• Published in the latest issue of CSBJ, proposing a new infection mechanism that overcomes the limitations of the classical lock and key model. • Confirmed the persistence of vibration-assisted electron tunnelling during the binding between the spike protein and ACE2 receptor. • Overcame the errors of the existing Markovian model... Suggests that viral infiltration is facilitated by the physical laws of quantum mechanics. [Quantum Biology Society] Revolutionary research results have been published showing that the cell infiltration process of SARS-CoV-2, which swept the world, is facilitated by quantum tunnelling, a quantum mechanical phenomenon, going beyond simple morphological binding. Recently, a paper titled "Non-Markovian Quantum State Diffusion for the tunnelling in SARS-COVID-19 virus" was published in the Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal (CSBJ). A research team including Muhammad Waqas Haseeb and Mohamad Toutounji from the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) elucidated this new infection mechanism using a mathematical quantum model. ■ A Quantum Biological Approach Beyond Lock and Key Until now, the biological infection process has mainly been explained by the classical lock and key model, where the virus's protein and the host cell's receptor bind according to their shapes. However, inspired by the vibration-assisted electron tunnelling theory of olfaction that explains how humans smell, the research team constructed the first non-Markovian quantum model to explain the SARS-CoV-2 infection mechanism. ■ Electron Tunnelling Assisted by Vibration... Accelerating Infiltration The research team conceptualized the virus's spike protein and the host cell's ACE2 receptor as a dimer in the spin-boson model, and solved the complex non-Markovian quantum stochastic Schrödinger equation (SSE). As a result of the analysis, while the existing Markovian model showed a critical limitation of deriving physically impossible negative probabilities in the strong coupling regime, they confirmed that in the non-Markovian model including memory effects, the tunnelling phenomenon—where the molecule's inherent vibration assists the movement of electrons—strongly persists even at intermediate and strong coupling limits. This means that even if a physical energy barrier exists, when specific vibration conditions are met, a quantum mechanical phenomenon where electrons pass right through the barrier intervenes in the viral binding process. ■ Heralding a New Paradigm in New Drug Development Consequently, it was revealed that the core process by which the virus binds to and infiltrates human cells goes beyond a simple structural interlocking and is directly facilitated by the physical laws of the microscopic world: molecular vibration and quantum tunnelling. This study is a groundbreaking achievement that reinterprets the infection mechanism of a deadly virus from a quantum biological perspective. It is expected to provide a crucial theoretical foundation for designing a new level of antivirals and vaccines that fundamentally block infection by controlling electron tunnelling at the quantum level in the future.
• Published in the latest issue of CSBJ, proposing a new infection mechanism that overcomes the limitations of the classical lock and key model. • Confirmed the persistence of vibration-assisted electron tunnelling during the binding between the spike protein and ACE2 receptor. • Overcame the errors of the existing Markovian model... Suggests that viral infiltration is facilitated by the physical laws of quantum mechanics. [Quantum Biology Society] Revolutionary research results have been published showing that the cell infiltration process of SARS-CoV-2, which swept the world, is facilitated by quantum tunnelling, a quantum mechanical phenomenon, going beyond simple morphological binding. Recently, a paper titled "Non-Markovian Quantum State Diffusion for the tunnelling in SARS-COVID-19 virus" was published in the Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal (CSBJ). A research team including Muhammad Waqas Haseeb and Mohamad Toutounji from the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) elucidated this new infection mechanism using a mathematical quantum model. ■ A Quantum Biological Approach Beyond Lock and Key Until now, the biological infection process has mainly been explained by the classical lock and key model, where the virus's protein and the host cell's receptor bind according to their shapes. However, inspired by the vibration-assisted electron tunnelling theory of olfaction that explains how humans smell, the research team constructed the first non-Markovian quantum model to explain the SARS-CoV-2 infection mechanism. ■ Electron Tunnelling Assisted by Vibration... Accelerating Infiltration The research team conceptualized the virus's spike protein and the host cell's ACE2 receptor as a dimer in the spin-boson model, and solved the complex non-Markovian quantum stochastic Schrödinger equation (SSE). As a result of the analysis, while the existing Markovian model showed a critical limitation of deriving physically impossible negative probabilities in the strong coupling regime, they confirmed that in the non-Markovian model including memory effects, the tunnelling phenomenon—where the molecule's inherent vibration assists the movement of electrons—strongly persists even at intermediate and strong coupling limits. This means that even if a physical energy barrier exists, when specific vibration conditions are met, a quantum mechanical phenomenon where electrons pass right through the barrier intervenes in the viral binding process. ■ Heralding a New Paradigm in New Drug Development Consequently, it was revealed that the core process by which the virus binds to and infiltrates human cells goes beyond a simple structural interlocking and is directly facilitated by the physical laws of the microscopic world: molecular vibration and quantum tunnelling. This study is a groundbreaking achievement that reinterprets the infection mechanism of a deadly virus from a quantum biological perspective. It is expected to provide a crucial theoretical foundation for designing a new level of antivirals and vaccines that fundamentally block infection by controlling electron tunnelling at the quantum level in the future.
In the context of biology, unlike the well-established Standard Model in physics, many biological processes lack a complete theoretical framework and are often described phenomenologically. A pertinent example is olfaction, the process through which humans and animals distinguish various odors. The conventional biological explanation for olfaction relies on the lock and key model, which, while useful, does not fully account for all observed phenomena. As an alternative or complement to this model, vibration-assisted electron tunnelling has been proposed. Drawing inspiration from the vibration-assisted electron tunnelling model for olfaction, we have developed a theoretical model for electron tunnelling in SARS-CoV-2 virus infection within a non-Markovian framework. We approach this by solving the non-Markovian quantum stochastic Schrödinger equation. In our model, the spike protein and the GPCR receptor are conceptualized as a dimer, utilizing the spin-Boson model to facilitate the description of electron tunnelling. Our analysis shows that electron tunnelling persists even at intermediate and strong coupling limits between the dimer components, presenting a stark contrast to the predictions from Markovian regime models. Notably, Markovian models often yield unphysical negative probabilities, particularly in the strong coupling limit, underscoring significant discrepancies and highlighting the importance of considering non-Markovian dynamics in accurately modeling such quantum processes. This approach enhances our understanding of viral infection mechanisms while also offering deeper insights into the quantum biological process of olfaction.
The spread of the COVID-19 virus has become a global health crisis, and finding effective treatments and preventions is a top priority. The field of quantum biology primarily focuses on energy or charge transfer, with a particular emphasis on photosynthesis. However, there is evidence to suggest that cellular receptors such as olfactory or neural receptors may also use vibration-assisted electron tunnelling to enhance their functions. Quantum tunnelling has also been observed in enzyme activity, which is relevant to the invasion of host cells by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Additionally, COVID-19 appears to disrupt receptors such as olfactory receptors. These findings suggest that quantum effects could provide new insights into the mechanisms of biological systems and disease, including potential treatments for COVID-19. We have applied the open quantum system approach using Quantum State Diffusion to solve the non-linear stochastic Schrödinger equation (SSE) for COVID-19 virus infection. Our model includes the mechanism when the spike protein of the virus binds with an ACE2 receptor is considered as dimer. These two entities form a system and then coupled with the cell membrane, which is modelled as a set of harmonic oscillators (bath). By simulating the SSE, we find that there is vibration-assisted electron tunnelling happening in certain biological parameters and coupling regimes. Furthermore, our model contributes to the ongoing research to understand the fundamental nature of virus dynamics. It proposes that vibration-assisted electron tunneling could be a molecular phenomenon that augments the lock-and-key process for olfaction. This insight may enhance our understanding of the underlying mechanisms governing virus-receptor interactions and could potentially lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies.
In the context of biology, unlike the comprehensively established Standard Model in physics, many biological processes lack a complete theoretical framework and are often described phenomenologically. A pertinent example is olfaction -- the process through which humans and animals distinguish various odors. The conventional biological explanation for olfaction relies on the lock and key model, which, while useful, does not fully account for all observed phenomena. As an alternative or complement to this model, vibration-assisted electron tunneling has been proposed. Drawing inspiration from the vibration-assisted electron tunneling model for olfaction, we have developed a theoretical model for electron tunneling in SARS-CoV-2 virus infection within a non-Markovian framework. We approach this by solving the non-Markovian quantum stochastic Schrodinger equation. In our model, the spike protein and the GPCR receptor are conceptualized as a dimer, utilizing the spin-Boson model to facilitate the description of electron tunneling. Our analysis demonstrates that electron tunneling in this context exhibits inherently non-Markovian characteristics, extending into the intermediate and strong coupling regimes between the dimer components. This behavior stands in stark contrast to predictions from Markovian models, which fail to accurately describe electron tunneling in the strong coupling limit. Notably, Markovian approximations often lead to unphysical negative probabilities in this regime, underscoring their limitations and highlighting the necessity of incorporating non-Markovian dynamics for a more realistic description of biological quantum processes. This approach not only broadens our understanding of viral infection mechanisms but also enhances the biological accuracy and relevance of our theoretical framework in describing complex biological interactions.
Emerging infectious viral diseases are a major threat to humankind on earth, containing emerging and re-emerging pathogenic physiognomies has raised great public health concern. This study aimed at investigating the global prevalence, biological and clinical characteristics of novel Corona-virus, Wuhan China (2019-nCoV), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona-virus (SARS-CoV), and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona-virus (MERS-CoV) infection outbreaks [1]. Currently, novel Corona-virus disease COVID-2019 is already pandemic and causing havoc throughout the world. Scientific community is still struggling to come out with concrete therapeutic measures against this disease and development of its vaccine is far off from sight in the immediate near future. However, humanity will be put to such pressures very often in the near future and given the present circumstances, what we can expect from the scientific world now? I think QIT (Quantum Information Theory) has an answer to this question. One of the very basic mechanisms that every infectious virus follows to infect is the entry of the virus through cell surface receptors, engulfing, un-coating of viral genome and its transcription to form multiple copies and translation to form viral proteins and coating of viral genome to form multiple copies of the viral particles and then of course the cell bursting to infect other cells. This very basic mechanism does not occur randomly but through a regulated and more dynamic process which we may call coding and decoding of information through reduction in error or noise.
Abstract This work emphasized the importance of quantum principles in Biological systems. Specially theoretically explained the mechanisms of infectious disease according to the laws of quantum mechanics, focusing on quantum tunneling. It determines the role of quantum events in microbial processes and demonstrates Schrödinger's prophetic view of quantum theory. Interactions between viruses and cells, as well as enzyme function and binding, are not well explained by traditional lock-and-key methods, while quantum tunneling, which is used to pass electrons through this method, can best demonstrate the function of spiked proteins with cellular receptors.
• Published a comprehensive review paper on nontrivial quantum events in cancer biology in the Archives of Razi Institute. • Elucidated that proton tunneling within DNA hydrogen bonds induces spontaneous mutations and cancer development. • Presented the possibility of establishing precision medicine and revolutionary drug discovery platforms through the introduction of quantum computing. [Quantum Biology Society] A groundbreaking review paper has been published that elucidates the fundamental causes of cancer from the perspective of quantum mechanics rather than classical molecular biology, and attempts to solve this with quantum computing technology. Recently, a paper titled "Exploring Quantum in Cancer Biology: A Comprehensive Review of Nontrivial Quantum Events" was published in the international journal Archives of Razi Institute, drawing the attention of the academic community. This study, involving a multinational joint research team including Ayesha Ali, comprehensively covers the latest insights combining quantum mechanics with oncology. ■ Quantum Tunneling, the Culprit Behind Cancer-Causing Mutations This study focused on phenomena such as quantum tunneling, quantum coherence, entanglement, and quantum superposition occurring within cancer cells. It reinterprets the complex signal transduction systems and mutation accumulation processes of cancer, which could not be perfectly explained by the linear pathways of conventional molecular biology alone, as quantum physical phenomena. What is particularly noteworthy is the quantum tunneling model. The researchers pointed out that quantum tunneling phenomena, where protons move through physical energy barriers, can occur within the hydrogen bonds connecting the double helix structure of DNA. They explain that this microscopic phenomenon disrupts normal base-pair bonding, resulting in errors in genetic coding, and consequently causing spontaneous point mutations that induce cancer. ■ Quantum Computing, the Future of Precision Medicine and Drug Discovery Beyond elucidating the microscopic quantum events underlying biological phenomena, the researchers emphasized the active introduction of quantum computing, utilizing quantum bits (qubits) and quantum entanglement, into the healthcare domain. Processing the vast biological data related to cancer with the exponential computational power of quantum computers will dramatically reduce processing time and increase the efficiency of diagnostic assistance, enabling the realization of true personalized precision medicine. This study, which analyzed the fundamental onset mechanism of the disease quantum mechanically, is expected not only to present the direction of future oncology research but also to provide a crucial theoretical foundation for building a revolutionary targeted drug discovery platform.