Scientists have made a breakthrough discovery with the help of artificial intelligence (AI): the first new antibiotic in 60 years.
This new class of antibiotics has the ability to treat infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria, according to a report published in the journal Nature.
Antibiotic resistance has become a major global health problem, with more than 1.2 million deaths reported in 2019 alone. Experts predict this number will continue to rise in the coming decades. Therefore, the discovery is of utmost importance for the time we live in, he writes New Scientist.
In the experiments, the scientists tested the new antibiotic on the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which is resistant to methicillin, but also on Enterococcuswhich is immune to commonly used drugs.
In the EU alone, nearly 150,000 MRSA infections occur each year and at least 35,000 people die annually from antibiotic-resistant infections, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
AI played a crucial role in this breakthrough.
In their initial experiments, a team of 21 experts tested more than 39,000 compounds on Staphylococcus aureus and three types of human cells found in the liver, muscles near bones, and lungs.
These results provided the data that trained artificial intelligence models to recognize patterns in the atoms of each compound and understand how they relate to each other. The AI was then able to predict the antibacterial activity and potential toxicity of these compounds in human cells.
The researchers then analyzed 12 million compounds through computer simulations using the patterns suggested by artificial intelligence. Through this extensive analysis, 3,646 compounds with optimal properties were identified.
Finally, the experts discovered new classes of potential antibiotics, including two non-toxic compounds capable of killing both MRSA and Enterococci.
To further validate their effectiveness, the researchers successfully conducted experiments on mice.
Researchers have now begun to use this AI approach to develop more antibiotics and identify new classes of drugs.
2023-12-29 04:40:00
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