Quantum effects in biological systems

• Main Author: Lee, Kai Sheng
• Other Authors: Rainer Helmut Dumke
• Format: Thesis-Doctor of Philosophy
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
• Subjects: Science::Biological sciences::Biophysics; Science::Physics
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162538
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Quantum mechanics is at its hearts the study of nature at the fundamental level of atoms and subatomic particles. Made up of these same atoms and subatomic particles, biological systems are also expected to follow quantum mechanics to some extent. Given the quantum mechanical origin of the interaction between magnetism and matter, magnetic field effects within biological systems are natural candidates for the search of bio-relevant quantum processes. In this thesis, we explore theoretically and experimentally magnetic and electric fields acting on biological systems of varying complexity. We begin with attempts to use Pulsed-ElectroMagnetic Fields (PEMFs) on cells and simple organisms. In particular, mitochondrial activity, cell proliferation and calcium entry are measured and show no clear correlation with used PEMFs. In a separate experiment, we demonstrate a magnetic sensitivity in Periplaneta americana, the American cockroach, and using numerical methods, show that this sense is most likely based on the radical pair mechanism. Finally, we describe yet another experiment that shows entanglement in a qubit-qubit-tardigrade system, with the tardigrade still alive by the end of the experiment. This is one of the most direct demonstrations of interfacing quantum and biological systems to date, and is a proof-of-concept for future experiments to use the tardigrade as a model organism in probing the limits of the quantum to classical transitions.