Quantum effects in biological systems
Quantum mechanics is at its hearts the study of nature at the fundamental level of atoms and subatomic particles. Made up of these same atoms and subatomic particles, biological systems are also expected to follow quantum mechanics to some extent. Given the quantum mechanical origin of the interacti...
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| Format: | Thesis-Doctor of Philosophy |
| Language: | English |
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Nanyang Technological University
2022
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162538 |
| _version_ | 1826120142357004288 |
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| author | Lee, Kai Sheng |
| author2 | Rainer Helmut Dumke |
| author_facet | Rainer Helmut Dumke Lee, Kai Sheng |
| author_sort | Lee, Kai Sheng |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Quantum mechanics is at its hearts the study of nature at the fundamental level of atoms and subatomic particles. Made up of these same atoms and subatomic particles, biological systems are also expected to follow quantum mechanics to some extent. Given the quantum mechanical origin of the interaction between magnetism and matter, magnetic field effects within biological systems are natural candidates for the search of bio-relevant quantum processes.
In this thesis, we explore theoretically and experimentally magnetic and electric fields acting on biological systems of varying complexity. We begin with attempts to use Pulsed-ElectroMagnetic Fields (PEMFs) on cells and simple organisms. In particular, mitochondrial activity, cell proliferation and calcium entry are measured and show no clear correlation with used PEMFs. In a separate experiment, we demonstrate a magnetic sensitivity in Periplaneta americana, the American cockroach, and using numerical methods, show that this sense is most likely based on the radical pair mechanism. Finally, we describe yet another experiment that shows entanglement in a qubit-qubit-tardigrade system, with the tardigrade still alive by the end of the experiment. This is one of the most direct demonstrations of interfacing quantum and biological systems to date, and is a proof-of-concept for future experiments to use the tardigrade as a model organism in probing the limits of the quantum to classical transitions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:11:42Z |
| format | Thesis-Doctor of Philosophy |
| id | ntu-10356/162538 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:11:42Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Nanyang Technological University |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1625382023-02-28T23:44:40Z Quantum effects in biological systems Lee, Kai Sheng Rainer Helmut Dumke School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences RDumke@ntu.edu.sg Science::Biological sciences::Biophysics Science::Physics Quantum mechanics is at its hearts the study of nature at the fundamental level of atoms and subatomic particles. Made up of these same atoms and subatomic particles, biological systems are also expected to follow quantum mechanics to some extent. Given the quantum mechanical origin of the interaction between magnetism and matter, magnetic field effects within biological systems are natural candidates for the search of bio-relevant quantum processes. In this thesis, we explore theoretically and experimentally magnetic and electric fields acting on biological systems of varying complexity. We begin with attempts to use Pulsed-ElectroMagnetic Fields (PEMFs) on cells and simple organisms. In particular, mitochondrial activity, cell proliferation and calcium entry are measured and show no clear correlation with used PEMFs. In a separate experiment, we demonstrate a magnetic sensitivity in Periplaneta americana, the American cockroach, and using numerical methods, show that this sense is most likely based on the radical pair mechanism. Finally, we describe yet another experiment that shows entanglement in a qubit-qubit-tardigrade system, with the tardigrade still alive by the end of the experiment. This is one of the most direct demonstrations of interfacing quantum and biological systems to date, and is a proof-of-concept for future experiments to use the tardigrade as a model organism in probing the limits of the quantum to classical transitions. Doctor of Philosophy 2022-10-28T05:33:25Z 2022-10-28T05:33:25Z 2022 Thesis-Doctor of Philosophy Lee, K. S. (2022). Quantum effects in biological systems. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162538 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162538 10.32657/10356/162538 en This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). application/pdf Nanyang Technological University |
| spellingShingle | Science::Biological sciences::Biophysics Science::Physics Lee, Kai Sheng Quantum effects in biological systems |
| title | Quantum effects in biological systems |
| title_full | Quantum effects in biological systems |
| title_fullStr | Quantum effects in biological systems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quantum effects in biological systems |
| title_short | Quantum effects in biological systems |
| title_sort | quantum effects in biological systems |
| topic | Science::Biological sciences::Biophysics Science::Physics |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162538 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT leekaisheng quantumeffectsinbiologicalsystems |