https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-07022-4
Review
On the potential of microtubules for scalable quantum computation
1
Physics Division, School of Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou Campus, 157 80, Athens, Greece
2
Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology Group, Department of Physics, King’s College London, WC2R 2LS, London, UK
3
MIT Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA
4
Real Nose AI, 626 Massachusetts Ave., 2nd Floor, 02476, Arlington, MA, USA
5
Division of Natural Sciences, Academy of Athens, 10679, Athens, Greece
6
George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, 77843, College Station, TX, USA
7
Theoretical Physics Department, CERN, 1211, Geneva 23, Switzerland
8
The Osmocosm Public Benefit Foundation, Boston, MA, USA
9
The Digital Health Literacy and Policy Hub Foundation, New York, NY, USA
a
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Received:
26
June
2025
Accepted:
31
October
2025
Published online:
19
November
2025
Abstract
We examine the quantum coherence properties of tubulin heterodimers arranged into the protofilaments of cytoskeletal microtubules. In the physical model proposed by the authors, the microtubule interiors are treated as high-Q quantum electrodynamics (QED) cavities that can support decoherence-resistant entangled states under physiological conditions, with decoherence times of the order of 
s. We identify strong electric dipole interactions between tubulin dimers and ordered water dipole quanta within the microtuble interior as the mechanism responsible for the extended coherence times. Classical nonlinear (pseudospin) 
-models describing solitonic excitations are reinterpreted as emergent quantum-coherent—or possibly pointer—states, arising from incomplete collapse of dipole-aligned quantum states. These solitons mediate dissipation-free energy transfer along microtubule filaments. We discuss logic-gate-like behaviour facilitated by microtubule-associated proteins, and outline how such structures may enable scalable, ambient-temperature quantum computation, with the fundamental unit of information storage realized as a quDit encoded in the tubulin dipole state. We further describe a process akin to “decision-making” that emerges following an external stimulus, whereby optimal, energy-loss-free signal and information transport pathways are selected across the microtubular network. Finally, we propose experimental approaches—including Rabi-splitting spectroscopy and entangled surface plasmon probes—to validate the use of biomatter as a substrate for scalable quantum computation.
© The Author(s) 2025
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