A quantum leap in computing began with baby steps at Cleveland Clinic - Ideastream

Science & Technology A quantum leap in computing began with baby steps at Cleveland Clinic Ideastream Public Media | By Jeff St.

Clair Published September 15, 2026 at 6:00 AM EDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Listen • 4:33 Cleveland Clinic An elaborate lattice of cooling tubes and superconductors called a chandelier holds the quantum chip at the base the IBM quantum computer at the Cleveland Clinic. Cleveland Clinic in 2021 became the first health care system to house a quantum computer. Cleveland is home to one of world’s most sophisticated pieces of machinery.IBM’s powerful quantum computer is housed at the Cleveland Clinic as part of the health system’s Discovery Accelerator initiative.It’s one of only a few dozen of its kind in the world, and researchers are still figuring out how to use it.Leading the effort is the Clinic’s first chief research information officer, Dr. Lara Jehi. Jeff St.Clair Dr. Lara Jehi is a practicing neurologist and the Cleveland Clinic's Chief Research Information officer. She's manages research using the quantum computer that is part of a 10-year, $100 million partnership with IBM. She's a neurologist who each week still treats patients, while managing research that uses one of the world's most powerful pieces of computing hardware.Jehi and the Cleveland Clinic birthed the quantum computer in 2021 as part of a 10 year, $100 million partnership with IBM.Jehi chose the very visible employee cafeteria at the Clinic's Lerner Research Institute to house the quantum system because she wanted to spark ideas among her colleagues. It sits inside an 11-foot-tall glass cube specially designed to absorb vibrations from passing traffic.Jehi feels a very personal connection to the quantum computer.“It’s my baby, " she said, with a laugh. "It took nine months to build it. That's how long it takes to have a baby.”And Jehi's dreams for the computer mirror those for her own, human children. "I'm raising it so that it can do good in the world,” she said, smiling.The quantum cubeExactly what that "good" will be, and how it will be accomplished, are complicated by the fact that researchers are still learning the computer's capabilities. Jeff St.Clair Vipin Chaudhary is head of Case Western Reserve University's computer science department. He says quantum computing still has hurdles to overcome, such as the high error rate that is inherent in current systems, but he sees the technology as a major leap forward. The IBM quantum computer uses the mysterious physics of the subatomic realm to perform millions of calculations simultaneously.“Some magic happens in there," said Vipin Chaudhary, chair of the computer science department at Case Western Reserve University.He's being humorous, but it's true that the quantum system is fundamentally different from 'classical' computers, which solve equations through a series of yes/no questions using 1’s and 0’s, or "bits." Quantum computers, on the other hand, use ‘qubits’ that can be yes, no or maybe — all at the same time, allowing them to sift through many solutions simultaneously.But quantum indeterminacy can cause "lots of errors,” Chaudhary said. That’s because maintaining the ‘uncertain’ quantum state is tricky.In order to do its quantum magic, the IBM chip must be cooled to nearly absolute zero — or minus 460 degrees Fahrenheit.Quantum drug discoveryStill, “it is amazing how far we have come," Chaudhary said.For example, quantum chemist Dr. Kenneth Merz has already used the Clinic's computer — the first quantum computer housed at a health care system — to help map the structure of a protein, the 12,000 atom enzyme trypsin, that was a quantum leap past previous modeling.Merz said drug discovery — finding out exactly how medicines work in the body — is where quantum computing shines, including ultra-high-accuracy calculations of drug molecules binding to receptors.The work of Merz and his team is up for this year’s Gordon Bell Prize, considered the “Nobel" of supercomputing.Quantum competitiveness Cleveland Clinic’s Lara Jehi is confident the technical issues will be solved — and there’s a deadline.“Quantum has become a national priority,” she said.The Trump administration this summer issued an executive order requiring error-free quantum computing to be up and running in the U.S. government by 2028 — part of a competitive strategy for the U.S. to dominate cutting-edge computing.Jehi serves on a federal sub-committee looking at the uses of quantum computing in life science research. She and her team have so far found quantum works best in tandem with ‘classical’ computers in solving big problems.She’s understandably proud of her baby, now a promising toddler.“Like all babies, it’s going to evolve and we will figure out things with it that we had no idea we could," she said. "The future with it is still to be charted."She’s proud that part of that future is being made in Cleveland.