IBM Quantum System One deployed at Cleveland Clinic as part of landmark 10-year partnership.
Global health system Cleveland Clinic and IBM officially unveiled IBM Quantum System One at Cleveland Clinic, the first Quantum Computer in the world to be uniquely dedicated to healthcare research with an aim to help accelerate biomedical discoveries.
The unveiling comes as a key milestone in the 10-year Discovery Accelerator partnership between Cleveland Clinic and IBM, announced in 2021 to advance the pace of biomedical research through high-performance computing, AI and Quantum Computing.
“This technology holds tremendous promise in revolutionizing healthcare and expediting progress toward new cares, cures and solutions for patients. Quantum and other advanced computing technologies will help researchers tackle historic scientific bottlenecks and potentially find new treatments for patients with diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes,” said Tom Mihaljevic, M.D., Cleveland Clinic CEO and President and Morton L. Mandel CEO Chair.
“With the unveiling of IBM Quantum System One at Cleveland Clinic, their team of world-class researchers can now explore and uncover new scientific advancements in biomedical research – we hope to ignite a new era of accelerated discovery,” said Arvind Krishna, IBM Chairman and CEO.
In addition to Quantum Computing, the Cleveland Clinic-IBM Discovery Accelerator Draws upon a variety of IBM’s latest advancements in computing technologies, including high performance computing via the hybrid cloud and Artificial Intelligence. Researchers from both organizations are collaborating closely on a robust portfolio of projects with these advanced technologies to generate and analyze massive amounts of data to enhance research.
The Cleveland Clinic-IBM Discovery Accelerator has generated multiple projects that leverage the latest in Quantum Computing, AI and hybrid cloud to help expedite discoveries in biomedical research.
These include:
- Development of Quantum Computing pipelines to screen and optimize Drugs targeted to specific proteins
- Improvement of a quantum-enhanced prediction model for cardiovascular risk following non-cardiac surgery
- Application of AI to search genome sequencing findings and large Drug-target databases to find effective, existing Drugs that could help patients with Alzheimer’s and other diseases
We asked Lara Jehi, MD, Cleveland Clinic’s Chief Research Information Officer, further questions on the project.
- How does IBM Quantum System One advance the Cleveland Clinic’s 10-year Discovery Accelerator partnership with IBM?
IBM Quantum System One is a key aspect of Discovery Accelerator, which is focused on advancing the pace of scientific discovery through high-performance computing technologies.
Our landmark partnership brings together Cleveland Clinic’s clinical and research expertise with IBM’s global leadership in advanced computing technologies. Together, our focus is on accelerating scientific discovery and reducing the time to develop new treatments for patients.
- How did Cleveland Clinic assess the potential in applying the power of Quantum Computing to healthcare?
Cleveland Clinic decided to have this technology on site, as it provides our team the ability to tap into these new computational spaces that could help researchers discover new medicines and treatments more quickly. Access to Quantum Computing comes at a cost. Similar to other highly sought-after research computing tools, the traditional model outside of Cleveland Clinic is that jobs are queued up and researchers wait in line. Currently, there are numerous scientific inquiries waiting in queues to be used on shared Quantum Computers via the cloud. By having our own dedicated on-premises system, our researchers’ experiments are not delayed, and if successful, we get answers more quickly.
How will System One complement the work of Cleveland Clinic over the short-medium term?
The Discovery Accelerator has established a strong foundation for research and education through educational and workforce development opportunities for the science community at large, and a robust pipeline of research projects focused on digital health, accelerated discovery and Quantum Computing.
Cleveland Clinic staff have already begun to take advantage of the research and educational opportunities provided by the Quantum System One. Our teams have already launched more than 25 projects with diverse areas of interest spanning drug discovery, predictive modelling and imaging, hoping to shrink the time to develop new therapies for patients with diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes.
A significant part of the collaboration is a focus on educating the workforce of the future and creating jobs to grow the economy.
Additionally, our two organizations are hosting research symposia, seminars and workshops intended for academia, industry, government and the public with a goal of building a critical mass of computing specialists in Cleveland.
- What are the ‘historic scientific bottlenecks’ that Cleveland Clinic is confident Quantum Computing can help clear?
The current pace of scientific discovery is unacceptably slow, while research needs are growing exponentially by the day. On average it takes more than 15 years for a scientific discovery in a biomedical research lab to become a tangible therapy or diagnostic test available to patients.
Traditional approaches to scientific research are hampered by bottlenecks arising from the process, cost and complexity of the work along with the amount of time it takes for classical computers to analyze massive amounts of data.
Quantum Computing and other advanced computing technologies offer a future to transform this pace, particularly in drug discovery and Machine Learning. What once took decades could now be achieved in months – or even days – and can also become more affordable and less time-intensive for science and research teams.
- Can the application of Quantum Computing to healthcare accommodate the existing skill set required of practitioners – or does it redefine what it means to practice medicine?
The future of medicine will change because of Quantum Computing. We just don’t know how yet. As the founding partner of a new initiative meant to spur collaboration and innovation in the Quantum Computing industry, Cleveland Clinic is helping to define quantum’s role in the future of healthcare and educate other health systems on the technology’s possibilities. As we learn more, we are consciously designing programs to upskill the existing workforce and train a new workforce for the future.
