07/27/2026
Cleveland Clinic Research team among six finalists in National Institutes of Health’s first quantum computing challenge
A Cleveland Clinic research team has advanced to the final stage of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) first quantum computing challenge, earning a place among just six teams nationwide selected to continue developing quantum approaches for biomedical research.
The NIH challenge is for researchers to propose and develop novel quantum computing approaches that can be applied to use cases within clinical, translational and biomedical problem areas. The challenge began in 2024, with teams around the country developing quantum computing solutions for biomedical research problems that cannot be solved by current computing methods. The teams proposed ideas for three interest areas where quantum-enabled technologies have some of the greatest potential:
- Quantum algorithms for drug discovery
- Quantum algorithms for clinical risk predictions, diagnosis and therapeutics
- Quantum algorithms for biomedical imaging and genomic data analysis
Kenneth Merz, PhD, Computational Life Sciences, is leading Cleveland Clinic’s project titled “Alchemical Free Energy Calculations Using Quantum Hardware.” The project uses quantum computing to predict how molecules behave in water and interact with proteins. The research team designed a hybrid method that uses a quantum computer to calculate the energy and behavior of a drug molecule, while a classical computer simulates the surrounding solvent.
The researchers describe this project as a real-world example of how advanced computing methods are evolving from theory to real-world implementation in healthcare and life sciences.
“In other words, we are using quantum computing in computer-aided drug design efforts,” says Dr. Merz. “The most exciting aspect of this project is that we will implement our theoretical developments on ongoing drug design efforts.”
The teams will now work on their final project delivery and demonstration to compete for the grand prize of $300,000.
Cleveland Clinic is home to the first private-sector, on-premise IBM Quantum System One dedicated to healthcare and life sciences research. Quantum computing is transforming our ability to perform complex calculations that even the most advanced super computers cannot solve. Our researchers are using it to break through scientific bottlenecks and tackle some of healthcare’s toughest challenges. You can learn more about Cleveland Clinic’s quantum computing research by visiting our quantum computing pages.
