A group of researchers led by Prof. Hinczewski and Prof. Scott from the Case Western Reserve University have demonstrated that quantum control techniques can be applied to evolutionary dynamics. UMBC’s Prof. Deffner lent his expertise in shortcuts to adiabaticity, which needed to be re-phrased for biological systems. The possible applications are almost limitless, ranging from enhancing adaptive therapies for diseases to the development of thermotolerant crops in preparation for climate change, to accelerating bioengineering methods built on evolutionary models, like directed evolution of biomolecules.

The results were published online in Nature Physics.

Image: Sebastian Deffner, photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.