AI used to design antibiotics that can combat drug-resistant superbugs

Aug 15, 2025

A team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) used generative AI algorithms to design more than 36 million possible compounds.

Once computationally screened for antimicrobial properties, the top candidates were shown to be structurally different from any existing antibiotics.

They also seemed to work in a new way - by disrupting bacterial cell membranes.

Antibiotics kill bacteria, but some infections have become resistant to drugs.

Two compounds were found to be effective against gonorrhoea and MRSA infections - namely NG1 and DN1, respectively.

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