Scientists have made the first viruses designed by artificial intelligence in a milestone that raises hopes for new medicines but also concerns over how to ensure the technology remains safe.
The viruses are specific kinds known as bacteriophages, which only infect bacteria and are used around the world to treat patients with persistent infections. In lab tests, a cocktail of the AI-designed viruses killed E* coli* bugs that were resistant to natural bacteriophages.
Dr Brian Hie, a chemical engineer at Stanford University in California, used genome language models, the genetic equivalent of the large language models behind AI chatbots, to design functioning genomes for bacteriophages. The viruses were then made in the laboratory and pitted against E* coli* in a dish.
The ability to “rapidly design” genomes and tune them for specific bugs while overcoming resistance could “transform phage therapy” and “expand biotechnological toolkits”, the researchers wrote in the journal Science.
dug deeper, this is bacteriophage research, and the genome model just gave them the genomes and they made the bacteriophage
this is cure research as it bacteriophages infect and destroy bacteria
this could be groundbreaking as they were able to infect bacteria that normal bacteriophages couldnt
Scientists have made the first viruses designed by artificial intelligence in a milestone that raises hopes for new medicines but also concerns over how to ensure the technology remains safe.
The viruses are specific kinds known as bacteriophages, which only infect bacteria and are used around the world to treat patients with persistent infections. In lab tests, a cocktail of the AI-designed viruses killed E* coli* bugs that were resistant to natural bacteriophages.
Dr Brian Hie, a chemical engineer at Stanford University in California, used genome language models, the genetic equivalent of the large language models behind AI chatbots, to design functioning genomes for bacteriophages. The viruses were then made in the laboratory and pitted against E* coli* in a dish.
The ability to “rapidly design” genomes and tune them for specific bugs while overcoming resistance could “transform phage therapy” and “expand biotechnological toolkits”, the researchers wrote in the journal Science.
dug deeper, this is bacteriophage research, and the genome model just gave them the genomes and they made the bacteriophage
this is cure research as it bacteriophages infect and destroy bacteria
this could be groundbreaking as they were able to infect bacteria that normal bacteriophages couldnt