Through quantum biology to new therapeutic approaches

Illustration_Quantum Biology_FO Illustration on quantum biology: hydrogen atoms and animal cell. Fabian Oswald Researchers at the University of Innsbruck investigated the effect of nuclear magnetic resonance on cryptochrome, an important protein of the "internal clock". To their surprise, the results of the experiments could only be explained by quantum mechanical principles - and could enable completely new therapeutic approaches. Metabolism in mammalian cells can be controlled by resonances of hydrogen protons generated by a magnetic field in combination with a corresponding radio wave. This result came as such a surprise to the scientists from the Institute of Zoology at the University of Innsbruck that they had to rewrite their publication without further ado. "We didn't realize at first that our work was in the field of quantum biology," explains Margit Egg, head of the study. Egg, who heads the Chronobiology Group at the Institute of Zoology, conducted the study, which has just been published in the scientific journal "iScience," together with her doctoral student Viktoria Thöni.