Tracking Down Quantum Effects in Biology

For a long time, scientists have suspected that quantum effects also play an important role in the function and efficiency of biological processes – yet for many years this could not be verified. However, new experimental methods and modern computer systems are now enabling fundamentally new insights in quantum biology. With the “NEXT – Quantum Biology” program, the Volkswagen Foundation is therefore funding innovative research projects in which scientists develop innovative theoretical models and experimental techniques to detect quantum effects and elucidate their mechanisms. Among those selected for funding are one project led by TU Dortmund University and another with TU researchers participating.

Quantum Effects in Photosynthesis

Professor Thorben Cordes of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (CCB) at TU Dortmund University is heading the new collaborative project “Long-lived coherent trapping of photosynthesis energy in phytoplankton Phycobilisome.” In cooperation with Amelie Heuer-Jungemann, Professor of Hybrid Bionanosystems at CCB and member of the Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr (UA Ruhr), as well as Professer Erik Gauger at Heriot-Watt University and Professor Eitan Lerner at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the team will investigate the role of quantum-mechanical effects in energy transfer within photosynthetic complexes of cyanobacteria and red algae. In these organisms, sunlight excites colored pigments arranged in complex structures known as phycobilisomes. These antenna-like structures channel the energy from sunlight across large distances to a reaction center, where the light energy is converted into chemical energy.

“The new project arose from the chance discovery of a measurement signature that we initially dismissed as an artifact,” says Professor Cordes. After further investigations, for which Professor Eitan Lerner was particularly instrumental, the international team was able to demonstrate in initial experiments that the spectroscopic signature of the cells can only be explained by quantum mechanical concepts. With these results, the project team was able to successfully convince the foundation's interdisciplinary expert jury. In order to understand the mechanisms behind this phenomenon, the researchers plan to combine biochemical and spectroscopic methods and to describe the energy transfer using quantum-mechanical simulations.

At TU Dortmund University, Professor Cordes’ research group intends to innovate ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy so that the speed of the energy transport process can be measured both in cells and in isolated phycobilisomes. Professor Heuer-Jungemann and her team will then employ DNA origami – deliberately “folding” DNA strands into three-dimensional microscopic structures – to reconstruct the biological system and thus enable a better comparison with theoretical models. The collaborative project is being funded with a total of almost €2 million, of which the research groups at TU Dortmund University will receive around €1.1 million.

Magnetic Orientation through Quantum Mechanics

The second project funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, in which Professor Igor Schapiro of the Department of Physics at TU Dortmund University and the UA Ruhr Research Center Chemical Science and Sustainability is involved, seeks to explain how birds and insects use the Earth’s magnetic field for navigation. The hypothesis is that this mechanism is based on a quantum effect occurring in a protein called opsin in the animals’ eyes. When this light-sensitive pigment is excited by UV light, it can enter a so-called triplet state that is sensitive to magnetic fields. In this state, the Earth’s magnetic field can generate a quantum-mechanical effect that is stored. When the protein returns to its ground state, this information can influence chemical processes in the eye. These, in turn, trigger neuronal signals that could enable the animals to orient themselves magnetically.

To test this experimentally, the international research team is employing a combination of theory and experiment: Professor Schapiro’s group will use multiscale simulations to understand the mechanism behind the phenomenon. The predictions will then be validated experimentally through ultrafast spectroscopy.

The project, led by the University of Hamburg, also involves TU Dortmund University, the X-ray laser research facility European XFEL, the University of Haifa, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Of the total funding amount of almost €2 million, around €413,600 will go to TU Dortmund University.

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