A Penn Medicine research team led by César de la Fuente, PhD, Presidential Assistant Professor in Psychiatry, Microbiology, Chemistry, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Bioengineering has used AI to analyze the genomes of tens of thousands of bacteria and other primitive organisms, uncovering nearly one million potential antibiotic compounds. This groundbreaking study, published in Cell, represents the largest antibiotic discovery effort to date, significantly accelerating the process of identification of candidate molecules.
“AI in antibiotic discovery is now a reality and has significantly accelerated our ability to discover new candidate drugs,” said Dr. de la Fuente, as per the Penn Bioengineering Blog. “What once took years can now be achieved in hours using computers.” Read more here and here.