ArticlebioRxiv : the preprint server for biology2026
A quantum interface with mitochondrial bioenergetics.
Article in bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Recent work has shown that genetically engineered proteins can serve as quantum bits in living systems. These quantum bits arise from the photochemistry of protein-bound flavins: blue-light excitation drives electron transfer to form a spin-correlated radical pair whose coherent singlet-triplet interconversion makes the protein's fluorescence sensitive to weak magnetic fields. Because this radical-pair reaction depends on the redox state of the flavin-itself a central electron carrier in cellular metabolism-the magneto-fluorescence of a biological qubit is intrinsically coupled to the biochemistry around it. This suggests a powerful application of fundamental significance in biology, until now an unsolved problem in the field of quantum sensing. Here we show a new class of quantum sensor, mtMagLOV2, that interfaces directly to a defining feature of life itself: the bioenergetic state of the cell. We genetically engineer flavin mononucleotide (FMN)-containing, magnetic-field-sensitive fluorescent proteins ("biological qubits") to be expressed and translocated into the key bioenergetic machinery of the cell: the mitochondrial matrix. Using confocal and super-resolution microscopy, mtMagLOV2 localizes to the mitochondrial cristae, home of the electron transport chain complexes I-V and ATP synthase-the site of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). By pharmacological manipulation of OXPHOS, we show that the sensor's magneto-fluorescence tracks the redox (oxidation-reduction) state of the mitochondrial flavins, providing a quantum readout of redox status. The response differs between cancer cells (which rely heavily on glycolysis) and cardiomyocytes (which rely predominantly on OXPHOS), demonstrating "quantum bioenergetic profiling". Together, these results establish biological qubits as quantum sensors capable of probing mitochondrial bioenergetics, opening a quantum window into the energetic machinery of living cells. More broadly, we anticipate that coupling quantum redox sensitivity to specific biochemical targets will extend the reach of quantum technologies across the life sciences.
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.