Our final thrust transitions from development of quantum sensors and imaging platforms to using these tools to address both fundamental and applied questions in biology and medicine. The goals of this thrust are to uncover previously unmeasurable properties and dynamics in nanoscale environments, determine spatial correlations and patterning of these features across living cells or tissue at larger scales, and understand how all of the above influences larger scale biological and health outcomes. To hasten widespread adoption of quantum technologies for biological sensing, we will also make the most promising and advanced sensing and imaging platforms widely available to other researchers through core facilities at UChicago.
Many subcellular objects, including certain organelles, compartments, complexes, and synapses, are currently minimally accessible (even inaccessible) to detailed study; nanoscale features, molecular crowding, and physical barriers confound or block classical imaging and sensing approaches. In particular, study of membranes, interfaces, and junctions, where dissimilar regions interact, will be greatly assisted by the integration of the quantum sensors and the correlated and/or delocalized sensing106 approaches enabled by quantum technologies, so these inaccessible regions may be sensitively probed.