Can you imagine using the artificial intelligence to speed up scientists' ability to combat infections caused by untreatable bacteria that kill more than a million people a year? Well, know that this scenario is not very far from reality because it is, precisely, the main objective of the biotechnologist's laboratory. Cesar de la Fuentewho was recently in Puerto Rico to talk about his research.
“Technology has become a fundamental ally. In my laboratory, we combine human ingenuity with artificial intelligence. Hand in hand with both machines and human intelligence, we are capable of developing and discovering new types of antibiotics that we hope, in the future, can save lives,” shared the director of From Source Labbased at the University of Pennsylvania.
What six years ago seemed impossible for some sectors of medicine, is currently one of the most innovative and attractive fields of research for biotechnologists of the intellectual caliber of De la Fuente, a native of Spain and who, in 2020, was awarded as the best young researcher by the American Chemical Society.
“It is essential to have both the human capacity to think and create new ideas, together with the capacity of machines to process data massively, very quickly, which would be impossible for the human brain”pointed out the scientist from A Coruña from the theater of Río Piedras Campus of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR).
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We are millions and millions of people who also deserve to have access to these latest advances in this emerging field. ”Cesar de la Fuente
The doctor in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of British Columbia, in Canada, was in Puerto Rico in March for the celebration of the First Congress of Artificial Intelligence at the UPR, which he highlighted as “one of the first congresses of this type in Spanish ”.
At the event, the UPR and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization signed a cooperation agreement to strengthen higher education on artificial intelligence in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“It is very important to disseminate the advances in artificial intelligence, not only in English, but also for the Spanish-speaking community. throughout the world. We are millions and millions of people who also deserve to have access to these latest advances in this emerging field that plays a fundamental role in our society.”, highlighted De la Fuente.
Accelerate discovery
De La Fuente Lab's projects are at a preclinical level, that is, medicines that are not yet available to society, but he assured that “we have accelerated the discovery process.”
He estimated that to discover an antibiotic with traditional methods, it can take a scientist about six years. “Now, with computers, algorithms and artificial intelligence, we can do it in a matter of hours. We can discover new potential antibiotics. “So, we have compressed the time scale it takes us to discover new types of medicines.”he explained.
“We think that this can help, in the future, change this field and save lives,” he said excitedly.
For De la Fuente, time is crucial when talking about biotechnology. He warned that bacteria are increasingly resistant to antibiotics and the projection is that, by 2050, they will kill 10 million people each year.
“If you do a quick calculation, it corresponds to one death every three seconds. So, we're heading toward a post-antibiotic future, where antibiotics don't work to treat very simple infections. It is essential to think about how to discover new antibiotics”he emphasized his battle to gain time with technology.
In his laboratory, he said, they have developed predictive and generative models, such as “deep learning” and “machine learning”, which are artificial intelligence technologies “to explore genomes of biological material that have never been described before.”
In a recent study, they analyzed genomes and proteomes of extinct organisms like the mammoth. “We have managed to find new molecules with antibiotic capacity in organisms from the past, in creatures that no longer exist and are places where people had not looked before and it is a new source of inspiration for us to be able to find new antibiotics”, stood out.
Meanwhile, he pointed out that the main challenge in the field of artificial intelligence is the lack of data, especially in medicine, where there are still hundreds of unknown diseases.
“It is essential to generate good data that we can use to train algorithms of this type, so that they can give us the results we want and allow us to develop models that can change the world of medicine,” he pointed out.
“The intersection between artificial intelligence and medicine is now a reality. In the next five or 10 years, I believe it will continue to progress and it will be a revolution.”De la Fuente predicted.