Fred Chong, Seymour Goodman Professor of Computer Science at the University of Chicago, has been awarded $2 million from Wellcome Leap to lead Phase 3 of a quantum computing initiative aimed at cancer biomarker identification. The funding is part of the Quantum for Bio program, which supports applications of quantum computing in biomedical research.
The project focuses on extracting predictive cancer biomarkers from multimodal biological data using a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm. In previous phases, Chong’s team reduced quantum resource demands by learning from smaller instances and validated their algorithm on real cancer datasets. They simulated circuits with up to 32 qubits classically, preparing the groundwork for testing on quantum hardware exceeding 50 qubits. The approach generated clinically actionable biomarker sets with improved predictive power compared to conventional methods.
In Phase 3, the team aims to demonstrate practical quantum advantage by applying their algorithm to real-world data on quantum processors. This milestone would provide concrete evidence of quantum computing’s applicability in healthcare diagnostics.
Co-investigators include Samantha Riesenfeld and Alexander Pearson (UChicago), Aram Harrow (MIT), and Teague Tomesh (Infleqtion). The team’s efforts are positioned to address fundamental challenges in cancer diagnosis through quantum-enabled analysis.
Read the full announcement from the University of Chicago here.
April 10, 2025
