From Grease to Groundbreaking: Liam Hall’s Journey into Quantum Biotechnology
Once a grease-stained mechanic on an Australian farm, Liam Hall has traded scraped knuckles for cutting-edge research as the head of quantum biotechnology at CSIRO, Australia’s premier science agency.
Hall’s unorthodox career path saw him transition from wielding wrenches to delving into the intricate world of quantum physics. “I’ve got a bit of a weird background. I always wanted to be a diesel mechanic. Doing that for a while led to wanting to do engineering at university. That introduced me to the physics, and then to the quantum physics. A rollercoaster ride is a good way to describe it,” he reflects.
At CSIRO, Hall’s team is pioneering diagnostic technologies using micro sensors crafted from minuscule diamond slivers, each about 50 nanometers in size (approximately 1,000 times finer than a human hair). Their focus: revolutionizing the measurement of patients’ iron levels.
Conventional methods rely on monitoring ferritin, a protein crucial for iron storage. Yet, while ferritin serves as an indicator of iron levels, precision demands direct measurement of iron within the protein itself.
This challenge led Hall to explore detecting the minuscule magnetic fields generated by iron—a task beyond the reach of traditional instruments. “The magnetic field is completely tiny and outside the measurement of any traditional magnetometers or microscopes,” Hall explains.
Enter Hall’s nano-scale quantum sensors, capable of discerning these minute fields with unparalleled sensitivity.
Looking ahead, Hall envisions a future where this technology serves as an early warning system for various diseases, including cancer, by surveilling specific hormones or proteins. “The advantage for quantum systems has always been that you can achieve much, much better sensitivity and easier identification of chemicals at a much lower cost,” he asserts.