Fifty episodes. That’s fifty (sometimes) deadly viruses, bacteria, protozoa, parasites, and poisons. And don’t forget the fifty quarantinis to accompany each! What better way to celebrate this momentous occasion than talking about something that may actually save you: antibiotics. In this, our golden anniversary episode, our ambition tempts us to tackle the massive world of these bacteria-fighting drugs. We explore the various ways that antibiotics duel with their bacterial enemies to deliver us from infection, and we trace their history, from the early years of Fleming and Florey to the drama-laden labs of some soil microbiologists. Finally, we end, as we always do, with discussing where we stand with antibiotics today. Dr. Jonathan Stokes (@ItsJonStokes), postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Jim Collins’ lab at MIT, joins us to talk about some of his lab’s amazing research on using machine learning to discover new antibiotics, which prompts us to repeat “that is SO COOL” and “we are truly living in the future.” We think you’ll agree.
To read more about using machine learning to uncover antibiotic compounds, head to the Collins’ lab website, the Audacious Project site, or check out Dr. Stokes’ paper:
Stokes, Jonathan M., et al. “A deep learning approach to antibiotic discovery.” Cell 180.4 (2020): 688-702.
| History | Biology |
| Rosen, William. Miracle cure: the creation of antibiotics and the birth of modern medicine. Penguin, 2017. | Anderson, Rosaleen J. (Eds.) (2012) Antibacterial agents: chemistry, mode of action, mechanisms of resistance, and clinical applications Oxford : WiBlackwell, |
| Blaser, Martin. Missing microbes. Oneworld Publications, 2014. | Walsh, Christopher, Wencewicz, Timothy A. (2016) Antibiotics :challenges, mechanisms, opportunities ASM Press. |
| McKenna, Maryn. Big chicken: the incredible story of how antibiotics created modern agriculture and changed the way the world eats. National Geographic Books, 2017. | Levison, M. E., & Levison, J. H. (2009). Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antibacterial agents. Infectious Disease Clinics, 23(4), 791-815. |
| Keyes, Kathleen, Margie D. Lee, and John J. Maurer. “Antibiotics: mode of action, mechanisms of resistance, and transfer.” Microbial Food Safety in Animal Agriculture (2008): 45-56. | Brown, Eric D., and Gerard D. Wright. “Antibacterial drug discovery in the resistance era.” Nature 529.7586 (2016): 336-343. |
| Gould, Kate. “Antibiotics: from prehistory to the present day.” Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 71.3 (2016): 572-575. | P.E.W. Trusts (2019). Analysis shows continued deficiencies in antibiotic development since 2014. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/ data-visualizations/2019/five-year-analysis-shows-continued-deficiencies-inantibiotic-development. |
| Wainwright, Milton. “Moulds in ancient and more recent medicine.” Mycologist 3.1 (1989): 21-23. | Klein, Eili Y., et al. “Global increase and geographic convergence in antibiotic consumption between 2000 and 2015.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115.15 (2018): E3463-E3470. |
| Walsh, Christopher. (2003) Antibiotics :actions, origins, resistance Washington, D.C. : ASM Press |
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