A group of scientists from McMaster University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has discovered a new antibiotic that can be used to kill a deadly hospital superbug.
It is about the superbacterium Acinetobacter baumannii, which the World Health Organization has classified as a critical threat to human health.
Bacteria have the ability to find new ways to resist treatment and can transfer genetic material that allows other bacteria to also become resistant to drugs.
baumannii can live for long periods of time and poses a threat to hospitals, nursing homes, and patients who require ventilators and blood catheters, as well as those with open wounds after surgery.
The researchers used an AI algorithm to screen thousands of antibacterial molecules in an attempt to predict new structural classes. As a result of the AI screening, the researchers were able to identify a new antibacterial compound, which they named abaucin.
After the scientists trained the AI model, they used it to analyze 6,680 compounds it hadn’t encountered before. The analysis took an hour and a half and eventually yielded several hundred compounds, 240 of which were then tested.
Laboratory tests ultimately identified nine potential antibiotics, including abaucin.