An antibiotic against the superbug Acinetobacter baumannii, reported by WHO as one of the most dangerous in the world, has been discovered thanks to the help of artificial intelligence
Acinetobacter baumannii has been classified by the World Health Organization as one of the most dangerous and resistant bacteria in the world, but thanks to the help of artificial intelligence, a powerful new antibiotic is ready to counter this. In fact, the algorithm was fundamental in the discovery, published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology by a team from Canada’s McMaster University, of the antibiotic, with the new molecule found by the algorithm among nearly 7 thousand candidates in just 2 hours.
The discovery
If it is true that the risks of artificial intelligence for the future are emphasized in many circles, this study could lead to a real revolution in the medical field, with the possibility of accelerating the process towards new discoveries such as this one. The Canadian team led by Gary Liu, Denise Catacutan and Khushi Rathod therefore relied on the algorithm to access a very large number of molecules with antibacterial properties, using the same artificial intelligence that processed the data and identified the top 240 candidates within hours yielded. In this way, the superbug, which is very dangerous and often causes infections in hospitals, can be combated. This type of bacteria kills more than a million people a year, and the discovery of new antibiotics to counter them is certainly a medical emergency. For this reason, the Canadian team’s discovery, with the antibiotic still to be tested and will have to wait a few years before it hits the market, could be one of the most important in recent years.
Source: TG 24 Sky