Research

Specialty

Quantum biology; Quantum optics; Theoretical physics; Many-body entanglement; Quantum field theory; Protein photophysics

Funding

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Guy Foundation

National Institutes of Health

National Science Foundation

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Chaikin-Wile Foundation

U.S.-Italy Fulbright Commission

Whole Genome Science Foundation

Group Information

James Murray, Intern Coordinator and K-12 Liaison

Suyash Bajpai, Postdoctoral Scholar

Muhammad Chawla, Undergraduate Intern

Hamza Patwa, Undergraduate Intern

Srila Palanikumar, Undergraduate Intern

Marco Pettini, Senior Scientist

Jérémie Torres, Spectroscopy Scientist

Muneer Abbas, Associate Professor of Microbiology 

Georgia Dunston, Professor Emerita and Senior Advisor

Accomplishments

U.S. - Italy Fulbright Scholar

The overall goal of this Fulbright grant is to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of Italy through the exchange of ideas and culture. The Fulbright Scholar Program's primary purpose is as a public diplomacy initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and is designed to expand and strengthen the relationships between the people of the United States and citizens of the rest of the world. To support this mission, grantees are asked to give public talks and engage with the host community, in addition to their primary research objectives.

Fulbright Intercountry Program Grants Recipient (multiple)

Awards received during tenure as U.S.-Italy Fulbright Scholar to provide for travel expenses from Trieste, Italy, to Salerno (IT), Brescia (IT), Prague (CZ), Luxembourg (LX), Napoli (IT), and Marseille (FR) for lecturing and scientific collaboration.

Director's Discretionary Awards, Oak Ridge and Argonne Leadership Computing Facilities

Serve as principal investigator on two high-performance computing awards for over one million core-hours to simulate many-body quantum electronic fluctuations and calculate terahertz spectra of complex biomacromolecular systems in aqueous environments.

AAAS Public Science Engagement Contest Winner

Awarded for joint presentation at the Ethiopian Educators Without Borders conference at the Ethiopian Embassy (Washington, DC), with other Howard University scholars, on 18 May 2019 - “Connecting DC and Ethiopian Communities in Science, Spirituality, and Scholarship.”

Executive Team, AAAS-Howard University Engaging Scientists Campus Event

In collaboration with other Howard University scholars, developed one of six proposals in the nation to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion to enhance scientists’ ability to engage with diverse religious publics, including keynote speakers, AAAS-led sessions, a public science engagement contest, and a culminating TEDx: LeDroit Park event on the theme "Translation to Transformation." 

Simons Scholar and Senior Fellow, UCLA Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics

Served as visiting senior scientist in 2022 developing advanced theory and methods to understand complex, open, and excited quantum systems, while mentoring junior scholars during the IPAM long program "Advancing Quantum Mechanics with Mathematics and Statistics."

Scientific Advisor, Guy Foundation

Scientific advisor to the UK-based Guy Foundation Family Trust (theguyfoundation.org) on quantum biology research, quantum physics principles, public science outreach, and seminar series development.

Scientific Advisor, AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has launched a major five-year initiative entitled, “Science for Seminaries: Integrating Science into Core Theological Education Phase II” within the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) program. The DoSER program seeks to facilitate conversations between scientific and religious communities through a variety of events and projects. The Science for Seminaries Phase II project, run in collaboration with the Association of Theological Schools, follows a successful three-year pilot project that concluded in 2016. See the current seminaries at www.ScienceForSeminaries.org.The grantee seminaries are required to integrate science into two core courses and host one science-focused campus-wide event during an 18-month period. The goals of the project are to encourage interest in a diverse array of science topics within seminaries, produce a growing number of pastors equipped to help their congregants find answers to science-related questions, and to create an atmosphere in faith communities in which science is considered relevant and important to religious and societal worldviews.

Fellow, UCSB Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics

Selected as a visiting fellow in 2023 to conduct research and attend two KITP programs, one on deep learning in physics and neuroscience and another on out-of-equilibrium many-body quantum phenomena.

Featured News

Popular Mechanics features QBL work on the computational capacity of life 
​​​​05/02/2025

Dr. Kurian’s latest article, published in Science Advances, was covered in Popular Mechanics and picked up by Apple and Google News feeds. By exploiting recently discovered quantum optical features in cytoskeletal and other protein fibers, these “superradiant” networks of quantum emitters would facilitate picosecond-scale information processing, even at physiological temperatures, suggesting a computational processing potential for carbon-based life that is orders of magnitude beyond the expectations of biochemically spiking neurons. By demonstrating the physical plausibility of quantum information processing in biological wetware, this study revisits and challenges conventional assumptions in physics, AI, quantum computing, and biology, inviting interdisciplinary exploration of quantum biological architectures.

QBL team present at the Gordon Research Conference in Tuscany
​​​03/02/2025

The QBL staff attends the 2025 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Technology and Theory at the Intersection of Quantum Science and Biological Mechanisms in Lucca, Italy, from March 2-7. Pictured from far left, Dr. James Murray (QBL K-12 liaison and intern coordinator) and Hamza Patwa (senior QBL intern) present posters on "Exploring quantum life: Creating tailored research experiences for QBL interns" and "Quantum-enhanced photoprotection in neuroprotein architectures emerges from collective light-matter interactions," respectively, while Dr. Kurian (QBL founding director) gives a talk on "Quantum optical mega-networks in biological architectures, and the computational capacity of life." Dr. Marco Pettini (QBL senior scientist, center) and colleagues were able to join the discussions, as were QBL research sponsors from the Guy Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, who also supported the GRC.

Lighting the way to a new Alzheimer’s treatment
​​​12/03/2024

Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility features the QBL project "Computing superradiance effects in biomacromolecular dynamics in aqueous environments," as part of Summit supercomputer’s bonus year of major scientific achievements. SummitPLUS has enabled the QBL to achieve unprecedented understanding of the role of quantum optical effects in neural and aneural protein fibers, as pathways for information processing through physical degrees of freedom offered by the interaction of light and quantum matter. See related video here or here.

QBL study on neuroprotein architectures challenges conventional view of amyloid in Alzheimer’s
​08/26/2024

QBL research on "Quantum-enhanced photoprotection in neuroprotein architectures emerges from collective light-matter interactions" was published in Frontiers in Physics. Congrats to senior undergraduate intern Hamza Patwa, a 2024 Barry Goldwater Scholar who served as first author, on his first paper! This research builds on a previous QBL study published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry that details how a certain quantum effect—single-photon superradiance—can survive the turbulent environment of the human body in massive networks of the amino acid tryptophan. The new study in Frontiers shows that these tryptophan networks have an even stronger ability to harness superradiant effects in amyloid fibrils—the primary target of many Alzheimer’s treatments—than in other neuroproteins, suggesting that amyloid aggregation may be a photoprotective response, rather than a cause of the disease. The new QBL study was also covered by Optica and BioPhotonics.

QBL joins Quantum Thermodynamics Hub at QTD2024 at the University of Maryland-College Park
​08/05/2024

Dr. Kurian and QBL trainees attended the 2024 Quantum Thermodynamics Conference, hosted by the University of Maryland-College Park. Conference topics explored the interplay of quantum mechanics and thermodynamics. Dr. Kurian gave a lecture on Quantum-enhanced photoprotection in neuroprotein architectures in thermal environments. Dr. Suyash Bajpai presented a poster on Optimizing slime mold solutions to NP-hard problems using synchronization indices, and Mr. Hamza Patwa presented a poster on Single-photon superradiance in cylindrical collectives of two-level systems at thermal equilibrium.

QBL work featured on PBS Space Time
​07/25/2024

Australian astrophysicist Matt O’Dowd discusses the QBL’s recent publication “Ultraviolet Superradiance from Mega-Networks of Tryptophan in Biological Architectures”, as part of this video series by PBS Digital Studios. You can access the video here.

QBL director gives plenary lecture and members present in all-QBL session at Molecular Biophysics Workshop in France
​07/01/2024

Dr. Philip Kurian and QBL trainees attended the Molecular Biophysics Workshop in Montpellier, France, from July 1st-4th. QBL members kicked off an all-QBL opening conference session (Emerging topics in quantum phenomena and quantum devices) with lectures from postdoc Dr. Suyash Bajpai on "Optimizing slime mold solutions to NP-hard problems using synchronization and morphological indices"; from QBL postdoc alumnus Dr. Matteo Gori, who discussed "Exploring many-body dispersion in biomolecular complexes through quantum field theory perspectives"; and from QBL undergraduate intern Hamza Patwa, who gave a talk on "Quantum-enhanced photoprotection in neuroprotein architectures emerges from collective light-matter interactions." As the QBL founding director, Dr. Kurian headlined the July 4th plenary session with a lecture on "Quantum optical mega-networks in biological architectures, and the computational capacity of life," joining the following group of conference plenary speakers and distinguished scientists: Prof. Judith P. Klinman, Prof. Jack Tuszyński, Prof. Martina Havenith, and Prof. Cecilia Clementi. 

QBL work featured on Science News with Sabine
​05/12/2024

German physicist and science communicator Sabine Hossenfelder discusses the QBL’s most recent work on quantum optical effects in microtubules, as part of her YouTube channel Science News with Sabine.  You can access the video here.

QBL study on quantum fiber optics in the brain published, selected as Editors’ Choice by Science magazine
​04/19/2024

QBL research on "Ultraviolet Superradiance from Mega-Networks of Tryptophan in Biological Architectures" was published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry and selected as both a feature cover by The JPC and as Editors’ Choice by Science magazine. QBL postdoc alumnus Dr. Nathan Babcock and QBL research associate Dr. Gustavo Montes Cabrera served as the first and second authors, respectively, along with our collaborators at the Università degli Studi di Firenze (Italy) and at EPFL (Switzerland). Supported by The Guy Foundation in the UK, this work represents the world-first demonstration of collective quantum optical behavior in a micron-scale protein aggregate, and constitutes the first experimental confirmation of single-photon superradiance in naturally occurring cytoskeletal filaments at room temperature.

Publications and Presentations

Quantum Biology Laboratory at Howard University Receives Grant from Guy Foundation

The QBL becomes first US lab to receive UK foundation grant in quantum biology.

The Quantum Biology Laboratory Is Moving Forward by Reaching Back

The QBL supports K-12 quantum science education by dedicating the Quantum STEAM Lab in Philadelphia.

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Awards Quantum Biology Laboratory at Howard University $1M for Matter-to-Life Research

This Sloan Foundation award will support the QBL in studying how self-organizing processes give rise to goal-oriented behaviors in the reassembly, agential decision-making, and computational capacity of the unicellular slime mold Physarum polycephalum. 

Quantum fiber optics in the brain enhance processing, may protect against degenerative diseases

Led by the QBL, a group of theoretical and experimental researchers has discovered a distinctly quantum effect in biology that survives warm, chaotic conditions and may also present a way for the brain to protect itself from degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. 

Quantum optical phenomenon in the brain challenges conventional view of amyloid in Alzheimer’s

The QBL has discovered a unique quantum effect in biology that could be the key to understanding a common marker of Alzheimer’s, raising questions about current assumptions of the disease and informing the search for a cure.

Howard University physicist revisits the computational limits of life and Schrödinger’s essential question in the era of quantum computing

The discovery of life processing with UV-excited qubits supports a conjecture relative to the computing capacity of the universe.