Johnjoe McFadden is a professor of molecular genetics at the University of Surrey, UK, where he studies disease-causing microorganisms. He is the author of Quantum Evolution and coauthor of Life on the Edge: The Coming Age of Quantum Biology. McFadden also wrote, along with fellow researchers, the article “Quantum biology: An update and perspective”, published in Quantum Reports, in 2021.

Abstract: Understanding the rules of life is one of the most important scientific endeavours and has revolutionised both biology and biotechnology. Remarkable advances in observation techniques allow us to investigate a broad range of complex and dynamic biological processes in which living systems could exploit quantum behaviour to enhance and regulate biological functions. Recent evidence suggests that these non-trivial quantum mechanical effects may play a crucial role in maintaining the non-equilibrium state of biomolecular systems. Quantum biology is the study of such quantum aspects of living systems. In this review, we summarise the latest progress in quantum biology, including the areas of enzyme-catalysed reactions, photosynthesis, spin-dependent reactions, DNA, fluorescent proteins, and ion channels. Many of these results are expected to be fundamental building blocks towards understanding the rules of life.

Authors: Youngchan Kim, Federico Bertagna, Edeline M D’souza, Derren J Heyes, Linus O Johannissen, Eveliny T Nery, Antonio Pantelias, Alejandro Sanchez-Pedreño Jimenez, Louie Slocombe, Michael G Spencer, Jim Al-Khalili, Gregory S Engel, Sam Hay, Suzanne M Hingley-Wilson, Kamalan Jeevaratnam, Alex R Jones, Daniel R Kattnig, Rebecca Lewis, Marco Sacchi, Nigel S Scrutton, S Ravi P Silva, Johnjoe McFadden.

Read the article here.