Getting a Deeper Sense for Non-Classical Sensing

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In September 2019, a two-day workshop, entitled “Getting a Deeper Sense for Non-Classical Sensing,” was held in Washington D.C., that brought together a group of world-class scientific leaders from around the globe to review key findings and progress, as well as new technologies, techniques, and approaches, in the study of non-classical behavior/sensing and its effects on biological function. Participants consisted of researchers who have extensive background with non-classical sensors as well as those who are elucidate sensing biological processes or characteristics. Non-classical sensing can occur across multiple length scales and potentially involves collective behavior, which allows for deriving better sensing capabilities from emergent properties in the group rather than an individual entity. This nascent field of study may allow for potential breakthroughs in understanding and unprecedented control of biological function and other processes for new applications. The workshop identified gaps and particularly highlighted several potential application areas including understanding cancer and brain function.

The “Getting a Deeper Sense for Non-Classical Sensing” workshop was hosted by the Johns Hopkins University through grant support by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and the National Science (NSF) and in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Furthermore, the workshop was a follow-on to the “Non-Classical Behaviors in Biological Functions: Potential for Smart Sensing” workshop, held in Arlington, Va. in April 2018 through support from AFOSR.

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Scientists and thought leaders from around the world met in Washington D.C., in September 2019 to discuss new technologies, techniques and approaches in the study of non-classical behavior and sensing and its effects on biological function.

Report

Executive Summary

There is a growing body of evidence of non-classical (e.g., quantum mechanical, biophysical processes, collective behavior, etc.) behavior playing non-trivial roles in a wide range of biological function (e.g., photosynthesis, or magnetoreception) that span multiple spatial and temporal scales. For example, collective motion is observed in many animal species, such as fishes and ants, on the macroscale and subcellular collective behavior is also observed in microtubles dynamics. Just as nature may leverage non-classical behavior to enhance efficiency or functionality, thereby confer a competitive biological advantage, could similar non-classical biophysical effects be leveraged in non-biological systems, and thus create a competitive advantage? Such non-classical biophysical processes can lay the foundation for a new revolutionary class of sensing modalities and opens the possibility of “seeing” (and extending) beyond our current detection capabilities in monitoring our surroundings.

Under this basis, a strategic workshop, “Non-Classical Behaviors in Biological Functions: Potential for Smart Sensing,” was held on April 12-13, 2018 in Arlington, Virginia. A follow-on workshop, “Getting a Deeper Sense for Non-Classical Sensing,” was organized and hosted by the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) through grant support by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and the National Science (NSF) and in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on September 23-24, 2019 in Washington D.C. This workshop assembled a disparate group of world-class scientific leaders in the non-classical fields to explore further in depth the following:

  • Assess key findings and the progress to date in the field;
  • Explore advanced tools and techniques needed to identify new/non-classical behavior and/or provide unmistakable signatures of non-classical effects in biological systems;
  • Identify challenges and potential approaches for the incorporation and scaling up of non-classical behavior appearing in smart sensors.

For the purpose of the workshop, non-classical sensing is defined as either sensing of non-classical processes and living systems, or non-classical sensing as it is being applied to measure living systems; and sometimes, it can be both. Over the two days, the workshop was partitioned into eight panel sessions covering the overarching objections.

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