- MIT scientists have revealed that their AI discovered an antibiotic compound, halicin, that can not only kill many forms of resistant bacteria but do so in a novel way.
- Halicin wipes out bacteria by wrecking their ability to maintain the electrochemical gradient necessary to produce energy-storing molecules.
- The scientists have already used their model to screen over 100 million molecules in another database, finding 23 candidates. They also hope to design antibiotics from scratch and modify existing drugs to increase their effectiveness or reduce their unintended side effects.