Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Amyloid fibrils, shown in this video aggregating in a complex neuronal signaling environment, have been targeted in a variety of degenerative diseases. The amyloid cascade hypothesis, on which many modern Alzheimer's treatments are based, presumes that these fibrils are the cause of the disease. However, emerging evidence suggests that amyloid fibrils supporting vast helical architectures of tryptophan molecules serve a photoprotective role as superabsorbers of high-energy UV light produced by oxidative metabolism. Such tryptophan networks have been experimentally confirmed in other neuroprotein fibers to exhibit a uniquely quantum optical effect known as single-photon superradiance, which enables the photoprotective response.
Theoretical physicist Philip Kurian and his team in the Quantum Biology Laboratory at Howard University are examining the interactions of light and quantum matter in these protein architectures, as so-called open quantum systems. Kurian and his team used the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to make predictions for the thermal quantum yields — the ratio of the number of photons emitted to those absorbed at thermal equilibrium — of cytoskeletal filaments and amyloid fibrils of increasing lengths. The researchers found that, even in the presence of considerable thermal noise, large networks of the amino acid tryptophan in amyloid fibrils can rapidly superabsorb UV photons due to collective long-range interactions and helical symmetry across the fibril, downconverting these high-energy photons and reemitting them at longer, less damaging wavelengths.
Video: Courtesy of Quantum Biology Laboratory, Howard University — Posted originally on EurekAlert!
To find out more, please visit the Quantum Biology Laboratory News page.
Usage Restrictions: You are free to share the material, but attribution is required. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. You cannot distribute any derivative works or adaptations of the original work. All licenses are owned by the Quantum Biology Laboratory (see quantumbiolab.com/publications.html for terms).
@Energy @doescience #science #energy #research
Amyloid fibrils, shown in this video aggregating in a complex neuronal signaling environment, have been targeted in a variety of degenerative diseases. The amyloid cascade hypothesis, on which many modern Alzheimer's treatments are based, presumes that these fibrils are the cause of the disease. However, emerging evidence suggests that amyloid fibrils supporting vast helical architectures of tryptophan molecules serve a photoprotective role as superabsorbers of high-energy UV light produced by oxidative metabolism. Such tryptophan networks have been experimentally confirmed in other neuroprotein fibers to exhibit a uniquely quantum optical effect known as single-photon superradiance, which enables the photoprotective response.
Theoretical physicist Philip Kurian and his team in the Quantum Biology Laboratory at Howard University are examining the interactions of light and quantum matter in these protein architectures, as so-called open quantum systems. Kurian and his team used the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to make predictions for the thermal quantum yields — the ratio of the number of photons emitted to those absorbed at thermal equilibrium — of cytoskeletal filaments and amyloid fibrils of increasing lengths. The researchers found that, even in the presence of considerable thermal noise, large networks of the amino acid tryptophan in amyloid fibrils can rapidly superabsorb UV photons due to collective long-range interactions and helical symmetry across the fibril, downconverting these high-energy photons and reemitting them at longer, less damaging wavelengths.
Video: Courtesy of Quantum Biology Laboratory, Howard University — Posted originally on EurekAlert!
To find out more, please visit the Quantum Biology Laboratory News page.
Usage Restrictions: You are free to share the material, but attribution is required. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. You cannot distribute any derivative works or adaptations of the original work. All licenses are owned by the Quantum Biology Laboratory (see quantumbiolab.com/publications.html for terms).
@Energy @doescience #science #energy #research
