IBM, Cleveland Clinic, RIKEN Simulate Protein

Scientists from Cleveland Clinic, Riken, and IBM have achieved a milestone in quantum computing by simulating protein complexes of up to 12,635 atoms, the largest known to be simulated with quantum hardware. This was made possible through quantum-centric supercomputing, an innovative framework that pairs IBM's 156-qubit IBM Quantum Heron processors with powerful classical supercomputers like Fugaku and Miyabi-G. The team utilized a novel quantum-classical hybrid algorithm, EWF-TrimSQD, to dramatically reduce computational overhead and improve simulation accuracy by up to 210 times. This advancement is crucial for drug discovery, as it addresses the challenge of accurately modeling how drug candidates bind to proteins, a process that is currently expensive and time-consuming. Kenneth M. Merz Jr. of Cleveland Clinic and Jay Gambetta of IBM Research highlighted the significance of this work, indicating that quantum computers are maturing into useful scientific tools capable of solving fundamental problems in biology, chemistry, and life sciences. The research was supported by the Japan — New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) under the jurisdiction of Japan's Japan — Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.