Atinary Technologies, a US- and Switzerland-based company, has joined forces with Dr. Angelo Frei´s lab at the University of York, UK, to spearhead an ambitious project aimed at revolutionizing the discovery of metal-based antibiotics. Backed by funding from AIchemy, a UK initiative supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, this collaboration seeks to combine advanced artificial intelligence methods with chemical sciences to address the escalating global crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Metalloantibiotics, or metal-based antimicrobials, represent a largely untapped class of compounds with distinct and complex mechanisms of action, making them promising candidates for the fight against increasingly resistant bacterial pathogens. Although metal complexes like cisplatin have been utilized in healthcare for decades, their antibiotic potential remains underexplored due to the vastness of chemical space and the limitations of traditional discovery processes. The Atinary-Frei initiative aims to overcome these barriers through a blend of automated high-throughput experimentation and Atinary’s no-code artificial intelligence platform, SDLabs. The strategy involves rapid screening and optimization from billions of virtual candidates down to a refined set of ten leading compounds with optimized antibacterial activity and reduced toxicity.
Dr. Angelo Frei underscores the urgency of the project by noting that nearly five million deaths annually are associated with antimicrobial resistance. Leveraging artificial intelligence will empower researchers to efficiently navigate the daunting chemical landscape, isolate promising metal complexes, and minimize side effects or cross-resistance. Dr. Loïc Roch, Co-Founder and CTO of Atinary Technologies, stresses the significance of this collaboration not only for inorganic chemistry but also as a template for how artificial intelligence can transform drug discovery and impact global public health.
The project also strives to shift perceptions around the use of metals in medicine, an area often dogged by concerns about toxicity. The Frei Lab, at the University of York, is actively working to demonstrate the therapeutic potential of metal-based compounds against resistant infections. Atinary Technologies, meanwhile, continues to advance artificial intelligence-driven science for clients in pharma, biotech, chemicals, and climate technology, aiming to democratize advanced research tools and foster sustainable innovation across the research and development sector.
