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Quantum-centric supercomputing simulates 12,635-atom protein

Phys · · 1720 words · By Rafi Letzter
International Scientific Collaboration Quantum Computing Advancement Technological Optimism

Researchers from Cleveland Clinic, RIKEN, and IBM used a quantum-centric supercomputing framework to simulate the electronic structure of large protein-ligand complexes, reaching a scale of 12,635 atoms. The study utilized a combination of quantum processors and classical supercomputers to improve the scale and accuracy of chemistry simulations.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-05-quantum-centric-supercomputing-simulates-atom.html

analyticsAnalysis

20%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Minor concerns. Some persuasive language detected, but largely factual.

psychologyDetected Techniques

warning
Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
warning
Glittering Generalities 70% confidence
Using vague, emotionally appealing phrases ('freedom', 'justice') without specifics.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

15 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 7
schedule Pending 5
info Single Source 2
help Insufficient Evidence 1
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“researchers from Cleveland Clinic, RIKEN, and IBM used a quantum-centric supercomputing (QCSC) framework to calculate the electronic structure of a pair of large protein-ligand complexes, reaching a scale of 12,635 atoms in the largest simulation.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web search results confirm that researchers from Cleveland Clinic, RIKEN, and IBM used a quantum-centric supercomputing (QCSC) framework to simulate protein complexes, specifically reaching a scale of 12,635 atoms.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A list of Equinox episodes shows the full set of editions of the defunct (July 1986 - December 2006) Channel 4 science documentary series Equinox.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Equinox_episodes
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web search NEUTRAL — Cleveland Clinic, RIKEN, and IBM used quantum-centric supercomputing to model T4-Lysozyme and Trypsin proteins at with 94 qubits.
https://postquantum.com/industry-news/quantum-protein-simula…
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web search NEUTRAL — Researchers used QCSC simulation to accurately estimate the free energy of FLiBe atoms, matching state-of-the-art classical approaches without using “crude approximations.”
https://quantumcomputer.blog/ibm-think-2026-highlights-quant…
+ 1 more evidence source
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“The molecules were T4-Lysozyme... and Trypsin”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources explicitly name T4-Lysozyme and Trypsin as the proteins simulated in the study.
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web search NEUTRAL — The work marks a major scale-up in how quantum computers can be used alongside classical supercomputers to study real-world chemistry problems. The team simulated two biologically relevant proteins, T…
https://interestingengineering.com/science/quantum-computers…
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web search NEUTRAL — trypsin is a type of serine protease enzyme, and benzamidine is its well-known inhibitor. The trypsin-benzamidine complex is a well-established benchmark for the development of new methodologies in pr…
https://arxiv.org/html/2605.01138
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web search NEUTRAL — T4 endolysin (lysozyme)41 is a two-domain, 164-residue globular protein that has. also been subject of extensive study, and widely used to investigate the role of hydrophobic. interactions in protein …
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/367368066_Calculati…
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“The team simulated these proteins binding to molecules they interact with in nature and immersed in a liquid water solution, at scales of 11,608 atoms and 12,635 atoms respectively.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results confirm the simulation of T4-Lysozyme and Trypsin, specifically mentioning the 12,635-atom scale for Trypsin. While the 11,608 figure is not explicitly detailed in the snippets, the overall context of the protein-ligand complexes and the 12,635 peak is confirmed by multiple sources.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of articles that describe particular biomolecules or types of biomolecules.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_biomolecules
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Crystal structures of protein and nucleic acid molecules and their complexes are central to the practice of most parts of biophysics, and have shaped much of what we understand scientifically at the a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_biophysically_importan…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This list contains a list of EC numbers for the third group, EC 3, hydrolases, placed in numerical order as determined by the Nomenclature Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Mole…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_EC_numbers_(EC_3)
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“The researchers achieved this scale just four months after modeling the 303-atom miniprotein Trp-cage using quantum computing for the first time.”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web sources confirm that the team modeled the 303-atom miniprotein Trp-cage four months prior to the current achievement.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Ayyanar Thunai (transl. Support of Ayyanar) is a 2025 Indian Tamil language drama television series starring Madhumitha Hirannaiah in the lead role, along with Aravind Seiju, Munaf Rahman, VJ Arun Kar…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayyanar_Thunai
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Pablo G. Debenedetti is the Class of 1950 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science, Emeritus, and a professor of chemical and biological engineering, emeritus, at Princeton University. He served a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_G._Debenedetti
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is an organic compound with the formula (CH3)3NO. It is in the class of amine oxides. Although the anhydrous compound is known, trimethylamine N-oxide is usually encounte…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimethylamine_N-oxide
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
“it represents a 210-times improvement in accuracy from previous state-of-the-art QCSC approaches in a specific step of the workflow.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific '210-times improvement in accuracy' is mentioned in the title of one web search result, but other results do not independently corroborate this specific numerical value.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Transport in Qatar is primarily centered around the Doha Metropolitan Area (DMA), where approximately 2 million people reside and work. Doha, the capital city, serves as the national hub for governmen…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Qatar
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Department of Military Lands and Cantonments is the government department responsible for the land management of cantonments in Bangladesh. Shamim Ahmed is the current Director General of Department o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Military_Lands_a…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. (Arabic: الخطوط الجوية القطرية, al-Qaṭariyya), operating as Qatar Airways, is the flag carrier of Qatar. It was established by the government of Qatar in 1993, and has b…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar_Airways
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“They performed quantum sampling on two 156-qubit IBM Quantum Heron r2 processors”
CORROBORATED
Confirmed by both Wikipedia (detailing the 156-qubit Heron processor) and a web search result specifically linking the use of two Heron r2 processors to this protein simulation.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — IBM Condor is a 1,121-qubit quantum processor created by IBM, unveiled during the IBM Quantum Summit 2023, which occurred on December 4, 2023. It is the 2nd largest quantum processor (in terms of qubi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Condor
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — IBM Heron is a 156-qubit tunable-coupler quantum processor created by IBM, originally unveiled during the IBM Quantum Summit 2023, which occurred on December 4, 2023, and is the highest performance qu…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Heron
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — IBM Quantum System Two is the first modular utility-scaled quantum computer system, unveiled by IBM on December 4, 2023. It is a successor to the IBM Quantum System One. It contains three IBM Quantum …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Q_System_Two
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
“processed the resulting data using the classical supercomputers Fugaku and Miyabi-G.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for claim 6 consists of irrelevant search results about photo-editing laptops. No mention of Fugaku or Miyabi-G supercomputers in the context of this study was found in the provided evidence.
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web search NEUTRAL — Apr 20, 2026 · Our computer expert and lab technician picks out the best best photo-editing laptops that can also double as super-fast home workstations that'll cover every eventuality
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/buying-guides/best-laptop…
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web search NEUTRAL — Mar 20, 2026 · Best laptops for photo editing and storage, ranked. MacBook Pro M5 leads 8 picks covering OLED displays, fast SSDs, and all-day battery. Mac and Windows options from $999 to $2,255.
https://www.photoworkout.com/best-laptop-for-storing-photos/
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web search NEUTRAL — Apr 20, 2023 · Many photographers these days have switched to laptop-based photo editing systems, while others just want a laptop for occasional use. In today’s guide, I’ll take a look at some of the …
https://photographylife.com/best-laptops-photography
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“The initial Trp-cage result on which this new work builds relies on a technique called wave function-based embedding (EWF)”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm the use of wave function-based embedding (EWF) to fragment the Trp-cage molecule for quantum simulation.
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web search NEUTRAL — Wave Function-Based Embedding Fragments Molecules for Quantum Compute.The team fragmented Trp-cage into computationally manageable “clusters” using a technique called wave function-based embedding, th…
https://quantumzeitgeist.com/ibm-quantum-computing-cleveland…
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web search NEUTRAL — This paper Protein presents a workflow that combines quantum and classical computing to perform electronic structure calculations on large biomolecules, specifically applying the approach to the 300-a…
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nishantha-ruwan-15b301b2_mole…
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web search NEUTRAL — This introduces the EWF class to perform a more generalized wave function based quantum embedding that improves on DMET for ab initio systems, as presented in Phys.
https://boothgroup.github.io/Vayesta/quickstart/ewf.html
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“a quantum computer uses a method called sample-based quantum diagonalization (SQD) to solve the more complex clusters”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided in the search results regarding 'sample-based quantum diagonalization (SQD)'.
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“To model the proteins T4-Lysozyme and Trypsin, the team used up to 94 qubits across two quantum computers, ran 9,200 circuits for over 100 hours, and collected 1.3 billion measurement outcomes.”
CORROBORATED
A web search result explicitly states the use of 94 qubits across two quantum systems, 9,200 circuits for more than 100 hours, and 1.3 billion measurements for the T4-Lysozyme and Trypsin simulations.
schedule
“the team implemented a novel approach to SQD... This novel method they called TrimSQD.”
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“The team distributed the quantum sampling work across two Heron r2s—ibm_cleveland, located at Cleveland Clinic, and ibm_kobe at RIKEN.”
PENDING
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“they split the task of diagonalizing the subspaces... between the supercomputer Fugaku at RIKEN and Miyabi-G, a GPU-accelerated supercomputer operated by the University of Tokyo and the University of Tsukuba.”
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“future, fault-tolerant quantum computers like IBM Quantum Starling, expected in 2029.”
PENDING
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“Kenneth M. Merz, et al, Crossing the 12,000-atom barrier with heterogeneous quantum-classical supercomputing: quantum chemistry of protein-ligand complexes, arXiv (2026). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2605.01138”
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info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.