November 7, 2024

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How Is Quantum Computing Being Used in Healthcare?

How Is Quantum Computing Being Used in Healthcare?

 

How Does Quantum Computing Compare with Traditional Computing?

Traditional computing is based on deterministic computing. In essence, the 1’s and 0’s, or bits, translate to specific outputs. Quantum computing is based on probabilistic computing.

“Each unit of computation, or qubit, has a continuous probability of being between 0 and 1,” says Jehi. “So, it can store a lot more information compared with a classical computer, and it can process computation much faster because it can do it in parallel rather than sequentially. They are fundamentally different.”

According to Amazon Web Services, quantum computing operates using quantum principles. Those include:

  • Superposition: This concept can be visualized using waves. If two ripples are created next to each other in the water, they will overlap and create an entirely new pattern. Applied to quantum computing, if you combine two quantum states, they will create an entirely new state and, inversely, each quantum state can be represented as the combination of two or more states, according to AWS. This principle is at the core of quantum computing and enables the technology to process a large and complex number of operations in parallel at the same time.
  • Entanglement: According to AWS, “quantum entanglement occurs when two systems link so closely that knowledge about one gives you immediate knowledge about the other, no matter how far apart they are.” This concept enables quantum computers to quickly solve complex problems by drawing conclusions based on the behavior of one qubit in relation to another.
  • Decoherence: Defined as “the loss of information from a system into the environment,” decoherence is a challenge for quantum computing and must be considered when designing the system that supports the quantum computer.

According to Jehi, quantum computing is much more aligned with biological sciences than with classical computing.

“In its essence, it’s a much more naturalistic way of thinking about computing. In medicine, we have been trying to force nature and the human body into a black and white paradigm, whereas nature and the human body are continuous things,” she says. “Classical computing is black and white. It’s a 1 or a 0. So, in principle, it’s beneficial when studying nature and the human body to use a computation system that mirrors its continuity.”

DISCOVER: Follow these three steps to deploy high-performance computing successfully.

Enabling Medical Research and Precision Medicine with Quantum Computing

Cleveland Clinic chose to work with IBM on its quantum computing initiative due to its long-term perspective on disruptive and transformative technology. The partnership gives Cleveland Clinic access to IBM’s data sciences, engineers and researchers, allowing their teams to work with IBM’s full spectrum of computation, including high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning and quantum computing.

The partnership also involved the installation of a quantum computer on the Cleveland Clinic campus. According to Jehi, it’s the only place in the world that has a quantum computer fully dedicated to healthcare and life sciences.

“That gives us the flexibility to ask questions, take risks and be more aggressive in figuring out this technology,” she says, adding that quantum computing is pushing Cleveland Clinic to think about research questions differently.

The organization made a huge investment to obtain the quantum computer, but Jehi emphasizes that Cleveland Clinic is not adopting the technology for its own benefit, but because it sees it as the technology of the future.

“We are very interested in building teams across the spectrum of healthcare, academia and biomedical research that would be interested in partnering with us and collaborating with the focus of figuring out what quantum means for healthcare,” she says.

The health system’s main goal for the technology is to accelerate how it approaches biomedical discovery. Since announcing the Discovery Accelerator in 2021 and embarking on the 10-year partnership with IBM, Jehi says the organization has identified three pillars of quantum computing.

EXPLORE: High-performance computing helps to break the genomics bottleneck.

The first is quantum simulations, which is quantum research that transforms a chemical formula into a 3D structure. Quantum simulations are important in fields such as drug discovery, therapeutics and immunotherapy, Jehi explains. They enable the simulation of structures that have been impossible to simulate with today’s tools.

The second pillar is quantum machine learning, which encompasses the computing that AI is not yet able to handle, whether due to models not getting past a certain threshold of accuracy or because it’s too expensive.

“The models require too much data for their input,” says Jehi. “Could quantum machine learning simplify the extent of inputs that need to go into a model to get better predictions?”

The third pillar is quantum optimization, in which quantum computing can optimize processes such as supply chains and the design of clinical trials.

“What they have in common is the ability to use quantum computing for problems that are impossible to solve with classical computing,” says Jehi.

The Technology That Supports Quantum Computing

Jehi notes that it’s not possible to adopt quantum computing without having a robust infrastructure in place.

“Quantum is tomorrow. You cannot jump there without first being in the present, and that includes AI and high-performance computing. That is the foundation that we built upon,” she says.

Having a foundation of high-performance computing and AI means that healthcare organizations also need to have robust hybrid cloud infrastructures. In addition, the organization needs the talent and a workforce with the skills to operate such complex computing. Jehi says Cleveland Clinic did a lot of education for its existing computation teams and informatics groups.

“A big chunk of the effort went into workforce development and upscaling,” she adds.

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