CLEVELAND — On Monday, Cleveland Clinic and IBM unveiled a first-of-its-kind for healthcare. The first quantum computer dedicated to healthcare research.
The two organizations were joined by city leaders to recognize the huge advance in technology.
It almost looks like a piece of art, but it's really a "mega mind" that can think faster than the speed of light.
Think of your home computer like Spider Man. It can do some pretty cool things, but can only think through one problem at a time. Sometimes, that takes, well, time, which explains the wheel of doom that spins while you're waiting.
A quantum computer is more like Superman. Using quantum mechanics, it can take one problem and think of thousands of different solutions all at the same time, while even adding complexities. And it does this more than a hundred million times faster than a supercomputer.
This is a very exciting day for the economic development of Cleveland and for healthcare in general," Cleveland Clinic CEO Dr. Tom Mihaljevic told 3News. "We are delighted that Cleveland Clinic is the first site to receive a quantum computer because not only is it going to advance discovery in healthcare, but also create a lot of new jobs in Northeast Ohio."
Watch: Cleveland Clinic CEO Dr. Tom Mihaljevic spoke exclusively to 3News during Monday's unveiling
The quantum computer is a key part of the two organizations’ 10-year partnership aimed at fundamentally advancing the pace of biomedical research through high-performance computing.
“The current pace of scientific discovery is unacceptably slow, while our research needs are growing exponentially,” said Lara Jehi, M.D., Cleveland Clinic’s Chief Research Information Officer. “We cannot afford to continue to spend a decade or more going from a research idea in a lab to therapies on the market. Quantum offers a future to transform this pace, particularly in drug discovery and machine learning.”
There are 25 clinic projects on tap, including drug discovery. The computer can configure various molecules into drugs, that would take years to do in a lab.
"You only build the top highest potential formulation and then try those out so it cuts years in the time that it takes to develop new medications," Dr. Jehi said.
Because this is the first quantum computer dedicated to healthcare research, scientists will first second-guess it by asking it questions they already know the answers to.
"To see how the answers that its providing compare to the answers we know, and we're going to use that information to define exactly what it can and cannot do," Dr. Jehi said.
But it will only get smarter with time and the more information it gets, the more solutions it can find.
"This computer is going to put us at a level that literally no other healthcare system has access to at this point," Dr. Jehi said.
She also said that they will collaborate with universities and other health centers on research. Also, several scientists from around the world are already planning trips to Cleveland to see if the Quantum can help with their scientific research as well.