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Quantum Phenomena and Biology
Bogota 15 May 2013
FACT OR FICTION?
“Quantum biology is a speculative and interdisciplinary field that seeks to link quantum
physics and the life sciences”
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro
http://www.energetic-medicine.net/quantum-biology.html
FACT OR FICTION?
“Quantum biology is a speculative and interdisciplinary field that seeks to link quantum
physics and the life sciences”
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro
Quantum in Biology:
Physics of biomolecules and the relevance of these properties for biological function
biochemistry and molecular biology
meets quantitative laws of quantum physics
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro
Figure taken from Lambert et al Nature Physics, 9 10-18 (2013)
Biological processes of interest
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro
Biomolecules
Light-Harvesting Antenna Bacterial reaction centre
Odour receptor
Cryptochrome
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro
nano-scale system
Quantum phenomena
Superposition of collective electronic states?
Inelastic electron tunnelling?
Quantum correlated radical-pairs?
Relating quantum phenomena to biomolecular function
cryptochrome Odor receptor LH antennae
nano-scale process Energy transport Molecular sensing Magnetic sensing
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro
FACT OR FICTION?
“Beard-Einstein conflation is a fundamental theory underlying high-efficient energy transfer in photosynthesis”
Solar: Ian McEwan
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro
electronic degrees of freedom
photo-induced process
environment
“Observable” system
“Measurement”
Open quantum system description
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro
System: collective electronic excitations
Environment: pigment vibrations, protein vibrations, low-energy solvent modes, etc. Generally described as (quantum or classical) “springs”.
Measurement: linear and non-linear spectroscopy
Example: light-harvesting antenna
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro
Protein
Pigments
Water
b+1
V
Collective electronic excitation states
X (EX) Y (EY)
Example: Two-pigments
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro
PXX PXY
PYX PYY
PXX 0
0 PYY
Quantum regime
Classical regime
diagonal=probabilities
off-diagonal=coherencias
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro
High-light
Low-light
B850 nm B820 nm
B800 nm
Acclimation of quantum properties
heterogeneous ab subunits
Gene expression controls some quantum properties
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro
Courtesy of Gregory D Scholes
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro
Evidence of quantum superpositions during dynamics
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro
Quantum Coherence in Biology: facts, fiction and challenges Alexandra Olaya-Castro
Example: Symmetry-tuning of transfer efficiencies
F. Fassioli, A. Nazir and A.Olaya-Castr, JPCL 1, 2139 (2010)
nano-scale system
Quantum phenomena
Superposition of collective electronic states?
Inelastic electron tunnelling?
Quantum correlated radical-pairs?
Relating quantum phenomena to biomolecular function
cryptochrome Odor receptor LH antennae
nano-scale process Energy transport Molecular sensing Magnetic sensing
Scientific challenge: Does this matter for biology
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro
Francesca Fassioli (PDRA)
Hoda Nejad (PDRA)
Ahsan Nazir (IC)
Greg Scholes (UT) James Sturgis (CNRS)
Discussions Students and postdocs
Edward O’Reilly (Ph D)
Avinash Kolli (Former PDRA)
Gracias por su atención!!
Quantum phenomena and Biology Alexandra Olaya-Castro