What happens when a quantum computing pioneer discovers the hidden wisdom of native plants? Samarth Sandeep, CEO of If and Only If Technologies, shares his unconventional journey from dreaming about seawater-powered cars to revolutionizing protein interactions through quantum algorithms and quantum chemistry.

Key Topics:

• How native plant ecosystems with lower microplastic content inspire sustainable drug discovery approaches

• Why biotech embraces unpredictable LLMs but hesitates on quantum computing—despite quantum’s better-understood computational complexities

• QAOA-based protein pruning: Making quantum algorithms work with current hardware limitations

• The paradox: How quantum is more practical than people think for drug discovery

• Indigenous plant knowledge meets cutting-edge quantum chemistry

What You’ll Learn:

• Practical quantum computing applications in protein folding and molecular interactions

• How environmental justice connects to pharmaceutical innovation

• Why quantum algorithms outperform traditional methods for specific biotech challenges

• Career lessons: From teenage inventor to quantum biotech CEO

Timestamps:

• 0:00 Cold Open: The garden that changed everything

• 2:00 Host Welcome & Episode Preview

• 5:00 Samarth’s Journey: From seawater cars to quantum biotech

• 12:00 Native plants & microplastics: The environmental connection

• 22:00 Deep Dive: Quantum algorithms for protein interactions

• 35:00 Quantum vs. LLMs: The biotech industry paradox

• 48:00 QAOA protein pruning explained

• 58:00 Quantum-selected listener question

• 1:04:00 Future of quantum in drug discovery

• 1:08:00 Closing thoughts

🎧 Ready to explore how environmental stewardship, quantum computing reliability, and protein network discoveries are converging to transform medicine?

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samarth-sandeep-81a02487/

Literature mentioned:

1. Aramyan S, McGregor K, Sandeep S, Haczku A. SP-A binding to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein using hybrid quantum and classical in silico modeling and molecular pruning by Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) Based MaxCut with ZDOCK. Frontiers in Immunology. 2022 Sep 13;13:945317.
2. Montanez-Barrera JA, Michielsen K, Neira DE. Evaluating the performance of quantum processing units at large width and depth. arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.06471. 2025 Feb 10.
3. Yan L, Samarth S, Kirk M, Chandler HP. Developing a Proteomic Framework of Oncopathologies for Rare Hematological Malignancies, like T Lymphomas, through Protein-Protein Interactions to Effectively Connect Patients to Real-World Clinical Trials. In American Journal of Hematology 2022 Oct 1 (Vol. 97, pp. S12-S13)., NJ USA: WILEY. P-018.

Further Links:

Iff Website: https://iff.bio

California Native Garden Foundation Website: cngf.org

The disclaimer: All chats at entangled health are a co-creation between the guest and myself, and not an official statement from our industries. Guests are here in a personal capacity,  as am I, so everything we share is just our own take, not the official view of any company nor of my employer or any other organization.