Quantum Mechanics, Cell-Cell Signaling, and Evolution

Harriman H. Dash

Nadir Askenasy

The concepts submitted by quantum mechanics fascinated the scientific community during the first half of the 20(th) century. The second half was dominated by biology, culminating in the sequencing of the human genome and the study of stem cells. Although the anticipated revolution of cellular therapies in medicine is in its infancy, the conceptual debate over stem cell plasticity shares similarities with evolution of the quantum theory. Are there notions and modes of thinking that stem cell biologists should adopt from the evolution in the interpretation of the laws of physics?

Michael Conrad

Proteins and other macromolecules may be viewed as shape-based (or tactile) pattern recognizers. Biological cells exploit this inherent capability by transducing macroscopic signal patterns impinging on the external membrane to microscopic patterns at the molecular level, via second messengers. The parallelism inherent in the wave function description of these microscale processes in effect serves to increase the computing power of molecular computing systems as compared to macroscopic analogs. The conversion and recognition process is highly reminiscent of measurement. The linking role of second messengers allows macroscopic signals to set the state of the cell (in analogy to state preparation), while enzymatic readout and control of cellular behavior is an amplification process that corresponds to measurement of the microstate at a later point of time. Since the standard time evolution equations are reversible and unitary, while measurement is not, it is conceivable that the study of molecular computing will lead to new insights into the relation between the microworld and the macroworld. The model presented suggests that projection processes that are masked in ordinary laboratory systems are brought to macroscopic significance by the highly nonlinear chain of amplification events in the biological cell.

Hugh Christopher Longuet-Higgins

Matthieu Pellaton, C. Affolderbach, G. Mileti +3 more

We present a study of our in-house made tetracontane wall-coated87Rb vapour cells for rubidium atomic clock applications. Evolution of the double-resonance (DR) signal during the so-called ripening process of these cells is measured and interpreted. Intrinsic properties of the coated cells post ripening are presented. Intrinsic linewidths below 70 Hz, and moderate temperature coefficients (1.5 × 10-10/K) are promising cell properties in view of highly compact and miniature atomic clocks.

Ryutaro Yusunoki