Posted on 12/21/2023 3:10:51 PM PST by nickcarraway
A new class of antibiotics for drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria which was discovered using more transparent deep learning models.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is proving to be a game-changer when it comes to medicine with the technology now helping scientists to unlock the first new antibiotics in 60 years.
The discovery of a new compound that can kill a drug-resistant bacterium that kills thousands worldwide every year could prove to be a turning point in the fight against antibiotic resistance.
"The insight here was that we could see what was being learned by the models to make their predictions that certain molecules would make for good antibiotics," James Collins, professor of Medical Engineering and Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and one of the study’s authors, said in a statement.
New 'shapeshifting' antibiotics could help combat drug-resistant superbugs
"Our work provides a framework that is time-efficient, resource-efficient, and mechanistically insightful, from a chemical-structure standpoint, in ways that we haven’t had to date".
The results were published today in Nature and co-authored by a team of 21 researchers.
Study aimed to 'open the black box' The team behind the project used a deep-learning model to predict the activity and toxicity of the new compound.
Deep learning involves the use of artificial neural networks to automatically learn and represent features from data without explicit programming.
It is increasingly being applied in drug discovery to accelerate the identification of potential drug candidates, predict their properties, and optimise the drug development process.
In this case, researchers focused on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Infections with MRSA can range from mild skin infections to more severe and potentially life-threatening conditions such as pneumonia and bloodstream infections.
'The silent pandemic': What is the EU doing to fight Antimicrobial Resistance? Almost 150,000 MRSA infections occur every year in the European Union while almost 35,000 people die annually in the bloc from antimicrobial-resistant infections, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
The MIT team of researchers trained an extensively enlarged deep learning model using expanded datasets.
To create the training data, approximately 39,000 compounds were evaluated for their antibiotic activity against MRSA. Subsequently, both the resulting data and details regarding the chemical structures of the compounds were input into the model.
"What we set out to do in this study was to open the black box. These models consist of very large numbers of calculations that mimic neural connections, and no one really knows what's going on underneath the hood," said Felix Wong, a postdoc at MIT and Harvard and one of the study’s lead authors.
The future of pharmaceuticals? AI is changing the game for drug development Discovering a new compound To refine the selection of potential drugs, the researchers employed three additional deep-learning models. These models were trained to assess the toxicity of compounds on three distinct types of human cells.
By integrating these toxicity predictions with the previously determined antimicrobial activity, the researchers pinpointed compounds capable of effectively combating microbes with minimal harm to the human body.
Using this set of models, approximately 12 million commercially available compounds were screened.
The models identified compounds from five different classes, categorised based on specific chemical substructures within the molecules, that exhibited predicted activity against MRSA.
An organic compound found in trees could be the answer to fighting antibiotic-resistant infections Subsequently, the researchers acquired around 280 of these compounds and conducted tests against MRSA in a laboratory setting. This approach led them to identify two promising antibiotic candidates from the same class.
In experiments involving two mouse models - one for MRSA skin infection and another for MRSA systemic infection - each of these compounds reduced the MRSA population by a factor of 10.
Yeah, AI created antibiotics alright...FOR HUMANS!!!
Ai could also be used to create something that will give a certain party an excuse to change election laws.
Artificial antibiotics? For artificial infections? In artificial humans? ....that live in an artificial universe....and believe in an artificial God?
...what could possibly go wrong?
“An organic compound found in trees could”
They didn’t mention its name, did they?
Yep. Now I know what Elon Musk meant when he said it could present a great danger, with the current lunatics we have in government right now? Absolutely. “Ai, please create a virus that only kills white people”
MRSA is nothing to joke about. Its the 1300’s all over again and the black plague, nothing wilp stop it.
Yeah well don’t test it or nothin’, I hear ya’ don’t have to do that anymore…
I didn’t realize we had been using AI for 60 years!
I say BS!
Let me guess, it’s called Ivermecticillin.
I think AI will be of enormous benefit to mankind.
Shrooms?
Ain’t seen nothing yet.
the dawn of the pc brought designer drugs like xtc-
ai will be bringing many more.
already something called nitrazine.
it’s going to endless and Johnny Law will not be keeping up.
2 drugs “work” outta 280...not very good percentage.
Just another b.s. article about AI...since AI is the hot topic.
Computers designing drugs for people.
What could possibly go wrong?
Ivermectin was discovered in the 1970s and synthesized into a stable drug soon thereafter. It’s only approved for your pets though. You’re too important to be permitted to use it.
The truth? This discovery “may be” the basis of “the first new class of antibiotics”
When was the 1st time you heard about AI?
What did the Scientists tell you 3 years ago about the mRNA vaccine? Safe and Effective? And that all the new vaccines would follow that model and quickly created with Genetic Modification.
Then, Lies, Propaganda, and Censorship was the result.
Scientists have discovered one of “the first new classes of antibiotics” identified in the past 60 years (untrue statement, it has not been 60 years), and the first discovered leveraging an AI-powered platform built around explainable deep learning.
New type of antibiotic discovered in soil in breakthrough for fight against drug-resistant superbugs (Tuesday 13 February 2018 11:47 GMT)
“It is also a promising sign that “this new class” follows closely after the 2015 discovery of teixobactin. Prior to that there had been a “30-year drought”, prompting dire warnings of a “post-antibiotic apocalypse” if bacteria continue to adapt to withstand essential drugs.”
AI is currently being used to try to make a Lie into the Truth by Censorship and global tracking of all citizens.
Surely you can see the global totalitarian power grab that going on all over the world. (many resist)
There is a movement around well recognized Dr. Groups from all over the world, asking for the COVID vaccine to be ended. There is evidence it should be ended. And the whole mRNA drug process with it.
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