Molecules ‘resurrected’ with artificial intelligence to test new antibiotics

For years, doctors, public health experts, and globally recognized entities such as the World Health Organization (WHO) have been sounding the alarm about a serious problem facing humanity: antibiotic resistance. (you can read: With the help of artificial intelligence, a quadriplegic man is regaining mobility)

In short, this means that the bacteria that cause diseases like pneumonia, tuberculosis or gonorrhea become more resistant to the drugs we use to treat them. Experts say this is largely due to the misuse of existing antibiotics.

However, as we expected this noteAntibiotic resistance (a problem that is also well known) is increasing due to a stagnation in the development of new antibiotics. Faced with this complication, which entities such as the World Health Organization have described as “one of the greatest threats to global health,” researchers around the world have accelerated their efforts to find new medicines. (you might be interested: With the help of artificial intelligence, a quadriplegic man is regaining mobility)

These include the efforts of a team of scientists from the University of Pennsylvania in the US who ‘resurrected’ Neanderthal molecules with the help of artificial intelligence (Neanderthal) and Denisovans, trying to find answers to current problems.

In the words of César de la Fuente, a bioengineer at the University of Pennsylvania and author of a study recently published in an academic journal Cell Host and Microbe, for the magazine nature, “Our motivation is to recover molecules from the past to solve current problems.” (You can also read: Can stress cause hair loss?)

Using artificial intelligence, the researchers explain, they applied molecular “de-extinction” to reintroduce molecules from human ancestors that were no longer encoded by existing organisms.

According to the magazine nature“This allowed the authors to identify molecules that kill disease-causing bacteria and may inspire new drugs to treat infections in humans.” (you might be interested: Drug for postpartum depression shows positive results)

The magazine’s source admitted that the idea came about while watching the classic film. Jurassic Park. “Instead of resurrecting dinosaurs like scientists did in the 1993 movie, the team came up with a more workable idea: why not resurrect molecules?”

Specifically, the researchers selected six molecules to fight bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii (baumannii), resistant to most antibiotics.Among them, four molecules are derived from Homo sapiens, One from Neanderthals and one from Denisovans.

While all six molecules prevented bacterial growth, none of the molecules killed the bacteria in the thigh muscle. “While the algorithms we used did not generate surprising molecules, I think this concept and framework represent a whole new way of thinking about drug discovery,” de la Fuente said of the findings. (you can read: The Ministry of Health has prepared an emergency decree for La Guajira)

Although they didn’t get the expected results, the scientists see this as a new way to continue research on new possible antibiotics.