Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2020
Volume 65, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 2–6, 2020; Denver, Colorado
Session G18: Quantum Biology: Beyond PhotosynthesisInvited
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Sponsoring Units: GSNP Chair: Clarice Aiello, University of California, Los Angeles Room: 205 |
Tuesday, March 3, 2020 11:15AM - 11:51AM |
G18.00001: Quantum Biology: From Theoretical Principles to Methods of Verification Invited Speaker: Martin Plenio With the improvement of experimental technique, recent years has seen the emergence of the field of quantum biology that unfolds at the interface of the quantum and the life sciences. This field examines several broad lines of development. First, it aims to explore the possible role of quantum dynamics in fundamental processes of life and has led theory to the discovery of a range of underlying principles that may support such processes, notably, the highly non-trivial interplay of quantum coherence and environmental noise. Secondly, the need for experimental verification of such phenomena provides new impetus to the development of quantum technologies that enable the observation of biological phenomena in hitherto unachieved detail making use for example of ultrafast laser spectroscopy but potentially also quantum sensors such as the NV-center in diamond. Thirdly, biological systems themselves may enable the realisation of new sensor functionalities that make use of the newly discovered theoretical principles such as the interplay of quantum coherent dynamics and noise. In this talk I will present key aspects of these three lines of development. |
Tuesday, March 3, 2020 11:51AM - 12:27PM |
G18.00002: New horizons in quantum biology: Plasmon, exciton, and phonon correlations in complex biomolecular systems Invited Speaker: Philip Kurian The emergence of supramolecular complexes, biological polymers, and hybrid quantum information processing assemblies from fundamental constituents and interactions involves a delicate interplay between forces of disorder (chaos) and order (logos). Quantum behaviors including electron dispersion, superradiance, and optical-to-phonon transduction have risen to the surface of our nano-, meso-, and macro-scopic perception within the open systems of biology. Extended, many-body van der Waals effects are implicated in the uncanny ability of certain enzymes to synchronize catalysis, and ultraviolet photoexcitations in large (L >> λ), highly symmetrical aggregates reveal collective, cooperative, and coherent properties that are within observational reach (few-picosecond) of ultrafast spectroscopy experiments. Intriguingly, the aqueous environment--matrix of life--challenges purely Brownian descriptions and conspires with biomatter in the precise spatiotemporal orchestration of diverse processes within the living organism. The tantalizing possibility that such ubiquitous quantum phenomena in biology can be exploited in vivo would herald a new era for diagnostic and therapeutic applications in medicine, particularly in complex neurodegenerative diseases without clear biochemical targets. |
Tuesday, March 3, 2020 12:27PM - 1:03PM |
G18.00003: The electron's spin and chirality, the source for quantum effects in biology Invited Speaker: Ron Naaman While the charge of the electron is known to play a major role in biological processes, and charge transfer was investigated extensively, it is usually assumed that the electron’s spin does not play any important role. We found that chiral organic molecules can act as spin filters in electron transfer. The new effect, termed Chiral Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS), was found, among others, in bio-molecules and in bio-systems. |
Tuesday, March 3, 2020 1:03PM - 1:39PM |
G18.00004: Proton and electron tunneling effects in enzymes Invited Speaker: Adam Offenbacher Accumulating evidence supports the quantum mechanical treatment of both electron and proton transfer associated with homolytic C-H bond cleavage reactions catalyzed by natural enzymes. These reactions are quantified and characterized by inflated kinetic isotope effects corresponding to the primary bond cleaved and the corresponding differential enthalpic barrier for the transfer of hydrogen and its heavy isotopes. Herein, select examples will be presented that demonstrate the quantum behavior in enzyme catalysis and highlight how these kinetic tools can be applied to resolve the origins of enzyme reactions. |
Tuesday, March 3, 2020 1:39PM - 2:15PM |
G18.00005: Quantum-Based magnetic sensing: How can birds detect 10 nT magnetic fields? Invited Speaker: Thorsten Ritz Migratory birds and other animals can navigate thousands of miles to find their destinations. In this they are aided by a “sixth sense”, i.e. the ability to detect the geomagnetic field. Growing evidence indicates that the threshold of the biological magnetic sensor is on the order of 10 nT. This poses a major challenge for physicists since no mechanism can currently explain how such sensitivity can be realized in a concrete biomolecular system. Light-induced radical-pair reactions can be sensitive to earth-strength magnetic fields and thus may form the basis for the long-sought after magnetic sensors. If this hypothesis was proven, it would be a dramatic demonstration of the use of coherent quantum mechanics to establish biological functionality. We will review the current theoretical questions regarding this mechanism, such as how to design a particularly sensitive receptor system, the role of noise, symmetries and dealing with decoherence before turning to experimental evidence for this hypothesis. We will present a roadmap of key steps that will ultimately enable us to prove or disprove the now nearly twenty year old suggestion that cryptochromes may be the magnetoreceptor molecule and the even older suggestion of a radical-pair mechanism underlying magnetic sensing. |
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