The UK Quantum Biomedical Sensing Research (Q-BIOMED) hub, which aims to harness quantum technology to improve early diagnosis and treatment of disease, has launched.
The first quantum research hub to be dedicated to healthcare or life sciences is backed by £24 million funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
It aims to be the foundation for a new quantum-for-health innovation ecosystem in the UK.
The hub is one of five quantum research hubs set up as part of the UK Government’s National Quantum Technologies Programme (NQTP). The six key academic partners are UCL and Cambridge, Oxford, Warwick, Heriot-Watt, and Cardiff universities.
“Our hub brings together two areas of science, quantum and biomedicine, in which the UK is world-leading. Quantum-enabled technologies have so much potential to improve health care. Our vision is to accelerate the co-creation and adoption of these technologies, leading to earlier diagnoses and better health outcomes,” says Rachel McKendry, co-director of the new hub, from the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Division of Medicine at UCL.
The hub’s four core flagship programmes include biomedical imaging, quantum enhanced in-vitro diagnostics via ultra-sensitive blood tests, new surgical and treatment interventions for early-stage and hard to treat cancers, and new quantum sensing technology capable of analysing single cells and molecules.
