Willis Towers Watson<\/a>, a global advisory, brokerage and solutions company, is also exploring how Microsoft\u2019s quantum-inspired algorithms might improve the complex mathematical models the company uses to quantify risk and inform investment strategies.<\/p>\n Microsoft researchers developed the algorithms as part of a larger effort to create the industry\u2019s most stable and scalable quantum computer<\/a> using quantum information particles called topological qubits<\/a>. Once it\u2019s built, the researchers say the quantum computing platform could allow scientists to do computations in minutes that would take current computers billions of years.<\/p>\n The quantum-inspired algorithms simulate how those systems work but can be run on existing computers. As development of a general-purpose quantum computer continues to progress, companies today can join the Microsoft Quantum Network<\/a> to access new quantum-inspired services that work with Microsoft Azure and classical computer hardware like central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).<\/p>\n \u201cIt turns out that quantum thinking and lessons we\u2019ve learned from programming the computer have led us to a breakthrough that we can run today classically,\u201d said Julie Love, Microsoft\u2019s director of quantum business development.<\/p>\n That\u2019s allowing the Microsoft team to develop and accelerate customer solutions in healthcare, financial management, oil and gas and automotive industries, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cMore powerful hardware is coming, but these quantum advances are happening now,\u201d Love said.<\/p>\n As any parent knows, it\u2019s possible to put your hand on a child\u2019s forehead and get a useful sense of whether he or she might be running a fever.<\/p>\n But without a thermometer to measure the temperature, it\u2019s harder to make an informed decision about what to do \u2014 whether to wait and see, treat with medicine or rush to the hospital.<\/p>\n Magnetic resonance fingerprinting is a technique to give doctors interpreting an MRI that same degree of quantitative precision across a range of tissue properties, rather than relying on experience to subjectively decide whether the brightness or color of a particular area indicates the tissue is diseased or healthy. It\u2019s currently in use at a dozen academic medical centers, and more widespread adoption is expected in coming years, researchers said.<\/p>\n \u201cMillions and millions of people have been saved or had their lives improved by MRI, but largely what we\u2019ve done so far is the equivalent of putting our hand on someone\u2019s head,\u201d said Griswold. \u201cThe big change that fingerprinting allows is that we can get the numbers, like a temperature reading, that allow you to directly make a diagnosis.\u201d<\/p>\n Magnetic resonance fingerprinting, which has been shown to outperform comparable quantitative MRI protocols<\/a> by a factor of 1.8, produces numerical measurements of tissue properties for each and every pixel of an image. It accomplishes this by using far more intricate pulse sequences \u2014 harmless radio waves that combine with magnetic fields to generate distinctive signals from different types of fat, tissue or tumors within a patient\u2019s body.<\/p>\n Those data-intensive patterns are then compared to a vast library of tissues with a known magnetic resonance \u201cfingerprint\u201d that can be calculated directly from physics simulations. With sufficient precision, a pattern match alone could be used to diagnose colon or brain cancer, sparing patients from painful or invasive diagnostic procedures.<\/p>\n And in conditions like multiple sclerosis and epilepsy, the fingerprint scans can pick up changes in the brain that are invisible with conventional methods yet are more clinically meaningful than the ones doctors can see today. That could help better predict how the disease will progress in a patient or determine whether new drugs are effective at combating diseases for which there\u2019s currently no good measure of success.<\/p>\n The trick with magnetic resonance fingerprinting is figuring out which out of the exponentially vast universe of possible pulse sequences will produce scans quickly and with enough accuracy to distinguish between healthy tissue and different manifestations of disease. Because each sequence is made up of many individual pulses that can each vary by angle, intensity or duration, the number of potential sequences for complex acquisitions is immense \u2014 rivaling the number of atoms in the visible universe.<\/p>\n \u201cVery quickly this becomes a problem with so many possibilities that are all coupled to each other that traditional optimization methods really struggle to solve it in any realistic way,\u201d Griswold said. \u201cThere are unique advantages with the quantum-inspired algorithms that are allowing us to get results that we just haven\u2019t been able to see with anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n The pulse sequences picked by Microsoft\u2019s optimization algorithms have provided scans up to three times faster than previous ones \u2014 which would increase throughput, drive down costs and improve access to a potentially lifesaving diagnosis, particularly in areas that have months-long waits for MRIs<\/a>.<\/p>\n And the approximately 30 percent boost in precision for T2 measurements, which can be an important identifier of disease, could mean the difference between catching a tumor early and not seeing it until promising treatment options are limited.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been able to show really significant gains that go way beyond just tweaking the system a little bit,\u201d said Griswold, who also serves as the faculty director for Case Western Reserve\u2019s Interactive Commons<\/a>. \u201cI feel like the quantum-inspired algorithms and the quantum computer are literally going to give us the next quantum leap. You\u2019re never going to get those massive changes in your business by doing things the same old way.\u201d<\/p>\n In a quantum computer, the unique properties of qubits \u2014 in particular, their ability to hold a value of 0 and 1 at the same time \u2014 allow them to process information exponentially faster and potentially find solutions to problems around climate change and world hunger<\/a> that are simply not possible today. But because the quantum particles are notoriously finicky and unstable, Microsoft is working to develop more reliable and scalable qubits that can support a full quantum computing platform.<\/p>\n![\"Julie](\"http:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-the-quest-for-a-scalable-quantum-computer-is-helping-fight-cancer.jpg\")
\u2018Results we just haven\u2019t been able to see with anything else\u2019<\/h2>\n
![\"Stephen](\"http:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-the-quest-for-a-scalable-quantum-computer-is-helping-fight-cancer-1.jpg\")
Discovering quantum-inspired algorithms<\/h2>\n
![\"Matthias](\"http:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-the-quest-for-a-scalable-quantum-computer-is-helping-fight-cancer-2.jpg\")