-Computational Life Sciences. He is an Associate Editor of The Frontiers Collection, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg.
A Quantum of Solace: molecular electronics of benzodiazepines
Benzodiazepines and related drugs modulate the activity of GABA-A receptors, the main inhibitory receptor of the central nervous system. The prevailing view is that these drugs bind at the interface between two receptor subunits and allosterically modulate the response to GABA. In this talk I shall present evidence that benzodiazepines work instead by facilitating electron transport from the cytoplasm to a crucial redox-sensitive group in the gamma subunit. If this idea is correct, benzodiazepines should not only be regarded as keys fitting into a lock, but also as one-electron chemical field-effect transistors fitting into an electronic circuit.
Luca Turin
