Science brief
Halting Metastasis and Mitigating Quantum Noise
Weizmann researchers repurpose widely used drugs to block cancer spread, while Jerusalem-based Qedma helps IBM demonstrate practical quantum advantage.
Science
Qedma's error-mitigation software unlocks immediate scientific utility from existing noisy quantum processors — ending the era of purely theoretical quantum supremacy and launching commercial materials simulation.
BackgroundQuantum computers promise to solve equations that are impossible for classical machines, but environmental noise has historically corrupted calculations and limited practical applications. Jerusalem-based Qedma has focused on developing algorithmic error-mitigation software to clean up noisy hardware outputs.
- The simulation ran on IBM's Quantum Heron processor using Qedma's error-mitigation software, successfully mapping the magnetic behaviors of materials under pulsed fields.
- To verify the system's precision, Qedma executed the same mathematical calculations on a completely separate trapped-ion quantum architecture developed by Quantinuum, obtaining matching results.
- The achievement establishes error-mitigated quantum processors as trustworthy scientific instruments, allowing researchers to model next-generation materials like advanced superconductors without waiting for fault-tolerant hardware.
Science
Repurposing sildenafil to starve cancer cells of cholesterol offers a fast-track oncology treatment — bypassing the decade-long regulatory approval timelines required for entirely new chemical compounds.
BackgroundMetastasis remains the primary driver of mortality in cancer patients, as migrating cells easily evade traditional chemotherapy. This new research focuses on repurposing widely approved existing drugs to disrupt the fundamental cellular biology of tumors.
- Sildenafil inhibits the PDE5 enzyme, inducing a molecular lock that prevents specific transport proteins from delivering essential cholesterol into migrating cancer cells.
- Combining sildenafil with standard cholesterol-lowering statins dramatically halted the spread of aggressive tumors in laboratory models, suggesting a highly synergistic dual-therapy effect.
- The researchers validated their laboratory findings using clinical data from Clalit Health Services, which revealed significantly higher survival rates in cancer patients already taking both medications.
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