Quantum computing at the frontiers of biological sciences

Computing plays a critical role in the biological sciences but faces increasing challenges of scale and complexity. Quantum computing, a computational paradigm exploiting the unique

properties of quantum mechanical analogs of classical bits, seeks to address many of these challenges. We discuss the potential for quantum computing to aid in the merging of insights across

different areas of biological sciences.

This work is a product of discussions initiated during a NIMH-convened virtual workshop, addressing computational challenges in genomics and neuroscience via massively parallel computing and

QC (https://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/events/2018/virtual-workshop-solving-computational-challenges-in-genomics-and-neuroscience-via-parallel-and-quantum-computing.shtml). We would also like to

acknowledge the help and support of Lora Bingaman of the NIMH in overseeing the administration of this collaboration. M.B.G. acknowledges the support of NIH grant MH116492-03S1.

Present address: Neuropsychiatric Disease Genomics, New York Genome Center, New York, NY, USA

These authors contributed equally: Prashant S. Emani, Jonathan Warrell.

Program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

Yale School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, New Haven, CT, USA

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA

Department of Psychiatry, Semel Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California–Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Artificial Intelligence Research Chair, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Institute for Technology in Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA

Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB Centre, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK

Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK

Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA

Department of Computer Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

Department of Statistics and Data Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

Center for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

All authors contributed to discussions on the design of the manuscript. G. Senthil and T.L. led the NIMH workshop and subsequent discussions. P.S.E., J.W., A.A., S.B., M.G., M.J.M., J.T.B.,

M.B.G. and A.W.H wrote the manuscript. P.S.E., J.W., A.A., S.B., M.G., M.J.M., G. Sapiro, A.A.-G., J.D.M., J.T.B., M.B., S.N.S., G. Senthil, T.L., M.B.G. and A.W.H edited the manuscript.

A.W.H. and S.B. contributed to the “Classical versus quantum circuits: state of the art” section. P.S.E., J.W., S.B., M.G., M.J.M., M.B.G. contributed content to the “Sequence analysis,”

“Genetics,” “Functional genomics” and “Integration across disciplines” subsections, and A.A., G. Sapiro, J.T.B., J.W. and J.M. to the “Mapping neurobehavioral variation via neuroimaging and

deep phenotyping” subsection. S.B. contributed to the Epilogue section.

A.A. serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of, consults for, has received grants from, and holds equity in BlackThorn Therapeutics. G. Sapiro consulted for Apple, Volvo,

Restore3D and SIS, and has received speaking fees from Johnson & Johnson. J.T.B. has received consulting fees from BlackThorn Therapeutics, Niraxx Therapeutics, Verily Life Sciences, AbleTo

Inc. and Pear Therapeutics, and has received consulting fees and equity from Mindstrong Inc. J.D.M. consults for, has received grants from, and holds equity in BlackThorn Therapeutics.

A.W.H. has recently joined the Scientific Advisory Board of Zapata Computing, from which he expects income and equity.

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