Could Plants Unlock Quantum Medicine’s Potential? with Greg Engel
Big Brains21 Aug 2025

Could Plants Unlock Quantum Medicine’s Potential? with Greg Engel

We’ve long marveled at how efficiently plants convert sunlight into energy—but no one guessed they were using quantum mechanics to do it.

In this episode, we speak with Greg Engel, a pioneering biophysicist at the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the Department of Chemistry who helped launch the field of quantum biology. Engel explains how plants and bacteria evolved to exploit quantum effects for photosynthesis—and how understanding these systems could spark a revolution in quantum sensing, medicine, and neuroscience.

Engel’s team has already built quantum sensors inspired by nature’s designs, with the potential to transform how we detect disease, develop drugs, and even read neural signals. The ultimate goal? A new era of quantum medicine, powered by the weird and wonderful physics found in leaves. A new large gift is helping that mission along by establishing The Berggren Center for Quantum Medicine and Biology at The UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, partnering with BSD, UC Medicine and others.

Follow Big Brains:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/big-brains-podcast/

X: https://x.com/BigBrainsUC


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(219)

The Bioelectric Future of Regenerative Medicine

The Bioelectric Future of Regenerative Medicine

In the near future, birth defects, traumatic injuries, limb loss and perhaps even cancer could be cured through bioelectricity—electrical signals that communicate to our cells how to rebuild themselve...

25 Juli 202428min

Is Mindfulness The Secret To Health?

Is Mindfulness The Secret To Health?

Can you heal faster just by tricking your brain? Could you lose weight with only a change of mindset? Could you think yourself into being younger? If you think the answer to all these questions is no,...

11 Juli 202433min

Feeling Stuck? Here’s How To Achieve a Breakthrough, with Adam Alter

Feeling Stuck? Here’s How To Achieve a Breakthrough, with Adam Alter

We've all been stuck at some point in our lives — whether we've been stuck at a job and wanting to make a career change, stuck in a location and wanting to move somewhere new, or stuck in relationship...

27 Juni 202433min

What Makes Something Memorable (or Forgettable?) with Wilma Bainbridge

What Makes Something Memorable (or Forgettable?) with Wilma Bainbridge

There is a science to what we remember and what we don't. For instance, why do we remember certain pieces of artwork, some brands’ logos, or even people's faces? University of Chicago psychologist Wil...

13 Juni 202426min

Learning To Speak To Whales Using AI, with David Gruber

Learning To Speak To Whales Using AI, with David Gruber

If aliens landed on Earth tomorrow, how would we talk with them? Well, we already have a kind of creature on this planet we could attempt to talk to first, and in the last few years a team of renowned...

30 Maj 202426min

Storm Warning: Why Hurricanes Are Growing Beyond Measure, with Michael Wehner

Storm Warning: Why Hurricanes Are Growing Beyond Measure, with Michael Wehner

We all know that extreme weather events like hurricanes are getting worse due to climate change, but what scientists would really like to know is: By how much worse exactly? This year a team of resear...

16 Maj 202427min

How To Manifest Your Future Using Neuroscience, with James Doty

How To Manifest Your Future Using Neuroscience, with James Doty

We've all heard the phrase "Manifest Your Destiny" when it comes to wanting that new promotion, figuring out a new career path or just trying to achieve that long-term goal. It turns out that the act ...

2 Maj 202431min

Why We Die—And How We Can Live Longer, with Nobel Laureate Venki Ramakrishnan

Why We Die—And How We Can Live Longer, with Nobel Laureate Venki Ramakrishnan

They’re perhaps the oldest questions in the science: Why do we die? And could we find a way to live forever? But for decades, anti-aging research was a “backwater” of the scientific community, conside...

18 Apr 202432min

Populärt inom Utbildning

historiepodden-se
rss-bara-en-till-om-missbruk-medberoende-2
det-skaver
nu-blir-det-historia
harrisons-dramatiska-historia
allt-du-velat-veta
johannes-hansen-podcast
not-fanny-anymore
rss-viktmedicinpodden
roda-vita-rosen
sa-in-i-sjalen
i-vantan-pa-katastrofen
sektledare
rss-max-tant-med-max-villman
rss-foraldramotet-bring-lagercrantz
rikatillsammans-om-privatekonomi-rikedom-i-livet
rss-sjalsligt-avkladd
rss-traningsklubben
rss-dr-bjorklund
vi-gar-till-historien