AI finds hundreds of potential antibiotics in snake and spider venom
Research from the lab of César de la Fuente on an AI-powered screen of global venom libraries uncovers dozens of promising drug candidates.
2 min. read
Snake, scorpion, and spider venom are best known for their sting. But with the help of artificial intelligence, they could also help fight antibiotic resistance, which contributes to more than one million deaths worldwide each year.
(From left) Sufen Li, César de la Fuente, and Marcelo Torres.
(Image: Jianing Bai)
In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers at Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) and Perelman School of Medicine have used a deep-learning system called APEX to sift through a database of more than 40 million venom-encrypted peptides, tiny proteins evolved by animals for attack or as a defense mechanism. In a matter of hours, the algorithm flagged 386 compounds with the molecular hallmarks of next-generation antibiotics.
“Venoms are evolutionary masterpieces, yet their antimicrobial potential has barely been explored,” says César de la Fuente, a Presidential Associate Professor of psychiatry, microbiology, bioengineering, chemical and biomolecular engineering, and chemistry in the school of Medicine, Engineering and Arts & Sciences. “APEX lets us scan an immense chemical space in just hours and identify molecules with exceptional potential to fight the world’s most stubborn pathogens.”
“By pairing computational triage with traditional lab experimentation, we delivered one of the most comprehensive investigations of venom derived antibiotics to date,” adds co-author Marcelo Der Torossian Torres, a research associate at Penn. Changge Guan, a postdoctoral researcher in the de la Fuente Lab and co-author, notes that the platform mapped more than 2,000 entirely new antibacterial motifs—short, specific sequences of amino acids within a protein or peptide responsible for their ability to kill or inhibit bacterial growth.
The team is now taking the top peptide candidates which could lead to new antibiotics and improving them through medicinal-chemistry tweaks—work that could, if successful, expand the antibiotic toolkit at a time when many drugs are losing their punch.
Materials in the Annenberg School for Communication Library Archives include thousands of TV scripts, the first issue of TV Guide, and interviews about the early days of HBO—which help to chronicle TV’s 100-year story.
Centering joy in AI development and implementation
PIK Professor Desmond Upton Patton—of Annenberg and SP2—and collaborators introduce a joy-informed framework designed to initiate conversations among engineers, designers, and researchers.
Winter Storm Fern brought icy and snowy conditions to the Northeast and other parts of the country over the weekend. Penn Today asks physicist Robert Carpick about the unique properties of ice, the science of curling, and how close we are to ‘nonslip’ ice.
Organizations like Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships foster collaborations between Penn and public schools in the West Philadelphia community.
Penn receives national distinction for community engagement
The recognition by the American Council on Education and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching acknowledges Penn’s long-standing commitment to community-engaged scholarship and partnerships in West Philadelphia and beyond.
