Radical Numerics uses AI to design virus for human clinical trial

Biotechnology startup Radical Numerics has completed the world’s first clinical trial using an AI-designed bacteriophage injected into a human patient. The procedure aimed to treat a persistent infection caused by a strain of Escherichia coli (E. coli) that had proven resistant to all traditional antibiotics and existing phage therapies.

Using a computational model named Omnii, researchers genetically modified a T7 phage to create a custom virus capable of adhering to the specific resistant bacteria, injecting its genetic material, and replicating within the cell to destroy it. This digital approach seeks to accelerate the development of personalized phage therapies, which traditionally require time-consuming searches for matching viruses in nature.

The trial was authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While the company has not disclosed the patient's identity or the specific clinical outcomes due to privacy, researchers from Harvard and Uppsala universities noted that while the technology is promising for combating bacterial resistance, final clinical results are necessary to validate its efficacy in the human body.