A new research project led by Professor Christiane Timmel from the University of Oxford’s Department of Chemistry aims to uncover the mechanisms behind how animals sense magnetic fields, a phenomenon known as magnetosense. The project, titled ‘Quantum sensing in nature and synthetic biology,’ is supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) through its Strategic Longer and Larger (sLoLa) grants scheme.
The initiative brings together a team of researchers from the University of Oxford, University of Edinburgh, and University of St Andrews. The goal is to understand the biological processes that allow certain animals to navigate using Earth’s magnetic field and to explore potential applications for these mechanisms in biomedical technology.
Professor Timmel explained, “The annual migration of many animals over vast distances represents one of the most impressive of nature’s spectacles. In addition to visual cues including the sun and stars, the evidence is clear that many of these expert navigators sense and use the Earth’s magnetic field on their journey. Our project seeks to elucidate the fundamental principles that govern this animal magnetosense, and to explore how we might engineer this property for new technologies in biomedicine.”
Current scientific understanding suggests that a protein called cryptochrome plays a key role in animal magnetosense. When exposed to light, cryptochrome forms two radicals with unpaired electrons whose spin states are influenced by magnetic fields. These reactions may ultimately lead to nerve signals allowing animals to perceive magnetic fields. However, there is limited knowledge about how these quantum-level events translate into behavioral responses.
The interdisciplinary team will study various types of cryptochromes found in plants, insects, birds, and mammals. By comparing different organisms, they hope to identify common features in how magnetic information is processed biologically. They also plan to engineer similar responses in model proteins for future technological applications.
Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith, BBSRC Executive Chair, stated: “Long-term investments through our sLoLa scheme brings researchers with different expertise together to collaboratively pursue questions whose answers may reshape our understanding of the living world.”
Professor Timmel added: “The magnetosense stands among nature’s most captivating and elusive ‘rules of life.’ By bringing together an extraordinary team of engineers, physicists, chemists, biochemists, and neuroscientists, this sLoLa initiative offers a unique opportunity to tackle this formidable task of shedding light on one of nature’s best kept secrets-and to turn that discovery into powerful new biotechnologies.”
More details about BBSRC 2025 sLoLa grants can be found on their website.