Over summer, IMSE welcomes undergraduate students to spend a day working side to side with our Operations team. They help us explore new topics in the field of molecular science and engineering and draft questions for upcoming podcasts. In July, Polly Dean (Biology) and Manya Bhargava (Physics) combined their interest in plant science, quantum physics and genetics to write a blog exploring the interaction between these fields and the wide range of applications.
Quantum mechanics is a branch of Physics which describes the behaviour of subatomic particles (electrons, protons, neutrons). Genetic engineering is a method in Biology research which alters an organism’s characteristics by manipulating its genetic material. Despite their different definitions, both influence processes that control molecular interactions. Bringing together their knowledge on Biology and Physics, Polly and Manya explored examples where the combination of both disciplines (quantum and genetics) is solving global grand challenges. These include applying molecular aspects of photosynthesis to renewable energy systems, and increasing our understanding of immune responses for vaccine development.