It's easy enough to dismiss theories of consciousness that use quantum physics as "lets use something poorly understood to explain something else poorly understood". IMO most of them aren't even theories in the scientific sense (they can both explain already observed phenomena / results and hypotheses generated from them can predict results; i.e. they're testable).
That said, there could easily be some 'there' there.
For instance, electron tunneling in the ETC, probably smell (Luca Turin's work).
I was unaware of the connection with ferritin - and in an IEEE journal, no less (!). Thanks for pointing that one out.
Sorry you got pushed out of the field. Nick Lane has mentioned that the young researchers starting out in his lab are 'risking their professional careers, which is an incredibly brave thing' by studying less 'popular' areas. I suspect you were in the same situation - and it didn't pan out. I'd quote Kipking, but it's trite and you've certainly already heard it. Respect.
BTW, in that same session, Lane mentioned that one researcher became a circus performer(!) You could argue that our current legal system is a bit of a circus - but the bar makes a lot more sense career-wise.