The University of Copenhagen mathematicians have developed a recipe for upgrading quantum computers to simulate complex quantum systems, such as molecules. By doing so, they are moving closer to being able to predict how new drugs will behave within the human body, potentially revolutionizing pharmaceutical development. This breakthrough has the potential to accelerate the drug development process, which can currently take more than a decade and cost billions of euros, by allowing researchers to predict drug behavior before laboratory trials.
Drugs are composed of molecules, which consist of atoms that behave in a quantum mechanical manner. In order to accurately mimic their behavior, a quantum computer is needed. Traditional computers, regardless of size, cannot handle the vast amount of information required for this task with the same precision. This is where quantum simulators, a type of specialized quantum computer, come into play. A team at the University of Copenhagen has been researching how quantum simulators can be used to simulate and predict the behavior of molecules.
One of the major challenges faced by quantum computer researchers is the size limitation of current quantum computers. They can only simulate a few atoms, while complex molecules in drugs contain millions of atoms. The Mathematics for Life team at the University of Copenhagen has made progress in overcoming this challenge by developing a mathematical recipe to improve quantum simulator programming. This recipe allows for more computing power to be extracted from a simulator of the same size, enabling more complex tasks to be solved.
The research paper’s first author, Dylan Harley, explains that quantum simulators consist of both hardware and software, with the new method focusing on improving the software side. The algorithm introduced by the team introduces controlled noise among the particles being simulated to ensure that the simulation does not stall but continues as desired. This approach is not limited to any specific type of quantum hardware and can be applied to various technologies, including atoms, ions, and superconducting qubits.
Matthias Christandl, professor of quantum theory at the University of Copenhagen, believes that quantum technology is essential for developing new and improved medicines in the future. The ability to effectively scale quantum simulators is crucial for their practical use in pharmaceutical development. The team’s recipe for scaling quantum software has the potential to revolutionize pharmaceutical development by allowing researchers to simulate how a new drug will behave in the human body before conducting any experiments. This could significantly accelerate the time it takes for drugs to reach patients.
The next step for the researchers is to test their mathematical recipe on quantum hardware. If successful, this could pave the way for a new era of drug development where predictions of drug behavior in the body can be made with unprecedented accuracy and speed. The ability to predict the impact of new drugs before clinical trials could have far-reaching implications for the pharmaceutical industry, ultimately benefiting patients worldwide.