A new white paper from SC Quantum and qBraid explores the path forward for quantum computing in drug design
(SQ Quantum is an IYQ Leading Philanthropic Partner.)
Designing effective drugs is one of the most complex and costly challenges in modern science. It can take more than a decade to move a single treatment from concept to clinic. Today, researchers and pharmaceutical leaders are exploring how quantum computing might offer a better way forward.
In this white paper, developed in collaboration with qBraid, we explore the intersection of quantum computing and drug design. From foundational science to real-world use cases, the paper offers a grounded look at what’s happening, what’s possible, and what still lies ahead.
Beyond the Hype: What Quantum Can and Can’t Do
The promise of quantum computing has been part of the drug discovery conversation for years. Until recently, much of that promise remained theoretical. That’s now changing. New advances in quantum hardware and algorithms are opening doors to better understand complex molecules, simulate protein interactions, and speed up key phases of the drug pipeline.
At the same time, there are real challenges to overcome, such as limited qubit counts, noise, modeling scale, and the fundamental complexity of biological systems. The paper presents these limitations with clarity, helping readers separate marketing from milestones.
A Use Case with Real Impact
To show this work in practice, the white paper highlights a research pipeline from qBraid focused on Alzheimer’s disease. Partnering with institutions like MIT, Argonne National Lab, and North Carolina A&T, qBraid is using quantum techniques to study protein-metal interactions tied to neurodegeneration. Their Quanta-Bind platform is one example of how researchers are applying quantum tools to real-world problems.
South Carolina’s Role in What’s Next
Pharmaceutical companies across South Carolina are well-positioned to explore these technologies, from small-molecule research to clinical applications. The white paper identifies companies already doing groundbreaking work in diagnostics, therapeutics, and delivery systems. With quantum computing now reaching a more practical stage, the timing is right to explore how these tools could support R&D pipelines across the region.
Get the White Paper
This is the first in a series from SC Quantum and qBraid spotlighting how quantum technologies are taking shape in real-world industries. It’s designed for decision-makers, technical leads, and anyone interested in what the future of quantum might actually look like.
Brilliant Poetry is an international competition that invites participants from around the world every year to explore scientific discoveries and curiosity through poetic expression.
Aligned with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), marking a century since the formulation of quantum mechanics, Brilliant Poetry aims this year to highlight the power of artistic expression, making the complexities of science accessible, beautiful, and profoundly inspiring.
During the call for participants, poets were encouraged to engage with the principles and paradoxes of quantum science, exploring their intellectual and human significance.
After closing the submissions on July 30, the jury started the selection process. In September, ten outstanding poems were selected for a shortlist that was announced early this month.
We are thrilled to publish each of them on the official blog of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Winners of the first, second, and third places will be announced on November 10.
Emergency Room
byJasmine Zhang
To be frank, quantum physics makes for terrible metaphor. Of course the human experience contains multitudes. Try writing down the wavefunction for grief, or for kissing someone you love on the mouth
Or, for the angry blue sky, the bloodwork, the body arranged on the stretcher, catatonic in its dreaming. I fail to find solace in the pulse-finding machines, the sterile clockwork of it all
In the waiting room I consider the thought experiment about superposition. The nurses discuss a birthday party while you possibly die in this bed
I have scorned the study of the living for its imprecision and even now I hold onto theories relevant only at scales we cannot touch. But I can’t look away, as if superstition will keep you here
Brilliant Poetry is an international competition that invites participants from around the world every year to explore scientific discoveries and curiosity through poetic expression.
Aligned with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), marking a century since the formulation of quantum mechanics, Brilliant Poetry aims this year to highlight the power of artistic expression, making the complexities of science accessible, beautiful, and profoundly inspiring.
During the call for participants, poets were encouraged to engage with the principles and paradoxes of quantum science, exploring their intellectual and human significance.
After closing the submissions on July 30, the jury started the selection process. In September, ten outstanding poems were selected for a shortlist that was announced early this month.
We are thrilled to publish each of them on the official blog of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Winners of the first, second, and third places will be announced on November 10.
Dualism
byThom Hawkins
I could hear the cat moving around in the box, but I was determined to ignore it. My feline friend was in a state of quantum superposition— it had to be, if I'd done everything right.
The radiation source, the Geiger counter, the vial of poison, a half-life had passed so there was no way to know if the meows were from a cat’s body or its ghost.
Thom Hawkins is a writer and artist based in Maryland. His poems have appeared or are scheduled to appear in COMP, Excuse Me Magazine, The Fieldstone Review, Last Stanza Journal, Linked Verse, Poetry Box, Red Ogre Review, Sinking City, and Uncensored Ink’s Banned Books Anthology.
Brilliant Poetry is an international competition that invites participants from around the world every year to explore scientific discoveries and curiosity through poetic expression.
Aligned with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), marking a century since the formulation of quantum mechanics, Brilliant Poetry aims this year to highlight the power of artistic expression, making the complexities of science accessible, beautiful, and profoundly inspiring.
During the call for participants, poets were encouraged to engage with the principles and paradoxes of quantum science, exploring their intellectual and human significance.
After closing the submissions on July 30, the jury started the selection process. In September, ten outstanding poems were selected for a shortlist that was announced early this month.
We are thrilled to publish each of them on the official blog of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Winners of the first, second, and third places will be announced on November 10.
Dice Rolling Eternal
byAkis Linardos
In the eternal void there comes a brilliant bang
Quieter than a baby’s snore louder than the end of sound
Quantum fluctuations, a primordial Jackson Pollock spit colors on a black, expanding canvas Carving celestial castles from sands of eternal chance
As has been, as will be done, before, after, forever
Fireworks spark rivers in the desert Carbon to branching forms, life from strands
In a pocket eternity, there come soft rains Youth hungry to experience existence Elderly aching to pass the torch Radiant unions, harsh goodbyes
The cosmic candles dim at last, As entropy reaches its zenith, returning everything to slumber
Until the dice may roll again
Akis is a writer of bizarre things, a biomedical AI scientist, and maybe human. He’s also a Greek that traveled the world and now resides in the USA, writing silly dark things while everything burns. Find his words at Apex, Strange Horizons, Uncharted, Heartlines Spec, and visit his lair for more: akislinardos.com
Brilliant Poetry is an international competition that invites participants from around the world every year to explore scientific discoveries and curiosity through poetic expression.
Aligned with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), marking a century since the formulation of quantum mechanics, Brilliant Poetry aims this year to highlight the power of artistic expression, making the complexities of science accessible, beautiful, and profoundly inspiring.
During the call for participants, poets were encouraged to engage with the principles and paradoxes of quantum science, exploring their intellectual and human significance.
After closing the submissions on July 30, the jury started the selection process. In September, ten outstanding poems were selected for a shortlist that was announced early this month.
We are thrilled to publish each of them on the official blog of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Winners of the first, second, and third places will be announced on November 10.
An End to Time
by Luisa A. Igloria
I like putting one foot in front of the other, walking at a steady pace until I change
the speed on the treadmill or come to the end of the half-hour. I like wiping down
the silver and putting them back in their drawers, but not ironing out the creases
in a shirt. The child asks, is there an end of time? It’s the kind of question
that can’t be answered. If we knew, the world would be a different place entirely. If we knew,
all measures would be undone. Animals would never come out of the sealed caves
of their hibernation. The last however many years of heartache would dissolve like a golden
cube of honey in a glass of tea. The old queen would leave the hive whenever she wanted to
without being followed by a swarm, without having to scout for a new home to populate
with food and bodies; without the new queens killing each other in order to be the only one.
Poet, nonfiction writer, and translator Luisa A. Igloria teaches in the MFA Creative Writing Program at Old Dominion University. She is originally from Baguio City in the Philippines. www.luisaigloria.com
Brilliant Poetry is an international competition that invites participants from around the world every year to explore scientific discoveries and curiosity through poetic expression.
Aligned with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), marking a century since the formulation of quantum mechanics, Brilliant Poetry aims this year to highlight the power of artistic expression, making the complexities of science accessible, beautiful, and profoundly inspiring.
During the call for participants, poets were encouraged to engage with the principles and paradoxes of quantum science, exploring their intellectual and human significance.
After closing the submissions on July 30, the jury started the selection process. In September, ten outstanding poems were selected for a shortlist that was announced early this month.
We are thrilled to publish each of them on the official blog of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Winners of the first, second, and third places will be announced on November 10.
A New Grammar for Atlantis
by Marie Vibbert
…broken lengthwise
We are
Quality entangled (with/by/for) [name]
& the discarded —
[milquetoast/moderate] (strike it and say “kind”)
We the artificial can unprevent
In a single day and night of
>> overwrite: inexorable seep of complacency,
the [great/cruel] citystate of America was [error 404].
Incorrigible, titanic garbage mat
[lumbering / slouching] toward [dis]freedom!
Ope! No harm meant
Like swollen-bellied mosquitos [we / they]
thirst until all is [undefined]
& gate no mercy
We need new grammars
for {
our trembling futility;
our rage;
}
or [we/you] may snap,
a plastic spoon…
Marie Vibbert is a computer programmer from a working-class background in Cleveland, Ohio. She has been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards for her fiction.
Last week, we were thrilled to learn that the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis for their groundbreaking discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in electrical circuits. This recognition not only honors a milestone in quantum science and technology but also beautifully aligns with the United Nations’ designation of 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology.
Paul Cadden-Zimansky, associate professor of physics at Bard College in New York, United States, and global coordinator of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, explains the scientific background and historical context of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics in the following video:
In 2025, the Brilliant Poetry competition invited people from around the world to explore the beauty and mystery of quantum science through verse. The response was extraordinary. In only three months, we received 368 poems written in three languages and submitted from 50 countries. This truly global effort shows how quantum science can spark creativity and how poetry can give voice to scientific wonder.
Poetry and quantum ideas
Quantum mechanics has always inspired curiosity, drawing us toward questions that stretch the limits of understanding. Concepts such as entanglement, where particles remain correlated across vast distances; superposition, in which a system can exist in multiple states at once; and the paradox of Schrödinger’s cat, which imagines a cat that is simultaneously alive and dead until observed, all challenge our sense of reality. These concepts are as strange as they are fascinating, inviting us to reconsider what it means to know, to see, and to measure the world around us.
These ideas continue to stretch the imagination, and poetry offers a unique way to respond to them. Where equations can be abstract, poetry can be immediate. It can capture not only the complexity of quantum science but also its emotional and human dimensions.
The competition invited entrants to channel their own interpretations of quantum science into poetic form. By doing so, it supported the spirit of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, which highlights the global importance of quantum research and education, and the need to make science accessible to all.
A collective effort
The judging process was led by Diego Golombek, an Argentinian neuroscientist, writer, and Ig Nobel laureate, and Jean-Pierre Luminet, a French astrophysicist, writer, and artist celebrated for his pioneering work on black holes and cosmology. Both are laureates of the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science, and together they brought scientific expertise and a deep appreciation of the arts to the task..
Reflecting on the process, the judges described how rewarding it was to read such a broad collection of poems from so many countries. They noted the diversity of styles and approaches, and how exciting it was to see quantum science interpreted through so many creative lenses. When it came to selecting the longlist, shortlist, and winners, they quickly found common ground, with strong agreement on the poems that stood out. For them, the shortlisted works are distinguished by originality, emotional resonance, and well-crafted language.
What happens next
The ten shortlisted poems are now live on the Brilliant Poetry website: www.thebrilliantpoetry.com. The winning poems will then be announced on World Science Day for Peace and Development, 10 November 2025.
In addition, the shortlisted poets will be invited to take part in a virtual reading event in November, bringing together voices from across the globe. This event will allow the poets to share their work with an international audience and to celebrate the achievement of being selected from such a large and diverse field. Plans are also underway for a further celebration in early 2026, offering another opportunity to showcase the creativity and imagination that the competition has inspired.
Why this matters
Competitions like Brilliant Poetry highlight that science is not confined to laboratories, nor poetry to literature alone. By combining the two, they encourage participation from people who might not usually see themselves reflected in scientific spaces. The fact that poems came from 50 different countries shows both the global reach of quantum science and the universal appeal of creative expression.
This inclusivity is central to the goals of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, which calls for greater access to science education and engagement, particularly for young people, women, and under-represented communities. Poetry offers a powerful route into these conversations, providing a platform where scientific ideas can be expressed in personal, imaginative, and culturally diverse ways.
Looking ahead
As we move through the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, Brilliant Poetry stands as a reminder that science can inspire not only research and innovation but also art and dialogue. By inviting poets from every corner of the world to engage with quantum science, the competition has demonstrated how cultural and scientific exchange can enrich one another.
We look forward to celebrating the winners in November and continuing to explore the creative potential of science and poetry together.
Sam Illingworth is a professor at the Department of Learning & Teaching Enhancement, Edinburgh Napier University.
When Clemson University students signed up for the first-ever South Carolina Quantathon in October 2024, they didn’t expect it would launch them onto a yearlong journey that would carry them across the globe and to some of the world’s most respected quantum hackathons. But that’s exactly what happened.
What began as a weekend experience in Columbia, South Carolina, where students worked on quantum random number generation (QRNG) at SC Quantum’s flagship hackathon, has grown into something much larger. Guided by Dr. Rong Ge from Clemson University and supported by cross-sector partnerships, these students now show what can happen when curiosity meets opportunity in the quantum space.
“The original Quantathon catapulted me into a deeper commitment to quantum computing research. It helped me find what I’m passionate about.” —Valentine Mohaugen, Clemson undergraduate
Much of this momentum was made possible by Clemson’s Creative Inquiry (CI) Program, which supports Dr. Ge’s “Hands-on Quantum Computing” course. Among its broad assistance, CI helps facilitate travel and training opportunities for students who are immersed in this emerging technology.
CI provided critical early support for the team’s participation in the SC Quantathon and MIT iQuHack, experiences that helped launch their year-long journey. Students backed by CI were also part of the team that competed in Abu Dhabi, a major accomplishment that highlights the lasting impact of this investment. The students affiliated with CI include:
Nathan Jones (PhD CI Mentor)
Joseph Benich (School of Computing undergraduate, Junior)
Toby Cox (School of Computing undergraduate, Junior)
Valentine Mohaugen (Physics, Senior)
Ian Lewis (School of Computing undergraduate, Junior)
The broad backgrounds, perspectives, and expertise apparent in the team are a dynamic reflection of Clemson and of the interest quantum technology is gaining across campuses across our region.
From First Hack to First Place
At Quantathon V1, the Clemson team took on the quantum random number generation (QRNG) challenge presented by DoraHacks, creating a framework for scalable quantum random number generation and post-processing for cybersecurity and algorithmic applications. They not only won their challenge but also earned the event’s top prize. In partnership with SC Quantum and NYU Abu Dhabi, the team secured spots at the NYU-AD International Hackathon for Social Good in April 2025 in Abu Dhabi. Their win also came with a mini-grant from DoraHacks to continue developing their project, setting off a wave of insight and new opportunities.
“We dug into the tradeoffs between randomness, speed, and efficiency—things we only scratched the surface of during the hackathon.” —Sam Quan, Clemson undergraduate
Over the following weeks, the team expanded on their original work, refining entropy analysis, comparing algorithmic tradeoffs, and drafting a technical write-up of their findings for DoraHacks. In doing so, they gained new skills in quantum algorithm design, optimization, and applied research.
Learning at MIT and Arriving in Abu Dhabi
The momentum from Quantathon V1 soon carried the team to MIT’s competitive iQuHack. The event brought deep dives into theoretical challenges hosted by Alice & Bob, an elite group of participants, and a fast-paced environment that pushed their understanding to new levels.
The NYUAD experience brought a new kind of learning: large, diverse teams working on open-ended problems with real-world applications. As student mentors, the Clemson group played a leadership role. The experience combined cultural exchange with technical leadership, as they guided group projects in areas like quantum sensing, machine learning, and mental health diagnostics.
“The NYUAD hackathon was the best academic and cultural experience of my life. I made friends I’m going back to visit.” —Valentine Mohaugen
Their NYUAD projects are now being prepared for publication, a reflection of the depth of their exploration and the professional-level collaboration they achieved through these opportunities.
The NYUAD experience included team members learning from each other. Courtesy: Clemson teammates.
A New Chapter, and More to Come
At home on campus, the students have helped grow Clemson’s emerging quantum community, supporting peers through a student-led quantum club and mentoring new students entering the space. Today, they’re exploring publications, refining their projects, and even helping plan future SC Quantum events.
Their journey is a vivid example of how faculty support, early access, and cross-sector collaboration can empower undergraduates to thrive in advanced, interdisciplinary fields. The team credits Dr. Ge’s mentorship and Clemson’s academic environment as foundational to their success.
Students from Clemson’s Quantum Club play quantum chess in McAdams Hall. Courtesy Clemson University.
“I’m incredibly grateful to SC Quantum, DoraHacks, MIT, and NYU Abu Dhabi for opening doors for us. But none of it would have happened without Dr. Ge’s support back at Clemson.” —Sam Quan
SC Quantum’s hackathon model and network of partners played a key role in shaping the team’s path, offering early exposure, funding support, and global visibility. As South Carolina’s regional quantum network expands, stories like this show the value of building pathways that meet students where they are and help them reach even further.
And the best part? This is still the beginning.
– – – – – –
Quantathon V2, the second edition of SC Quantum’s flagship hackathon for the Southeast, will take place October 9–12 in Columbia, South Carolina, at the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. The event is powered by qBraid, with Platinum Sponsors the Columbia Area Development Partnership and AgFirst Farm Credit Bank. Learn more about Quantathon V2 by clicking here.
We talked before about how the word “quantum” often appears alongside the word “physics,” but that quantum science is also important to fields like chemistry. Is quantum science used in chemistry?
That’s a great question! A lot of people learn about chemistry in school without understanding that quantum science lies at the heart of how and why atoms stick together to form molecules and materials. For example, consider the simplest and smallest atom, hydrogen. If you have a bottle filled with just hydrogen gas, the hydrogen atoms in the bottle aren’t bouncing around by themselves; they like to pair up with each other to make hydrogen molecules.
Yes, that’s the difference between a hydrogen atom and a hydrogen molecule; the molecules are paired-up atoms. The same thing is true of oxygen, too, isn’t it?
That’s right—oxygen molecules in the air around us that we breathe are bound together in pairs. In addition to hydrogen atoms sticking together and oxygen atoms sticking together, you can also get combinations of hydrogen and oxygen atoms.
Illustration by Serena Krejci-Papa
I know one: water! H₂O—two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom form chemical bonds with each other to make one water molecule.
Exactly. There’s one other compound you can make out of hydrogen and oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, which is a combination of two hydrogen atoms and two oxygen atoms, H₂O₂, and is used to bleach things, like paper, to make them white. This compound isn’t as stable as water; in fact, over time, it tends to fall apart, and any other combination you make of hydrogen and oxygen will quickly fall apart.
Why is this? Why does one oxygen atom like to stick to exactly two hydrogen atoms and not just one, three, or seven? Why do oxygen atoms like to pair up with each other rather than be apart or in groups of three or some other number?
These are excellent questions that have puzzled chemists for many years. Elements like hydrogen and oxygen were first isolated and named in the late 1700s. The 1800s saw the development of the idea that all compounds were whole-number combinations of chemical atoms; however, a mystery remained as to why certain combinations of atoms were allowed and others seemed forbidden.
So, did it just seem random which combinations worked and which ones didn’t?
Not at all. From doing experiments and combining elements, chemists noticed certain patterns about how atoms combined. For example, when the elements were organized into the periodic table according to similar chemical behavior, the fact that there are eight elements in the second row matched up with the observation that elements along this row liked to make a certain number of bonds depending on their position in the row. For example, carbon, which is the 4th element in the row, likes to make four bonds; nitrogen, which is the 5th element, likes to make three bonds; oxygen, which is the 6th element, likes to make two bonds; fluorine, which is the 7th element, likes to make one bond; and neon, which is the last element in the row, doesn’t like bonding to anything.
Illustration by Serena Krejci-Papa
So oxygen, in the 6th position, likes to make bonds with two hydrogens to make water. I see the pattern you’re talking about: 6 + 2 = 8. Why eight?
This is exactly the question chemists were pondering at the start of the 20th century. There was clearly some reason behind this rule of eight, or “octet rule,” but no one understood where this eight came from. One interesting idea was that a cube had eight corners, so maybe there was something cubical about atoms that made them want to have one electron at each corner of the cube, which they could achieve by sharing electrons. But there was no evidence that there was anything cubical about the arrangement of electrons in atoms, so that model wasn’t the solution to the puzzle about the rule of eight.
So what did solve the puzzle, then?
Quantum mechanics! Almost as soon as quantum mechanics was developed, starting one hundred years ago, scientists saw how applying it to the problem of how atoms were structured—a positively charged nucleus attracting electrons to it—led directly to the patterns of the periodic table. It explained not only the rule of eight, but all sorts of other rules for how and why atoms chemically bond together. Soon, chemists not only had a quantum understanding of why oxygen likes to bond to two hydrogens to form water, but also used quantum science to find rules governing chemical combinations, compounds, and bonds that they hadn’t previously understood.
But how did quantum mechanics explain this rule of eight?
Remember that the “quantum” in quantum mechanics means something you can count. A hallmark of quantum science is showing how there are sometimes countable aspects to things that don’t seem on the surface like there’s anything there to count. In the case of atoms and bonds, the attractions and repulsions of electrons and nuclei seemed like a problem where there wouldn’t be anything countable about the possible arrangements of the electrons and the bonds they form. It was only with a quantum understanding of the wave-like nature of electrons that the hidden counting of these arrangements was revealed.
So, thinking about it, every single bond between every single atom, holding together all the materials and objects, is governed and described by quantum mechanics.
Exactly, not only all the things around us, but us as well! We wouldn’t understand how the atoms in our bodies stick together without quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics solved some of the mysteries from a century ago about how simple compounds work, but even today, researchers are actively using quantum mechanics to reveal how more complicated materials and molecules work – including many of the ones that make up you and me.
Written by Paul Cadden-Zimansky, Associate Professor of Physics at Bard College and a Global Coordinator of IYQ.
IYQ mascot, Quinnie, was created by Jorge Cham, aka PHD Comics, in collaboration with Physics Magazine. All rights reserved.
