Oxford team engineer quantum-enabled proteins, opening new frontier in biotechnology

A research team from the University of Oxford Department of Engineering Science has engineered a quantum mechanical process inside proteins. The achievement marks the first time quantum effects have been deliberately designed into biomolecules to create a new family of practical technologies. The researchers developed magneto-sensitive fluorescent proteins, or MFPs, that interact with magnetic fields and radio waves. The interaction occurs through quantum mechanical processes when the proteins are exposed to light of an appropriate wavelength. The team produced the proteins through directed evolution, a method that introduces random mutations into bacterial DNA sequences, selects improved variants, and repeats the process over multiple rounds to increase sensitivity to magnetic fields. The study included development of a prototype imaging instrument that locates the engineered proteins using a mechanism similar to magnetic resonance imaging. The instrument could track specific molecules or gene expression inside living organisms. Such tracking supports applications including targeted drug delivery and monitoring of genetic changes inside tumors. First author Gabriel Abrahams said the work shows the power of evolution in finding solutions where direct design remains difficult. Senior author Associate Professor Harrison Steel noted that understanding of the quantum processes drew on prior research into bird navigation using the Earth magnetic field. The study was published in Nature.