Our Research Team

Maria Procopio (PI)

Johns Hopkins University, Lecturer and Research Scientist of Biophysics

Expertise: Magnetosensing in biology. Dr. Procopio uses quantum theory and computation approaches to study magnetic sensing in biology, from mechanistic principles to biological responses. Maria has recently galvanized the quantum biology community through a recent NSF-funded workshop that she organized in collaboration with J. Onuchic and H. Levine.

Yi Li (Co-PI)

Johns Hopkins University, Assistant Professor of Theoretical Physics

Dr. Li explores the theory of quantum phases of matter and their organizing principles, particularly novel strongly correlated and topological quantum states. Her research offers a potential platform for fault-tolerant quantum computation and logic gates based on the braiding of quasiparticles that possess exotic statistics.

Philip Kurian (Co-PI)

Howard University, Founding Director of the Quantum Biology Laboratory

The Quantum Biology Laboratory uses quantum theories (quantum electrodynamics, quantum field theory, quantum mechanics, quantum chemistry), classical electromagnetism, and nonequilibrium thermodynamics to explain how fundamental particle interactions (electron, photon, phonon, etc.) manifest nontrivially in biology, from the biomolecular to the mesoscopic and even clinical scales, including critical processes in neurodegeneration, oncogenesis, and human consciousness.

Muneer Abbas (Co-PI)

Howard University College of Medicine, Director of the Molecular Genetics laboratory

Dr. Abbas is a member of Molecular Genetics Research Group at Howard University’s National Human Genome Center (NHGC). His expertise in DNA analyses and Single Nucleotide polymorphism genotyping are critical to NHGC’s ongoing research program in cancer research and other health disparities.

José Onuchic (Senior Personnel)

Rice University, Co-director of the Center for the Theoretical Biological Physics

The Center for the Theoretical Biological Physics is a NSF Physics Frontiers Center. Dr. Onuchic has worked in many different problems at the interface of theoretical physics and biology but for this proposal is important to highlight that he is one of the leaders in electron transfer in proteins. He developed the “Pathway Model and Theory” that is used by many groups to understand and design biological electron transfer systems.

Prem Kumar (Senior Personnel)

Northwestern University, Director of the Center for Photonic Communication and Computing (CPCC)

Dr. Kumar's group conducts leading edge fundamental science and engineering research for the development of advanced optical and optoelectronic communication and computing systems. A main focus at the CPCC is to exploit the fundamental laws of nature to accomplish communication, signal processing, and computing in radically new ways. Recent efforts are on generation, distribution, ultrafast processing, and utilization of photonic entanglement for precision measurements, imaging, and sensing. His group was the first to generate entanglement in a biological system, opening up new avenues for quantum-enhanced measurements in biomolecular environments.