The initial run of the Clinic-led program will take place from May to October 2024. During that period, the winning startups will receive access to Quantum System One, the first quantum computer dedicated to healthcare research and installed at the Clinic’s main campus last year.
Other perks of the program, according to the Clinic, include:
• Opportunities to discuss research ideas with Clinic clinicians and investigators.
• Space on the health system’s main campus for “embedded” experiences.
• Participation in the Quantum Working Group on Healthcare and Life Sciences established by IBM Quantum and the Clinic.
• Education offerings, such as a technical seminar series and health care programs.
At the end of the program, the companies will have an opportunity to present their findings to an audience of investors and clinical and corporate partners during a graduation and demo day.
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Nathaniel Braman, Picture Health’s head of AI, said in a phone interview with Crain’s that the startup is building AI tools that can analyze medical images to help better predict how to treat patients. For example, these tools may help predict whether a cancer patient will respond better to immunotherapy or chemotherapy. Picture Health also does some work in clinical trials, Braman said, developing AI tools that help accelerate them.
“All of the processes that we use to create our AI tools, they’re very computationally intensive, so we’re going to explore whether we can use the quantum resources to accelerate some of that,” he said.
Quantum machine learning, he said, excels at addressing problems where data may be limited. Given Picture Health’s focus on early clinical trials, that’s an issue that comes up frequently. Braman said the company is excited to see how quantum machine learning helps make the most out of data, ultimately delivering more powerful tools for patients.
Qradle, the company based in Hudson, offers quantum software drug discovery solutions and is planning to create programs that assist in drug discovery research. The startup has a “classical-to-quantum computing conversion tool that can leverage existing classical AI/ML solutions for drug discoveries using quantum computing,” according to the Clinic.
Startup Algorithmiq develops algorithms to solve complex problems in life sciences. Its proprietary software, Aurora, is designed to improve understanding of photon-drug interactions, which would help researchers refine cancer treatments, disease prevention and medical imaging.
This story first appeared in Crain's Cleveland Business.
