Elevating the quantum biology field for real-world interventions

Clarice is a quantum engineer interested in how quantum physics informs biology at the nanoscale. Born and raised in Brazil, Clarice obtained a Diplome d'Ingenieur in Physics from the Ecole Polytechnique in France and an M.Phil. in Physics from the University of Cambridge, Trinity College, in England; she received her Ph.D. from MIT in Electrical Engineering. She further held postdoctoral appointments in Bioengineering at Stanford, and in Chemistry at Berkeley.

Alessandro Lodesani is the Institute's Chief Operating Officer, overseeing its daily research operations. With a strong background in physics and engineering, combined with extensive experience in biology research, Alessandro focuses on designing innovative devices and optimizing lab processes. Originally from Italy, Alessandro earned a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering and a PhD in Physics, graduating with honors from the Polytechnic University of Milan, with a specialization in spintronics and molecular interfaces. His previous research at MIT focused on topological qubits and superconducting thin films, where he successfully developed the world's most efficient superconducting diode platform. Alessandro then joined the Institute in its early days at UCLA, where he led several projects investigating the influence of weak magnetic fields on biological systems.

Jennilyn Gaitan graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Media and Film from Towson University. Since 2004, she has worked in various administrative and operational roles across multiple industries, including retail, higher education, photography, real estate, and small business operations. Jennilyn has a passion for creating and refining the systems and processes that businesses use, to run most efficiently, which has been a hallmark of her career. In November 2023, Jennilyn joined the Quantum Biology Institute, contributing her expertise to the administration and operations of the Institute.

Dr. Michael Montague's responsibilities at the Quantum Biology Institute include serving as CTO, as well as performing microbiology research concerning the multi-omics of the weak magnetic field response of micro-organisms. He is co-appointed at the Archimedes Network where he focuses upon threat modeling of emerging technologies. Prior to his current roles, Michael was a Senior Scholar at the Center for Health Security at Hopkins, a Research Associate at the Future for Humanity Institute, and a Staff Scientist at the J. Craig Venter Institute. His Ph.D is in Microbiology, and he is published in the fields of Virology, Bioinformatics, Synthetic Biology, Astrobiology, and Biosecurity.

Brian L Ross, PhD is a molecular biologist with an expertise in protein design and evolution. He studied Biological Engineering at MIT. He received a PhD from The Johns Hopkins University in Biomedical Engineering, where he worked on fluorescent protein biosensor design and the development of superresolution probes. He then did a postdoctoral fellowship at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he developed computational methods for studying the evolution of proteins. He brings expertise in molecular cloning, structural biology, and protein evolution.

Todd Thaxton serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Quantum Biology Institute, where he leads institutional strategy, partnerships, and growth at the intersection of frontier science, medicine, and impact-driven investment. In this role, he is responsible for shaping the Institute’s long-term scientific vision and building the institutional, financial, and global partnerships, including the development of an affiliated incubator to translate research into new ventures. Todd has raised more than $1 billion in philanthropic, scientific, and early-stage investment capital to support initiatives across science, engineering, medicine, and technology. Todd is a startup founder and investor with experience spanning precision medicine, medical devices, and health and wellness, and he serves on the board of The World Is Just a Book Away. He holds an MBA from USC and an MPA from Columbia University. He was recently selected to the inaugural cohort of a leadership program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where Harvard will soon publish his research on artificial intelligence and improving learning outcomes. He is also a member of FBI InfraGard and Harvard Innovation Labs.

Bret Gaitan supports the Quantum Biology Institute in administrative and operational roles, assisting with information gathering, organizational planning, and process improvement. Earlier in his career, he worked in military intelligence, synthesizing and analyzing information and briefing decision-makers. Bret also has experience in public education and built a residential real estate acquisitions business, developing skills in management, operations, marketing, and negotiation. He later worked with Jennilyn Gaitan providing operational support to businesses across multiple industries before focusing primarily on the Quantum Biology Institute.

Morgan is a computational physical chemist and research software developer who leads the design and development of research data systems, scientific publishing infrastructure, and computational resources. She received her PhD in computational physical chemistry, where she developed a novel Holstein Hamiltonian-based method for modeling the absorption spectra of molecular aggregate mixtures, work that achieved a greater than 99% reduction in computational cost through custom parameter optimization. Her doctoral research spanned both laser spectroscopy in the lab and computational modeling, giving her a dual perspective on experimental and theoretical approaches to science. At QBI, Morgan designed and built the Institute's entire research infrastructure from the ground up: self-hosted server and storage systems, automated backup and disaster recovery pipelines, cybersecurity protocols, an electronic lab notebook system, and the automated open science publishing pipeline that converts scientist-authored notebooks into publicly accessible, FAIR-compliant documentation at data.quantumbiology.org. Her work is driven by the principle that research infrastructure should embed FAIR data principles into its architecture from the start, and that the best tools are boring, reliable, and invisible to the people using them. Morgan brings expertise in scientific computing, Python development, Linux systems administration, and a track record of building generalizable research tools designed for adoption beyond a single organization.

Venkatesh is a cardiovascular and cardiometabolic disease biologist with deep experience translating complex disease mechanisms into therapeutic strategies. As Head of Redox Biology at the Quantum Biology Institute, he focuses on how quantum-level phenomena, including electron spin dynamics, radical pair mechanisms, and weak magnetic fields, influence reactive oxygen species generation, cellular signaling, and metabolic state. His work sits at the intersection of redox biochemistry, mitochondrial biology, and quantum science, with a focus on how subtle physical forces shape electron transfer processes in living systems. Prior to joining QBI, Venkatesh built and led cardiovascular discovery biology teams in the biopharmaceutical industry, advancing programs in heart failure, genetic cardiomyopathies, and cardiometabolic disease. At QBI, he is developing experimental frameworks to quantify quantum-modulated redox processes across biological systems, with the goal of enabling a new class of therapeutic interventions grounded in controllable quantum-biological interactions.