Artificial intelligence for the discovery of novel antimicrobial agents for emerging infectious diseases

Adam Bess; Frej Berglind; Supratik Mukhopadhyay; Michal Brylinski; Nicholas Griggs; Tiffany Cho; Chris Galliano; Kishor M Wasan

doi:10.1016/j.drudis.2021.10.022

Artificial intelligence for the discovery of novel antimicrobial agents for emerging infectious diseases

Drug Discov Today. 2022 Apr;27(4):1099-1107. doi: 10.1016/j.drudis.2021.10.022. Epub 2021 Nov 5.

Authors

Adam Bess¹, Frej Berglind², Supratik Mukhopadhyay³, Michal Brylinski⁴, Nicholas Griggs⁵, Tiffany Cho⁵, Chris Galliano⁶, Kishor M Wasan⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Computer Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Electronic address: bess@deepdrug.ai.
² Department of Mathematics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
³ Department of Computer Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
⁴ Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
⁵ Trinity Consultants Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA.
⁶ Skymount Medical US Inc, New Orleans, LA, USA.
⁷ Skymount Medical US Inc, New Orleans, LA, USA; Department of Urologic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Electronic address: Kishor.Wasan@ubc.ca.

Abstract

The search for effective drugs to treat new and existing diseases is a laborious one requiring a large investment of capital, resources, and time. The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been a painful reminder of the lack of development of new antimicrobial agents to treat emerging infectious diseases. Artificial intelligence (AI) and other in silico techniques can drive a more efficient, cost-friendly approach to drug discovery by helping move potential candidates with better clinical tolerance forward in the pipeline. Several research teams have developed successful AI platforms for hit identification, lead generation, and lead optimization. In this review, we investigate the technologies at the forefront of spearheading an AI revolution in drug discovery and pharmaceutical sciences.

Keywords: Antimicrobial agents; Artificial intelligence; COVID-19; Infectious diseases.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Anti-Infective Agents / therapeutic use*
Artificial Intelligence*
COVID-19 Drug Treatment*
Communicable Diseases, Emerging / drug therapy*
Drug Discovery / methods*
Humans
SARS-CoV-2*

Substances

Anti-Infective Agents