Artificial intelligence develops new antibiotic to fight superbug
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts – Using artificial intelligence, scientists have succeeded in developing a new antibiotic to treat the world’s most drug-resistant microbe.
The bacterium Acinetobacter baumanii has been described as notoriously difficult to eradicate.
But the Canadian and U.S. scientists used artificial intelligence tools to identify an antibiotic molecule that can kill these bacteria.
According to a study published in the science journal Nature Chemical Biology, scientists from McMaster University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used an algorithm to screen thousands of antibacterial molecules in an attempt to predict new structural classes.
“As a result of the Artificial Intelligence screening, researchers were able to identify a new antibacterial compound which they named abaucin,” reported the study.
This microbe causes infections in vulnerable hospital patients such as premature babies and people with weakened immune systems.
They cause pneumonia, sepsis, and meningitis – all potentially fatal.
According to the WHO, the bacteria have built-in abilities to find new ways to resist treatment and can pass along genetic material that allows other bacteria to become drug-resistant as well.
The bacteria cling to surfaces such as doorknobs and counters.
Because it can take pieces of DNA from other organisms, it helps them become resistant to antibiotics.
The antibiotic developed with the help of artificial intelligence is called abaucin.
It has proven its effectiveness in experiments on mice with infected wounds and bacterial cells grown in the lab.
The study, published this week in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, describes abaucin as a promising drug.
It targets only the harmful microbes and spares those that are beneficial to the human body.
It also found that the pathogen is less likely to develop drug resistance.
Researchers say that this finding has validated the benefits of artificial intelligence in discovering new antibiotics at a reduced cost and at faster rates. This discovery has potential to completely change the chemical space.
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