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How AI is joining the fight against superbugs

Scientists are exploring new strategies to win the war against potent microbes

    • There is urgent need for new approaches to tackle antibiotic resistance and biofilms, particularly as no new classes of antibiotics have been discovered since the 1980s.
    • There is urgent need for new approaches to tackle antibiotic resistance and biofilms, particularly as no new classes of antibiotics have been discovered since the 1980s. PHOTO: BT FILE

    Katharina Richter

    Published Thu, Sep 7, 2023 · 05:00 AM

    INVISIBLE to the naked eye, bacteria are constantly evolving in their quest for survival.

    Over the years, the misuse and overuse of antibiotics have inadvertently fuelled the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, also known as “superbugs”.

    These superbugs are equipped with ingenious defence mechanisms, such as forming castles of slime called biofilms, in which bacterial communities are well-protected against attacks from antibiotics and the immune system.

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