海角视频

Oops.

Our website is temporarily unavailable in your location.

We are working hard to get it back online.

PRIVACY
Enterprise

Bristol-based startup partners with university to explore quantum drug development for rare disease

Phasecraft will work on the project with the University of Nottingham and QuEra

Tablet pack(Image: Newscast/Ally Carmichael)

A Bristol based quantum algorithms startup has been selected alongside the University of Nottingham for a project that aims to use quantum computing to discover potential treatments for a rare muscle-wasting disease.

Phasecraft and the university have been awarded funding by the global research organisation Wellcome Leap to look into treatments for Myotonic Dystrophy, which affects about 1 in 6,500 people in the 海角视频.

Phasecraft is a quantum algorithms company spun out of UCL and the University of Bristol. It has recently raised £13m in Series A funding from a Silicon Valley investor.

Read more: South West biotechnology company completes funding round with £500,000 support

The University of Nottingham, with partners Phasecraft and QuEra Computing Inc. are one of only 12 successful teams worldwide to be selected for funding as part of the Wellcome Leap £41m support program Quantum for Bio that aims to accelerate applications of quantum computing to address pressing human health challenges.

The “Quantum computing for covalent inhibitors in drug discovery” project is led by Jonathan Hirst and Katie Inzani from the University of Nottingham and co-founder of Phasecraft, Ashley Montanaro. The team brings together expertise from human health sciences and computational chemistry, to quantum algorithm development and quantum hardware.

The Bristol company will apply its research in quantum algorithms to developing algorithms that can harness the developments made in quantum computing to help further drug discovery for the condition.

Mr Montanaro, co-founder and chief executive of Phasecraft, said: “We’re working hard to get to the point where quantum computing can outperform classical computers for real, practical problems and drug discovery may be one of the areas where this technology could have a significant impact.