AI empowered to develop antibiotic against superbug
Artificial intelligence (AI) helps create antibiotic against deadly superbug, Acinetobacter baumannii , according to US and Canadian researchers. This advance shows how technology can be an ally in creating new drugs more quickly.
Professor Max Igor Banks, infectologist at Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina da USP (HCFMUSP), highlights the work of researchers in developing the mathematical model responsible for testing the compounds for the antibiotic. “This work was super important in trying to show ways for the selection and development of compounds that could be active against highly resistant bacteria”, he comments.
treatment challenges
According to Banks, facing bacterial diseases is a challenge, since it becomes difficult to develop antibiotics that always work. This issue is related to the escape mechanism of these beings, that is, a natural process of creating resistance in bacteria. “What happens is that, over time, these antibiotics do not work because the bacteria develop a mechanism of resistance and this ends up, sometimes, limiting the treatment options”, warns the professor. In addition to Acinetobacter baumannii , other bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus are called superbugs.
However, Banks clarifies that these are not necessarily very aggressive microorganisms, the term “super” is related to difficult treatment due to their high drug resistance. Thus, although there is such a means of combat, there is a certain difficulty in curing the infection.
medication use
“We can sometimes see the antibiotic as a necessary evil”, declares the professor, since, even fighting the disease, the drug can also select a resistant bacteria. Banks explains that this selection inevitably occurs due to active remedies that fight a large number of beings and not just the person responsible for the infection.
In this way, the work carried out tries to look for drugs that face specific microorganisms, in order to avoid dysbiosis, that is, an imbalance in the good bacteria. “So, if you manage to have an antibiotic that kills only the bacteria that is causing the problem and manage to identify it, it would be positive”, says the professor.
AI Contribution
The help of technology was important for the development of this medicine with specific action regarding the discovery and testing process. According to Banks, first, it is necessary for the population to understand how the process of creating the antibiotic takes place.
“You look for signs of activity in the various chemical compounds that exist. Then you grow bacteria along with the compost to see if the bacteria grows under the action of it. Keep testing until you find something that might be useful”, he explains. Thus, from a database of countless tests with different compounds, a mathematical model was created so that the AI could try to predict whether some combinations would work or not against certain bacteria.
With this model, the research and testing process is accelerated, since, with the screening of compounds with greater potential for success, the number of possibilities is reduced. Banks reports that there is an important relationship between human knowledge and the means made available by technology.