China's First Quantum Molecular Docking Application A Breakthrough in Small Molecule Drug Research
TapTechNews August 10th news, according to the report of Science and Technology Daily, Bengbu Medical University and Benyuan Quantum Computing Technology (Hefei) Co., Ltd. will jointly develop the first domestic quantum molecular docking application in China, relying on China's third-generation independent superconducting quantum computer to accelerate the small molecule drug research and development process and improve the drug design efficiency with quantum computing power.
Small molecule drugs can easily penetrate the cell membrane to reach any position and interact with the target protein to exert the corresponding therapeutic effect. Zhang Yixuan, a researcher at the School of Pharmacy of Bengbu Medical University, introduced: If the target protein is compared to a lock, the small molecule is the key. In the process of small molecule drug design, we need to find the really matching 'lock' and 'key' through molecular docking.
The report said that the traditional molecular docking method depends on high-performance computer clusters for a large number of computations, which is time-consuming and has low accuracy. And quantum computing technology, due to its powerful computing power, can solve the computing power bottleneck problem existing in traditional small molecule drug design, can significantly improve the speed and accuracy of molecular docking, thus opening up a more efficient and more accurate new path for drug screening.
It is learned that this cooperation is not only an important exploration of the application of China's quantum computing technology in the field of biomedicine, but also provides a new idea for the transformation of the future pharmaceutical research and development model.
According to the previous report of TapTechNews, on January 6 this year, China's third-generation independent superconducting quantum computer Benyuan Wukong officially went online and operated in Hefei Benyuan Quantum Company, and was temporarily and freely opened to global users to receive global quantum computing tasks.
This quantum computer is equipped with 72-bit independent superconducting quantum chip Wukong Chip, which is the most advanced programmable and deliverable superconducting quantum computer in China at present.
The Anhui Provincial Quantum Computing Engineering Research Center announced that as of 9 a.m. on June 17, the global access volume of China's third-generation independent superconducting quantum computer Benyuan Wukong exceeded 10 million. This is the first time that China has provided independent quantum computing power on a large scale and for a long time internationally, and has successfully coped with the access demand of over 10 million times.