A team at MIT has used generative AI to design antibiotics that could kill drug-resistant gonorrhoea and MRSA. The leading designs were tested on bacteria in the lab and on infected mice. They still need to go through a process of refinement before human studies can begin.
The work demonstrates a novel approach with enormous potential for identifying new antibiotics. While AI promises to dramatically improve drug discovery and development, safety and efficacy testing processes are still required.
Read the article on bbc.com.
Sources:
• TLDR. (2025, August 15). TLDR Newsletter. https://a.tldrnewsletter.com/web-version?ep=1&lc=f5cb7e17-003d-11ed-9258-0241b9615763&p=81967550-79b1-11f0-ae77-9139b37c7b13&pt=campaign&t=1755255481&s=93521216100ed1993a93dd0695c560142c4251bee6e14eb0d59ab0f73db00a1a
• Gallagher, J. (2025, August 14). AI designs new superbug-killing antibiotics for gonorrhoea and MRSA. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgr94xxye2lo
If the mice would wear protection, this would be less of an issue.