Oxford team engineer quantum-enabled proteins, opening a new frontier in biotechnology

In the study, the researchers created a new class of biomolecules called magneto-sensitive fluorescent proteins (or MFPs), that can interact with magnetic fields and radio waves. This is enabled by quantum mechanical interactions within the protein, and occur when it is exposed to light of an appropriate wavelength.

While quantum effects have previously been shown as central to some biological processes (such as navigation in birds), this is the first time they have been engineered to create a new family of practical technologies. This marks a shift from observing quantum effects in nature to deliberately designing them for real-world use.

"What blows me away is the power of evolution: we don’t yet know how to design a really good biological quantum sensor from scratch, but by carefully steering the evolutionary process in bacteria, Nature found a way for us."

First author Gabriel Abrahams, Department of Engineering Science

The researchers are already exploring applications of these technologies in biomedicine. As part of the study, the team created a prototype imaging instrument that can locate the engineered proteins using a similar mechanism to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) widely used in hospitals. However, unlike MRI, it would be able to track specific molecules or gene expression within a living organism. Such measurements are central to medical challenges including targeted drug delivery and monitoring genetic changes inside tumours.

To generate the engineered proteins, the research team used a bioengineering technique known as directed evolution. In this method, random mutations are introduced to the DNA sequence encoding the protein, creating thousands of variants with altered properties. High-performing variants are selected from this collection, and the process is repeated. After many consecutive rounds of directed evolution, the selected proteins had a dramatically improved sensitivity to magnetic fields.

Achieving the breakthrough required an ambitious interdisciplinary approach, linking expertise in Engineering Biology, Quantum, and Artificial Intelligence – three innovation areas recently highlighted as central to the UK’s Industrial Strategy. This study is thought to be the first in which their intersection has been exploited to create a new technology.

"Our study highlights how difficult it is to predict the winding road from fundamental science to technological breakthrough. Our understanding of the quantum processes happening inside MFPs was only unlocked thanks to experts who have spent decades studying how birds navigate using the Earth’s magnetic field."

Professor Harrison Steel, Department of Engineering Science

Gabriel Abrahams, first author of the paper and a DPhil student in the Department of Engineering Science, described the work as "a hugely exciting discovery. What blows me away is the power of evolution: we don’t yet know how to design a really good biological quantum sensor from scratch, but by carefully steering the evolutionary process in bacteria, Nature found a way for us".

The senior author of the study, Associate Professor Harrison Steel, said: "Our study highlights how difficult it is to predict the winding road from fundamental science to technological breakthrough. For example, our understanding of the quantum processes happening inside MFPs was only unlocked thanks to experts who have spent decades studying how birds navigate using the Earth’s magnetic field. Meanwhile, the proteins that provided the starting point for engineering MFPs originated in the common oat!"

Professor Steel continued: "We are immensely grateful for the supporters of our work, particularly funding from the EPSRC EEBio Programme Grant, which has been instrumental in enabling our interdisciplinary vision to carry out bioengineering alongside robotics, control algorithms, and AI, all in one lab".

Following the success of this project, the team is now accelerating  work to realise the many applications of their discovery, and to further our understanding of quantum effects in nature as part of a major recent BBSRC project led by Oxford’s Department of Chemistry.

The team was led by Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science, with collaborators in the Department of Chemistry, and international partners from Aarhus University, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Sungkyunkwan University, and the US-based company Calico Life Sciences LLC.

The study ‘Quantum spin resonance in engineered proteins for multimodal sensing’ has been published in Nature.