Using AI, scientists find a drug that could combat drug-resistant infections

MIT News  May 25, 2023 Discovering new antibiotics against Acinetobacter baumannii, a pathogen that often displays multidrug resistance has proven challenging through conventional screening approaches. An international team of researchers (Canada, USA – MIT, Harvard University) screened ~7,500 molecules for those that inhibited the growth of A. baumannii in vitro and trained a neural network with this growth inhibition dataset and performed in silico predictions for structurally new molecules with activity against A. baumannii. They discovered abaucin, an antibacterial compound with narrow-spectrum activity against A. baumannii. Further investigations revealed that abaucin perturbs lipoprotein trafficking, and it could control an A. […]

Princeton team develops ‘poisoned arrow’ to defeat antibiotic-resistant bacteria

EurekAlert  June 3, 2020 An international team of researchers (USA – Princeton University, Germany) have found a compound, SCH-79797, that can simultaneously puncture bacterial walls and destroy folate within their cells while being immune to antibiotic resistance. This is the first antibiotic that can target Gram-positives and Gram-negatives without resistance, attacking via two different mechanisms within one molecule. They hope that it is generalizable, leading to better antibiotics and new types of antibiotics in the future. Even with extraordinary effort, they were unable to generate any resistance to this compound… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE

Next generation wound gel treats and prevents infections

Science Daily  January 8, 2020 An international team of researchers (Sweden, Denmark) has developed a hydrogel based on the body’s natural peptide defense. It has been shown to prevent and treat infections in wounds and reduce inflammation. The formulation kills multi-resistant bacteria and prevents as well as treats wound infections. They are looking into the possibility of developing new peptide-based drugs for eye infections and infections in other internal organs. It could become a new way of treating both infection and inflammation without using antibiotics…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE