A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has successfully designed two new potential antibiotics using artificial intelligence (AI). The drugs are aimed at treating drug-resistant gonorrhoea and MRSA, a type of bacteria that can cause serious infections. In laboratory and animal tests, the compounds were found to be effective in killing the superbugs.
The AI-designed antibiotics were created by training the machine learning model on 36 million compounds, including those yet to be discovered. The researchers then used two approaches to design new antibiotics: one identified a promising starting point by searching through millions of chemical fragments, and the other gave the AI free rein from the start.
However, the drugs still require years of refinement and clinical trials before they can be prescribed. Despite this, the MIT team believes that AI could start a “second golden age” in antibiotic discovery, allowing researchers to develop new treatments for infections that currently have no effective solutions.
The development of these antibiotics is significant, with experts hailing it as a promising approach to mitigating the emergence of resistance. However, there are also challenges to consider, including the difficulty of manufacturing the drugs and ensuring their safety and efficacy in humans.
While AI holds great potential for improving drug discovery and development, more research is needed to overcome the hurdles that come with testing new treatments on human subjects.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgr94xxye2lo