Alexey Galda, Ph.D.
Founder
Alexey is a quantum computing scientist with more than 14 years of research across quantum algorithms, quantum machine learning, tensor-network simulation and theoretical physics. His work connects foundational methods to applied problems, from chemistry and drug discovery to optimization and finance.
He is Scientific Director, Quantum Algorithms and Applications at Moderna, where he works on quantum algorithms for mRNA drug discovery. Before that he led quantum research teams in academia and industry and ran algorithms on superconducting and trapped-ion hardware. He started Quantum Advantage to build the next generation of quantum algorithm design: AI that designs algorithms, and simulation that tests them.
Background
- 2026–now
Scientific Director, Quantum Algorithms and Applications, Moderna
Quantum algorithms for mRNA drug discovery.
- 2023–2026
Associate Scientific Director, Quantum Algorithms and Applications, Moderna
Developed quantum algorithms for mRNA design, including structure prediction on utility-scale IBM quantum processors.
- 2023
Senior Staff Research Scientist, Extropic
New algorithms for thermodynamic computing.
- 2021–2023
Principal Scientist, Quantum Computing, Menten AI
Led a team applying quantum machine learning, QAOA and quantum annealing to drug discovery and protein design.
- 2017–2021
Research Assistant Professor, University of Chicago
Hybrid quantum-classical algorithms on IBM Quantum, IonQ and Quantinuum hardware. Co-invented a patented tensor-network simulator of quantum circuits. Error mitigation and speed-ups for QAOA.
- 2012–2016
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Argonne National Laboratory
Theoretical quantum and condensed-matter physics.
- 2012
Ph.D., Theoretical Physics, University of Birmingham
B.Sc. in Applied Mathematics and Physics, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, summa cum laude.
Selected work
- Quantum simulationUS Patent 12,585,841 B2 (2026), co-inventor
- Sample-based quantum diagonalization methods for modeling the photochemistry of diazirine and diazo compoundsJournal of Chemical Theory and Computation (2026)
- Quantum machine learning in drug discovery: applications in academia and pharmaceutical industriesChemical Reviews (2025)
- mRNA secondary structure prediction using utility-scale quantum computersIEEE Quantum Week, QCE (2024)
- Quantum computing for financeNature Reviews Physics (2023)
- Towards a scalable discrete quantum generative adversarial neural networkQuantum Science and Technology (2023)
- Tensor network quantum simulator with step-dependent parallelizationarXiv:2012.02430 (2020)
Recognition and service
- Quantum mRNA optimization use case featured on the World Economic Forum Quantum Application Hub, 2025
- IBM Open Science Prize winner, 2021
- Co-PI, NSF EAGER award for a large-scale QAOA quantum simulator
- Co-organizer, Workshop on Quantum Algorithms for Bio and Life Sciences, IEEE Quantum Week 2024 and 2025
- Scientific advisor to two venture capital funds
- Reviewer for Nature-family, APS, IOP and IEEE journals