AI tool screens 107 million molecules, discovers potent new antibiotics

A machine learning platform has been used to discover new antibacterial compounds. The system screened more than 107 million chemical structures and found nine potential antibiotics, with one in particular showing potency against 97% of the drug-resistant bacteria it was tested against.

Aiming to tackle the growing antibiotic resistance crisis, a collaboration of synthetic biologists and computer scientists developed a deep learning platform to predict antibiotic activity. In particular, the group wanted to discover compounds with structures distinct from known antibiotics, to boost their chances of success against drug-resistant bacteria.