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AI helps McMaster and MIT find abaucin, an antibiotic against a hospital superbug

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Researchers at McMaster University and MIT reported in Nature Chemical Biology that a machine-learning model helped them identify abaucin, a new antibacterial compound against Acinetobacter baumannii, a drug-resistant pathogen the WHO lists among the most dangerous.

Why it matters

Drug developers gained evidence that AI screening can find narrow-spectrum antibiotic candidates for a WHO priority pathogen.

When
25 May 2023
ID
WTA-N-2023-0177
Who
McMaster University, MIT; Jonathan Stokes

Summary by wheresthe.ai, from McMaster University and the reporting credited above. Checked against the source on 9 Oct 2026.

Source copy: download the page as saved on 18 Oct 2026 (PDF). Also held by the Internet Archive.

Next stop on this Storyline: What happened nextMIT team uses generative AI to design new antibiotics active against gonorrhoea and MRSA

Cite this story

WTA-N-2023-0177: “AI helps McMaster and MIT find abaucin, an antibiotic against a hospital superbug.” wheresthe.ai, 25 May 2023. https://wheresthe.ai/d/ca-abaucin-ai-antibiotic-2023-05/ (source: McMaster University).

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