dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaTowards Experimental Tests of Quantum Effects in Cytoskeletal Proteins
| Authors | Andreas Mershin, Hugo Sanabria, John H. Miller, Dharmakeerthna Nawarathna, Efthimios M. C. Skoulakis, Nikolaos E. Mavromatos, Alexadre A. Kolomenskii, Hans A. Schuessler, Richard F. Luduena, Dimitri V. Nanopoulos |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0505080 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0505080 |
| DOI | 10.1007/3-540-36723-3_4 |
Abstract
It has become increasingly evident that fabrication of novel biomaterials through molecular self-assembly is going to play a significant role in material science and possibly the information technology of the future. Tubulin, microtubules (MTs) and the cytoskeleton are dynamic, self-assembling systems and we asked whether their structure and function contain the clues on how to fabricate biomolecular information processing devices. Here we review our neurobiological studies of transgenic Drosophila that strongly suggest the microtubular cytoskeleton is near the 'front lines' of intracellular information manipulation and storage. We also establish that spectroscopic techniques such as refractometry, surface plasmon resonance sensing and dielectric spectroscopy, coupled with molecular dynamic simulations and (quantum) electrodynamic analytical theory are useful tools in the study of the electrodynamic and possible quantum effects in cytoskeletal proteins. Implicit in our driving question is the possibility that if tubulin and MTs can indeed be cast as the basis of a classical or quantum computer, then perhaps nature has already done so and tubulin and MTs already play such a role in living neural and other cells. If quantum mechanics is found to be important in cellular function (through its involvement in proteins) it is natural to ask whether there are indeed quantum effects pertinent to consciousness. We conclude this work by suggesting a number of ways towards experimentally testing this "Quantum Consciousness Idea" (QCI), directly at the protein level.
{
"annotation_id": "79800301-2a43-4744-91bb-119e0eecc569",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:00:57.274000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:00:57.274000Z",
"file_hash": "e31b2968d90b8bed70e36d80c108e0c1d5965cd97572d651f348e7623bcfe046",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "It has become increasingly evident that fabrication of novel biomaterials\nthrough molecular self-assembly is going to play a significant role in material\nscience and possibly the information technology of the future. Tubulin,\nmicrotubules (MTs) and the cytoskeleton are dynamic, self-assembling systems\nand we asked whether their structure and function contain the clues on how to\nfabricate biomolecular information processing devices.\n Here we review our neurobiological studies of transgenic Drosophila that\nstrongly suggest the microtubular cytoskeleton is near the \u0027front lines\u0027 of\nintracellular information manipulation and storage. We also establish that\nspectroscopic techniques such as refractometry, surface plasmon resonance\nsensing and dielectric spectroscopy, coupled with molecular dynamic simulations\nand (quantum) electrodynamic analytical theory are useful tools in the study of\nthe electrodynamic and possible quantum effects in cytoskeletal proteins.\n Implicit in our driving question is the possibility that if tubulin and MTs\ncan indeed be cast as the basis of a classical or quantum computer, then\nperhaps nature has already done so and tubulin and MTs already play such a role\nin living neural and other cells. If quantum mechanics is found to be important\nin cellular function (through its involvement in proteins) it is natural to ask\nwhether there are indeed quantum effects pertinent to consciousness. We\nconclude this work by suggesting a number of ways towards experimentally\ntesting this \"Quantum Consciousness Idea\" (QCI), directly at the protein level.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0505080",
"authors": [
"Andreas Mershin",
"Hugo Sanabria",
"John H. Miller",
"Dharmakeerthna Nawarathna",
"Efthimios M. C. Skoulakis",
"Nikolaos E. Mavromatos",
"Alexadre A. Kolomenskii",
"Hans A. Schuessler",
"Richard F. Luduena",
"Dimitri V. Nanopoulos"
],
"categories": [
"physics.bio-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1007/3-540-36723-3_4",
"title": "Towards Experimental Tests of Quantum Effects in Cytoskeletal Proteins",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0505080"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "78c21214-ee8a-4ab8-9da8-438454182e51",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}