Novo Nordisk Foundation's SVP of Natural & Technical Sciences Discusses the Future of Quantum Sensing in Clinical Research

PE: Are there specific areas of disease that the center’s research will focus on? If so, what is it, and why?

Oddenshede: You can say it would be cardiovascular disease, because this sensor would have the ability to measure signals from the cardiovascular system. Also, it would be for nutrition, because these technologies have the potential to measure malnutrition. I think those would be the two most obvious clinical translations of the technologies, at least in the beginning. On the fundamental side, you can say that these technologies are also going to provide insight into how a cell or an organism works, what signals are emitted by the cell during its different processes. So it can both be used to gain fundamental insight into the function of an individual cell, or one individual organism. Within a few years, I think it's highly likely that these technologies will be able to be used to to diagnose a cardiovascular disease with much greater precision than today.

PE: What role could Quantum Sensing potentially play in the future of clinical research and discovery?

Oddenshede: It will enable a more precise diagnosis within cardiovascular diseases, with respect to malfunctioning of the heart. It could also be used within a nutrition to detect malnutrition.