| This work will enhance understanding of how biology integrates quantum behavior into macromolecular function. Proteins and macromolecules have evolved to rely, at least to some degree, on underlying quantum phenomena such as tunneling and spin coherence. The biological outcomes depend on the interplay between the scaffold of the protein (which is often treated classically) and the quantum behavior found within more localized regions of the protein. Investigators within this collaboration will draw upon both experimental and theoretical efforts that focus on hydrogen tunneling and vibrational energy transport in lipoxygenase catalysis as well as on optically excited radical pair formation, spin coherence, and decay in proteins (cryptochromes) that are associated with magnetoreception and circadian clocks. |