AI creates new viruses that can kill superbugs
Stanford and Arc Institute scientists just used AI to design new viruses that can attack tough E. coli bacteria—even those antibiotics can't beat.
Their AI, called Evo, was trained on thousands of genomes and built entire viral blueprints, not just single proteins like earlier attempts.
Evo designed 302 potential viruses
The team focused on a virus called PhX174, which has 11 overlapping genes packed into 5,386 DNA letters.
Evo came up with 302 possible virus designs; 16 worked in the lab and could actually infect E. coli.
One even included a unique DNA-packaging protein from a distant viral cousin—a first confirmed by advanced imaging.
AI could help us tackle superbugs
This breakthrough shows how AI could help us fight superbugs in the future and opens up new possibilities for designing life forms or therapies using synthetic biology.