Quantum Questions Have Algorithmic Answers: Navigating a Drug Discovery Network
As seen in BioTechniques

AI is transforming drug discovery but it has limits. And Professor Namshik Han is one of the people working out how to push past them. Namshik leads the AI discovery group at the Milner Institute, University of Cambridge, is a Professor at Yonsei University in Seoul, and is CTO of CardiaTec Biosciences, a startup using multi-omics and AI to find new drug targets for cardiovascular disease.

At ELRIG Drug Discovery 2025 in Liverpool, he sat down with BioTechniques to talk about where AI falls short and why quantum-inspired algorithms might be the answer.

If that sounds complicated, don’t worry. Namshik has a way of explaining it that involves losing your bag on the London Underground that will make it all make sense.

In this interview, he also gets into the real challenges of working with multi-omics data, what drove him to co-found a start-up alongside his academic career, and his advice for researchers thinking about doing the same.